Caddo

 

·       The Caddo Nation is a confederacy of several southeastern Indigenous American tribes.

 

·       They were descendants of the Caddoan Mississippian culture that constructed huge earthwork mounds.

 

·       The Caddo People are thought to be an extension of Woodland people.

 

·       The Wichita and Pawnee People are related to the Caddo as both tribes speak Caddoan language.

 

·       The Caddo people historically lived in East Texas, Southern Arkansas, western Louisiana and southeastern Oklahoma.

 

·       When the Caddo first encountered Europeans the organized themselves into three confederacies:

o  The Natchitoches

o  Haisinai

o  Kadohadacho

 

·       The Natchitoches confederacy lived in what is present day northern Louisiana, the Haisinai live in East Texas, and the Kadohadacho lived near the border of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

 

·       The Caddo people had a diet of cultivated crops, particularly, maize (corn), but also sunflower, pumpkins and squash.  They hunted wild game and gathered wild plants.

 

·       The Caddo people like to focus on the decorating of the body. Men favored temporary body modifications such as painting of skin, jewelry, ear piercing or hair decorations like braids, mixed with bird feathers or animal fur.  Women of the tribe wore jewelry and styled their hair similarly to the men, most were more interested in tattooing their body.

 

·       Just like the other Native American tribes, the Caddo Indians had no immunity to the European disease.  With no immunity to these diseases they suffered high fatalities that decimated the tribal populations.  Influenza and malaria also severely devastated the Caddo People.

 

·       In 1859, many Caddo Peoples were relocated to Indian Territory north of Texas, in present day Oklahoma.

 

·       Late 19^th century, the Caddo People took up the “Ghost Dance Religion,” which was widespread among American Indigenous People, in the west.  John Wilson, a Caddo-Lenape Medicine Man who spoke only Caddo, was an influential leader, the Ghost Dance.