Chief Caddo - Importance of The Caddo Tribe

Importance of The Caddo Tribe

Historians say had it not been for the Caddo Indians, the Spanish and French colonists who came to the area would not have survived the onslaughts of Apache and Comanche warriors from the west, and the Natchez from the east. In addition, French and Spanish writers of the time said it was certain, wise Caddo chiefs made it possible for the colonists to live as neighbors while their mother countries were at war against each other.

Nacogdoches and Natchitoches both received their names from Caddo place names. In Caddo language "Na" simply means "place of." Nacogdoches is thought to mean "the place of places." Two myths exist about how the cities got their names. Both versions of the myth agree that an Indian chief with two sons sent one east and the other west, and they traveled the same distance and established villages. As for the folklore in question:

One version, as reported by historian Samuel Stewart Mims in "Rios Sabinas", credits the chief of an Adae Indian village on the Sabine River. The village was overpopulated and the chief ordered his two grown sons to report to him precisely at sunrise. He told one son to walk east and the other to walk west until the very moment of sunset. The sons were to establish a village at the place they reached. The son who went west wound up in a grove of persimmon trees, and named his village Nacogdoches, meaning persimmon. The eastbound son reached a grove of papaw trees and named his village Natchitoches, meaning papaw.

Another version says that the chief had twin sons, Nacogdoches and Natchitoches, and could not decide who would lead the tribe following his death. The chief split the tribe between them and sent each in different directions. They traveled for three days, one eastbound and one westbound, and wound up where the cities are located today.