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The Caddo Indians Tribes at the Convergence of Empires, 1542–1854 by F. Todd Smith |
In 1542 members of the thriving Caddo Indian culture came face to face with Spanish explorer Luis de Moscoso and his party. From then on, their history was heavily influenced by interaction with the adventurous emigrants from various European empires.
This work is the first to focus intensively on the Caddos of the Texas-Louisiana border area and to include all three of the Caddo confederacies—Kadohadacho, Hasinai, and Natchitoches. Primarily from the perspective of the Caddos themselves, it traces their relations with each successive claimant of their land.
Caught between Euro-American nations, the Caddos consolidated the confederacies and eventually sacrificed their independence and much of their culture to gain the benefits offered by the invaders. Falling victim to swindlers, they lost their remaining lands and were moved to a reservation.
This new view of the Caddos offers insight into European and American dealings with native peoples and how even the most sophisticated tribes' efforts to cope successfully with the new order of their world were futile.
" . . . exquisitely researched and written . . . All told, this is a choice reference."—East Texas Historical Journal
" . . . a succinct chronological account of the Caddo Indians. . . . He ably details the Caddo decline from a power position, and the maps he provides are a definite bonus. Readers of The Caddo Indians will be rewarded with a new understanding of the contest for control of the Texas-Louisiana borderlands and of the Caddo people who lived there first."—Journal of American History
F. TODD SMITH's articles on Caddo history include two prize-winning studies. He earned his doctorate from Tulane University and is now assistant professor of history at Xavier University of Louisiana.
Number Fifty-six: Centennial Series of the Association of Former Students, Texas A&M University
The Caddo Indians
+ ISBN 0-89096-981-7, paper, $17.95s
LC 94-41590. 6x9. 240 pp. 6 maps. Bib. Index.
American History. Native American Studies. Multicultural Topics. Southern History.
Publication Date: April 1995.
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