BLEVINS, AR HISTORY
TOWN ORIGINS: THE CADDO INDIANS
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Areas in current day Hempstead County and Blevins, Arkansas were inhabited by the Caddo Indians. Shown below is information about the Caddo Indians and their ancestor cultures who lived in southwest Arkansas, including Hempstead County and the Blevins area until around 1800.
According to Wikipedia, "The Caddo are thought to be an extension of Woodland period peoples, the Fourche Maline and Mossy Grove cultures, whose members were living in the area of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas areas between 200 BCE and 800 CE.[9] The Wichita and Pawnee are also related to the Caddo, since both tribes historically spoke Caddoan languages.
By 800 CE, this society had begun to coalesce into the Caddoan Mississippian culture. Some villages began to gain prominence as ritual centers. Leaders directed the construction of major earthworks known as platform mounds, which served as temple mounds and platforms for residences of the elite. The flat-topped mounds were arranged around leveled, large, open plazas, which were usually kept swept clean and were often used for ceremonial occasions. As complex religious and social ideas developed, some people and family lineages gained prominence over others.
By 1000 CE, a society that is defined by archaeologists as "Caddoan" had emerged. By 1200, the many villages, hamlets, and farmsteads established throughout the Caddo world had developed extensive maize agriculture, producing a surplus that allowed for greater density of settlement.[9] In these villages, artisans and craftsmen developed specialties. The artistic skills and earthwork mound-building of the Caddoan Mississippians flourished during the 12th and 13th centuries."[1]
Source
1. “Caddo,” Wikipedia, February 19, 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caddo
Caddo Indian
Caddo Indian
Source: "Caddo Tribe." Legends of America.
Accessed March 1, 2024. https://www.legendsofamerica.com/caddo-tribe/
Caddo Grass Houses
Caddo Grass Houses
Source: "Caddo Tribe." Legends of America. Accessed March 1, 2024. https://www.legendsofamerica.com/caddo-tribe/
Caddo Village Scene
Caddo Village Scene
Source: "Caddo Tribe." Legends of America. Accessed March 1, 2024. https://www.legendsofamerica.com/caddo-tribe/
The following information is from "Legands of America" web site: "The Caddo lived in several tribal groups in southwest Arkansas and nearby areas of Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma from A.D. 1000 to about A.D. 1800. When visited by Spanish and French explorers around 1700, they were organized into three allied confederacies, the Kadohadacho on the great bend of the Red River, the Natchitoches in west Louisiana, and the Hasinai in east Texas. The Cahinnio, who were allies of the Kadohadacho, lived along the Ouachita River. Each confederacy was made up of independent communities, but all had similar languages and customs.
The Caddo were sedentary farmers who grew corn, beans, pumpkins, squashes, watermelons, sunflowers, and tobacco. Hunting for bear, deer, small mammals, and birds was important, as were fishing and gathering shellfish, nuts, berries, seeds, and roots. People who lived on the edge of the plains also hunted bison in the historic period. Bows, commonly made of Osage orange, or bois d'arc, wood, and stone or bone-tipped cane arrows were normal hunting equipment. People living near saline marshes or springs made salt by boiling brine in large shallow pans. Salt was used with food and was traded, along with bear oil or lard, bois d'arc bows, animal skins, and other goods to other Indians and European settlers. Horses and captives were also traded to the French for European goods in the early historic period. The Caddo also made elaborately decorated pottery vessels until metal and ceramic replacements were acquired from traders.
The Caddo were important trading partners and allies of both France and Spain during the colonial era. However, epidemic diseases; competition and occasional hostilities with the Osage, the Cherokee, and the Choctaw; and the westward spread of American settlement eventually encroached on their domain. The Ouachita valley communities moved shortly after A.D. 1700, the last Red River communities were abandoned in the late 1700s, and in the nineteenth century most Caddo were forced to move first to Texas and then to reservations in Indian Territory. A large number of Caddos now live near Binger, Oklahoma, where their modern tribal center is located."[2]
Source:
2 "Caddo Tribe." Legends of America. Accessed March 1, 2024. https://www.legendsofamerica.com/caddo-tribe/
Caddo Vessels (1 of 4)
This is a typical prehistoric Caddo vessel found on the old Duckett place on the outskirts of Blevins.
It most likely dates around 1200 AD.
Caddo Vessels (2 of 4)
This is a typical prehistoric Caddo vessel found on the old Duckett place on the outskirts of Blevins.
It most likely dates around 1200 AD.
Caddo Vessels (3 of 4)
This is a typical prehistoric Caddo vessel found on the old Duckett place on the outskirts of Blevins.
It most likely dates around 1200 AD.
Caddo Vessels (4 of 4)
This is a typical prehistoric Caddo vessel found on the old Duckett place on the outskirts of Blevins.
It most likely dates around 1200 AD.
"Certain Caddo Sites in Arkansas" is a book that documents Caddo Indian sites research in the early 1900's in southwest Arkansas, including research around Ozan, Arkansas. Note: Ozan is approx. 8 miles from Blevins "as the crow flies".
A "thank you" goes to Rick Steed who made the administrator of this website aware of this book and provided a hard copy of the book. The book was subsequently found in this on-line version of the book. [3]
More details about the background of this book can be found at the following Library of Congress web site: https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcmassbookdig.certaincaddosite00harr/?st=pdf&pdfPage=1
Source:
3 Harrington, M. R. Certain Caddo sites in Arkansas. New York, Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, 1920. Pdf. Accessed March 1, 2024 https://www.loc.gov/item/21007827/
The following are links to other web sites that provide additional information about the Caddo Indians:
https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/woodland-period-543/
https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/prehistoric-caddo-548/
https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/caddo-nation-549/
https://www.redriverhistorian.com/post/the-city-of-the-dead-in-ozan-hempstead-county-arkansas
https://archeology.uark.edu/indiansofarkansas/index.html?pageName=The+Caddo+Indians
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