History
The first documented contact with the Adai people happened in 1529 near the Gulf of Mexico by Spanish Explorer, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca. [10] While most of the nation was concentrated in Northern Louisiana and East Texas, their villages were located all around the Red River and Sabine River and could also be found in Oklahoma and Arkansas. Because of their spread-out nature, unlike other tribes, they had villages in both French and Spanish provinces. This not only influenced their culture, but unfortunately led to the near extermination of the tribe as they had to deal with multiple diseases and violent encounters with Spanish, French and other settlers. For years, many of the remaining tribe members lived in or around Natchitoches Parish. Today, members of the tribe are predominantly based in Louisiana and surrounding states. [11]
Caddo Adais Indians, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in Robeline, Louisiana, established May 1991. [12] The late Rufus Davis served as the organization's chief. [1]
State recognition
Governor Edwin Edwards created the Louisiana Office of Indian Affairs in 1972 through an executive order. [13] In the 1990s, the office designated the Adai Caddo Indians of Louisiana as a state-recognized tribe of the Adai people. [1] [14]
The state-recognized tribe is known by other names, including Caddo Adais Tribe [15] and the Adai Caddo Indian Nation. [9]
The Louisiana State Senate passed Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 16 in honor of the Caddo Adais Indians. [12]
Louisiana House Bill 660 established the Native American Commission in 2018 to promote Native American culture and identify needs facing that community. One member from each of the 15 recognized tribes serves on the commission. [16] The tribe's Vice Chief Deb Garrett serves on the board as secretary of the Native American Commission. [17]
The US Patent and Trademark Office issued the trademark Adai Caddo Indian Nation to the tribe. [18]
Nonprofit organizations
Caddo Adais Indians, Inc., organized as a nonprofit corporation in Robeline, Louisiana, in May 1991 [12] and in Houston, Texas, in October 1993. [3] Ann Davis of Houston, Texas, served as its principal officer. [2]
The Friends of Caddo Adais Indians, Inc., a nonprofit organization in Shreveport, Louisiana on October 1, 1992. E. Craig Kennedy served as the registered agent; however the nonprofit is inactive. [21]
Activity
The tribe maintains a cultural center and museum in Robeline, Louisiana. [26] The center is about five miles north of Los Adaes State Historic Site, [27] an early 18th-century Spanish mission and ancestral village of the Adai Indians. The museum houses hundreds of artifacts from the tribe's history. Among its artifacts are several gourd rattles that were carved, painted or decorated with beads and used in both prehistoric and modern ceremonies, as well as prehistoric containers for carrying food, water and herbs. Prehistoric cooking utensils, baby rattles and toys, war breastplates and traditional cradle boards are also on display. [28] Many of the artifacts were recovered in 1995 from the Los Adaes Station and in conjunction with Northwestern State University. [29]
The tribe hosts an annual powwow each October at its 80-acre ceremonial grounds in Robeline. [30] Nearly 3,000 visitors attend the powwow making it the largest festival in Robeline and the surrounding area. [31] [9]
Each spring, the tribe participates in the El Camino Real de los Tejas "SALE ON THE TRAIL". The tribe is located in Robeline near the El Camino Real and hosts seminars on the historic route connecting the Spanish and French colonies from Mexico to Louisiana. [32] [33]
Each Mother's Day, the tribe hosts a ceremony to honor their ancestors at St. Anne's Catholic Church and cemetery in Robeline. This tradition was taken from St. Augustine Parish (Isle Brevelle) Church, which hosts a similar ceremony on All Saints Day. Historically, St. Anne's Catholic Church was part of the St. Augustine Parish. On March 11, 1856, the mission of St. Augustine at Isle Brevelle was decreed by Bishop Auguste Martin to be a parish in its own right and assigned Fr. Francois Martin to be its first resident pastor. St. Augustine Church (also known as the Isle Brevelle Church) expanded to serve four other churches in the area, St. Charles Chapel at Bermuda, St. Joseph's Catholic Mission at Bayou Derbonne, St. Anne Chapel at Old River, and St. Anne Church (Spanish Lake) serving the Adai Caddo Indians. [34]
Natchitoches Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 37,515. The parish seat and most populous municipality is Natchitoches, the largest by land area is Ashland, and the most density populated area is Campti. The parish was formed in 1805.
Robeline is a village in western Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 183 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Natchitoches Micropolitan Statistical Area.
The Adai were a Native American people of northwestern Louisiana and northeastern Texas. They were an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands and part of the Caddo Confederacy.
Adai is an extinct Native American language that was spoken in northwestern Louisiana.
Los Adaes was the capital of Tejas (Texas) on the northeastern frontier of New Spain from 1721 to 1773. It included a Franciscan mission, San Miguel de Cuéllar de los Adaes, and a presidio, Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Los Adaes. The name Adaes derives from the indigenous Adai people, members of the Caddoan confederacy of Indians who were the people the missionaries aimed to convert to Christianity. The presidio and mission were established to counter French influence in Louisiana territory and defend New Spain from possible invasion or encroachment by the French. In 1763 Louisiana came under the control of Spain and the Los Adaes outpost was no longer necessary for defense. In 1773 the Spanish closed the mission and presidio and forced the population to move to San Antonio.
The Cane River is a 30-mile-long (48 km) river in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, originating from a portion of the Red River. Historically, in the 19th and 20th centuries, it gained prominence as the locus of a notable Creole de couleur (multiracial) culture, centered around the National Historic Landmark, Melrose Plantation, and the adjacent St. Augustine Parish Church.
Louis Antoine Juchereau de St. Denis was a French-Canadian soldier and explorer best known for his exploration and development of the Louisiana and Spanish Texas regions. He commanded a small garrison at Fort de la Boulaye on the lower Mississippi River, built in 1700, and founded Fort St Jean Baptiste de Natchitoches in northern La Louisiane, as they called the French colony.
The Cane River National Heritage Area is a United States National Heritage Area in the state of Louisiana. The heritage area is known for plantations featuring Creole architecture, as well as numerous other sites that preserve the multi-cultural history of the area. The heritage area includes the town of Natchitoches, Louisiana and its national historic district. Founded in 1714, it is the oldest community in the territory covered by the Louisiana Purchase. Cane River Creole National Historical Park, including areas of Magnolia and Oakland plantations, also is within the heritage area.
St. Augustine Catholic Church and Cemetery, or the Isle Brevelle Church, is a historic Catholic parish property founded in 1829 near Melrose, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. It is the cultural center of the Cane River area's historic French, Spanish, Native American and Black Creole community. It is also the oldest surviving Black Catholic church in the United States.
Fort St. Jean Baptiste State Historic Site in Natchitoches, Louisiana, US, is a replica of an early French fort based upon the original 1716 blueprints by Sieur Du Tisné with the improvements made in 1731 by Boutin. The French called the original fort: Fort Saint Jean Baptiste des Natchitoches. In the 1970's, the State of Louisiana anglicized the name to Fort Saint Jean Baptiste.
The St. Anne Church in the vicinity of Robeline, Louisiana is a historic church founded in the 1800s as a mission from the St. Augustine Parish Church of Isle Brevelle. The current building was built in 1916. It is located at the southwest corner of the intersection of LA 485 and Blosmoore Road. It was added to the National Register in 1994.
Isle Brevelle is an ethnically and culturally diverse community, which began as a Native American and Louisiana Creole settlement and is located in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. For many years this area was known as Côte Joyeuse. It is considered the birthplace of Creole culture and remains the epicenter of Creole art and literature blending European, African, and Native American cultures. It is home to the Cane River Creole National Historical Park and part of the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail.
Anne des Cadeaux (unknown—1754), was a Native American active in early colonial Louisiana, and was from one of the early Louisiana Creole families. She was a devout Catholic, and was enslaved but later gained her freedom.
Bayou Brevelle is a series of interconnected, natural waterways totaling over 18 miles in length in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. Its main channel is at Old River and Kisatchie Bayou at Montrose to Natchez near the Cane River. During heavy rains or floods, Bayou Brevelle joins the Cane River. The bayou is flanked by Interstate 49 on the west and the Cane River on the east, and is one of the many waterways on Isle Brevelle.
Brevelle Lake is a lake in Red River County, Texas. It is located near County Road 4621 and the towns of Avery, Texas and Annona, Texas. Below its dam is Shawnee Creek (Texas), which flows into the Sulphur River.
St. Anne Chapel at Old River is a historic Catholic chapel founded in the 1800s along the banks of Old River near Cypress and Isle Brevelle in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, serving the Old River community. It is the cultural and religious center of the area's Louisiana Creole people, predominantly of French descent.
St. Charles Chapel at Bermuda is a historic Catholic chapel founded in the early 1900s along the banks of the Cane River on Isle Brevelle in Natchitoches Parish serving the unincorporated community of Bermuda, Louisiana. It is the cultural and religious center of the area's Louisiana Creole people, predominantly of French descent.
St. Joseph's Catholic Mission at Bayou Derbonne is a historic Catholic mission founded in the 1800s along the banks of Bayou Derbonne near Montrose and Isle Brevelle in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, serving the Montrose and Cloutierville Creole community. It was the cultural and religious center of the area's Louisiana Creole people, predominantly of French descent.
Jean Baptiste Brevelle was a Parisian-born trader, explorer, and one of the first soldiers garrisoned at Fort St. Jean Baptiste des Natchitoches in present-day Natchitoches, Louisiana and Le Poste des Cadodaquious in Texas.
Jean Baptiste Brevelle II was a French and Native American explorer, translator and soldier of the militia at Fort St. Jean Baptiste des Natchitoches in present-day Natchitoches, Louisiana and Le Poste des Cadodaquious in Texas.
