Centenary College of Louisiana - Yoncopin Yearbook (Shreveport, LA)

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One of the least known but one of the most beautiful legends of the Caddo Indians is the story of the Silver Water. A Caddo brave, young and strong and respected by his tribe, fell in love with the daughter of the chieftain of the Avoyed tribe. At that time the two tribes were engaged in open warfare and the union seemed impossible. The parents of both lovers refused their consent. Such was the strength of their love and so great their determination, however, that they decided to run away, to renounce their family ties and their allegiance to their tribe for a greater love. The father of the Indian maiden discovered that his daughter had gone. He pursued her and her lover. He gained in his race until he was almost upon them. When it seemed that her father would overtake them and their happiness would be destroyed, the brave and his sweetheart stopped and invoked the Great Spirit to send some protection. The Great Spirit heeded their prayer, and between the two lovers and the father of the maiden there suddenly appeared a great body of silvery water. It gleamed and glimmered in the sun. It sparkled with cool ripples of silver. The prayer had been answered; the Great Spirit had looked with favor upon the Caddo brave. The father of the maiden perceived the blessing of the union. He bowed before the power of a greater will. He received his daughter again and the Caddo brave for his son. The Silver water remained, however, even after its purpose had been served. Its silvery surface reflected the beauty of the sky and of the Louisiana landscape. It reminded the Indians of the favor of the Great Spirit. The lake, which was called the Silver Water, was an actual part of old Shreve- port. Until a short time ago it filled the lowlands which have since become our business district. Its exact location was that part of the town where the Elks club and the L. A. depot are located today. This legend, interesting as it is, is little known to the people of Shreveport. For it we are indebted to Mrs. Maud Hearne Pry who has recently written a his- tory of Shreveport. The history of the Indian is a tragic one, but there are pages where the tragedy is glorified by the dauntless courage of the Red Man and there are ch apters where he arises triumphant even over death. The legend of the Pascha Ongoulas is the story of such a victory. When the Pascha Ongoulas (called the French Pascagoulas) saw the steady advance of the white man, and realized that because of wars with the Biloxi Indians and the white man each year brought about the lessening of their power, they decided that they would destroy themselves. They were becoming ex- tinct; their race was doomed, but they wanted to die as they had lived, with courage and spirit unbroken. They determined to clasp hands and to walk into the sea, sing- ing the song of death. This was, in all probability, about 1820. There were only twenty families in 1794 when that region was first settled. They had first settled on the western side of the Mississippi, then later at the confluence of the Gigolet du Bon Dieu and the lied River. Under Chief Louis de Blanc, they occupied the lower part of this ten i- tory, but their principal village was Mount Pleasant. They spoke a language peculiar to themselves while the Biloxi, their enemies, spoke Mobilian. When Baron Caron- delet wished to assemble them to elect a chief and locate on the Catahoula Bayou they determined to move and sold their lands. L27J

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INDIAN LORE Louisiana is rich in folk lore. No other state can point to a more glorious past or to a more romantic history. The flags of Spain and of France once flew over her territory: the pages of her history are rich with names of valorous men. The state itself is the open stage on which great dramas have heen played. The beauty of cy- press and of pine forests has formed the background; the men of many nations have acted the roles. Greater than the records of any war, more vital than the account of any industrial or commercial progress is the glorious but half unknown treasure of Louisiana tradition. It is for us who love the state to make the story known. It is for us who have seen the beauty of her sunsets and the splendor of her dawns and the clear unclouded skies above her forests 1 to learn and to appreciate her history. We must awaken in our hearts a love for the spiritual beauty as well as the natural beauty of our state. There is no other chapter in the history of Louisiana that holds more interest and more color than that which tells the story of the Indian. Everywhere in the L ' nited States recently, there has been an awakened appreciation for the civilization and the accomplishment of the Red Man. Everywhere there has been an effort made to undo the ruthless destruction wrought by the white man and to excavate from the ruins of the Indian race the true story of its greatness. Louisiana is especially wealthy in Indian tradition. There is a veritable store house of legends and tales which should interest every native of the South. It is our purpose in the Centenary Yoncopin of 1926 to dedicate our efforts to an appreciation of this part of our history, and it is our hope that we may arouse in others the spirit of interest and admiration which has attracted us to this theme. The people of Northern Louisiana should find especial interest in the Caddo Indians. Not only are they an unusual, an almost unique tribe, but they were very important in the history of Shreveport. The Caddo Indians were a quiet, pastoral, peaceful tribe. They lacked whollv the nomadic disposition and hunling instincts of most Indian nations. They were content to settle in one place, to cultivate and enjoy that land until a scarcity of water or other urgent causes impelled them to go on. Either the Caddo tribe lacked the fanciful imagination of most Red Men or they were particularly secretive, for they have failed to pass down to us any great collection of romantic stories. They do not lack interest, however, even though this failure to hand down tra- ditions has led some to the belief that the Caddos were not a full-blooded Indian tribe. The body of the last chief of the Caddo nation was washed up in 1888 at Stony Point. About the head and arms there were bands and bracelets of silver which led one to speculation concerning their origin. Were there silversmiths among these Indians or were the ornaments purchased from the Spanish? The Caddo language is known from the vocabulary and the speech of the survivors, the Natchitoches and the Yatosi. These tribes were their relatives and, according to one writer, Caddo was the lamuia e of trade. [26]

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The end of the tribe was dramatic and beautiful. Clasping hands and singing the death song as they marched, they moved together into the mouth of the Pasca- goula River, and the waters closed over them. Another race passed from the eternal stage, but the memory of their valor lingered on, and even today the waters at that point sing a plaintive echo of their last song. The Mysterious Music of the Pascagoulas has been given no other explanation. Folk lore throughout all ages exhibits one char acteristic always prevalent. The people of the soil have recognized their close kinship to nature and have, in one degree or another, worshipped natural beauty. The religion of the Red Man, simple, sincere and powerful, recognized the sanctity of trees. According to the Indian there were four Sacred Trees in the world. One was at the mouth of the Mississippi, one on the eastern seashore, one at the entrance of Vermilion Bay; and one at Hi ' pinimc on Grand Lake. The last was a cypress. The Indians revered these trees and it was believed that any one who splashed water on them would be drenched by a thunder- storm. These beliefs were especially strong when, after a man had tied his boat to the cypress tree and even committed the sacrilege of cutting off a limb, the region was visited by a particularly rainy season and the crops suffered greatly from the storms. Not only did the Indians revere natural beauty but they had temples to their gods and much in their religion bears a striking resemblance to our own. The greater part of the nations of Louisiana, including the Caddo Indians, had temples. In all these places of worship there was perpetual fire. The small, simple temples of the less powerful nations could have been mistaken for cabins had it not been for two wooden posts at the door. The door was a swinging one, but at each end there was a fragment of wood planted in the ground to prevent the children from entering the temple and playing there. The door was so heavy that only a strong man could lift it. There were always other distinguishing features, such as dishes and small eleva- tions where bodies were buried. All nations buried their dead in the earth or in tombs near the temple. To illustrate the similarity of the Indian ' s religion to other forms, one might mention the fact that the Atakopas believed that they came out of the sea and that a prophet inspired by the Great Spirit laid down the rules of conduct to their first ancestors (peres). They also believed that those who obeyed the author of all things by doing no evil would go above while the disobedient would descend into the earth in the shades. Other objects of worship in the religion of the Indian were the nine gods — the sun, fire, the gods of the east, the north, the south, and the west, and the gods of heaven and of earth. These are but a few of the many legends of the various tribes. Their languages, their customs, their stories are many and varied. It is to be hoped that before the story of the Indian is forgotten, there will be an interest and a love for his culture which will direct some to the preservation of his tradition. Many nations have evolved a high degree of civilization and culture which have been destroyed care- lessly by its successors. Let not this be our mistake. Tradition is a golden heritage and from the past we may learn to build a more glorious future. F28J