The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture
ANADARKO.
The Anadarko (Nadaco) were an American Indian tribe indigenous to Texas and whose descendants are now members of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma. Recognized as Kadohadacho or "the Caddo Proper" since the nineteenth century, an estimated 449 Anadarkos resided in Oklahoma, mostly in Caddo County, circa 1950. The Caddo County seat of Anadarko was named for the tribe.
Spaniards first reported the "Nondacao" in East Texas in 1542. By 1700 the tribe had joined the Hasinai, one of three Caddo "confederations" (the Kadohadacho and the Natchitoches were the others). While most Hasinai dwelled near the upper Neches and Angelina rivers, the Anadarko lived farther north along the Sabine River. All Caddo shared the same language and culture.
The Anadarko were located at the forks of the Trinity River when Texas independence was declared in 1836. Their unfriendly relations with the Republic of Texas culminated when Texas troops drove the Anadarko into Indian Territory (present Oklahoma) in winter 1838–39. The tribe returned to Texas in 1843 and settled on the Brazos River. After Texas statehood, in 1846 the United States negotiated a treaty with the tribes of that region. The Anadarko were represented by Iesh (José María), who had emerged as the principal Caddo leader. Hostilities continued, however, and white settlers soon overran the Anadarko.
The Anadarko were placed on the Brazos Reservation near Fort Belknap, Texas, in 1854. They, along with the Waco, Tonkawa, and other tribes, were removed to the Indian Territory in 1859 and put under the jurisdiction of the Wichita Agency in the Leased District. Following the death of the pro-Confederate Iesh in 1862, most Anadarko fled to Kansas during the Civil War. They returned to the Wichita Agency in 1867 and were thereafter known as Caddo. The Wichita-Caddo reservation was established in 1872 and was allotted to 965 individuals, including 536 Caddos, in 1901. The Anadarko, Kadohadacho, and Hasinai formed the Caddo Indian Tribe of Oklahoma in 1938.
See Also
Learn More
J. Daniel Rogers and George Sabo III, "Caddo," in Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 14, Southeast, ed. Raymond D. Fogelson (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2004).
F. Todd Smith, The Caddo Indians: Tribes at the Convergence of Empires, 1542–1854 (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1995).
F. Todd Smith, The Caddos, the Wichitas, and the United States, 1846–1901 (College Station: Texas A&M Press, 1996).
Muriel H. Wright, A Guide to the Indian Tribes of Oklahoma (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1951).
Citation
The following (as per The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition) is the preferred citation for articles:
Jon D. May, “Anadarko (tribe),” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=AN001.
Published January 15, 2010
© Oklahoma Historical Society
