A SURVEY OF HISTORIC CADDO SITES IN NACOGDOCHES COUNTY, TEXAS

This review was originally prepared for presentation to the East Texas Caddo Research Group held in Nacogdoches, Texas on December 2 and 3, 2006. The primary purpose of this article is to summarize the archaeological resources currently known relating to the Historic Caddo period of Nacogdoches County. No attempt is made here to provide analysis of the data or to draw synthetic conclusions. The author's hope is that this survey will be helpful to workers in this area of inquiry by speeding access to available resources and exposing possible research problems.


Introduction
Nacogdoches County lies at one of the epicenters of Hasinai interaction with Europeans during the Historic Caddo Period (ca. A.D. 1680-1850. Although the DeSoto/Moscoso expedition may have traveled in the area during the 1540s and LaSalle's party almost certainly walked through portions of the county between Cenis (the French word for the Hasinai) and the Nasoni village in the 1680s, no substantial and full time European presence occurred until Fray de Espinosa founded Mission Concepcion on July 7, 1716 near the principal village of the Hainai on the Angelina River. Days later Fray Margil, also of the Ramon expedition, established Mission Guadalupe in the present-day City of Nacogdoches and Mission San Jose to the Nasoni near Cushing and a few hundred m north of the Nacogdoches County line.
A re-supply expedition by Martin de Alarcon in 1718 did little to aid the missions stressed by disease and drought. After Spain and France re-engaged in European warfare, the Spanish East Texas missions collapsed back to Bexar following a minor skinnish with the French known as the "Chicken War" in 1719. The missions in Nacogdoches County were reopened by the Aguayo Expedition in 1721 and were strengthened by the re-location of Presidio Dolores from near the Neches River (and Mission San Francisco) to Legg Creek about a league east of Mission Concepcion. The three western Queretaran missions and the presidio were again closed and removed back to Bexar by 1730 after a negative inspection review from Pedro de Rivera y Villalon in 1727. The Zacatacan Mission Guadalupe to the Nacogdoche remained in ministry until 1773.
Gil Y Barbo led a group of settlers originally from Presidio Los Adaes, and living for several years on the Trinity River at Bucareli, back into East Texas in 1779 and established the Spanish town of Nacogdoches not far from the old Mission Guadalupe. For the next 40 years there existed a dynamic interaction around Nacogdoches between the Caddo (whose numbers had been greatly reduced by devastating epidemics), new immigrant Native American groups, the Spanish settlers, and the French traders who had been in and out of the area since the mid-18rh century. The flood of Anglo-Americans into East Texas following Mexican Independence in 1821 and Texas Independence 15 years later resulted in depredations and forceful removal of native peoples in East Texas. Some Hasinai people married Europeans and stayed in the county in pockets near C hireno and along Morral Creek. Other small groups may have stayed until the 1840s on small fannsteads.
The net effect of contact with Europeans on Hasinai Caddo society and life ways can only be seen as ultimately catastrophic for groups that lived in the area. But the archaeological data illuminating the processes and changes in the aboriginal culture during the Historic Caddo period are spotty and often poorly analyzed. The purpose of this article is to describe the known archaeological sites related to the Historic Caddo in Nacogdoches County and to sketch some of the data currently available concerni ng their material culture. This information may be useful in our understanding methods of identifying Historic sites and in helping formulate the most efficient strategies/questions for future research.

Previous Reviews
The three key earl y Spanish sites in Nacogdoches County, namely Mi ssions Concepcion and Guadalupe and Presidio Dolores, have not been identified in the modern era. Three prior lists have been made of Hi storic Caddo sites in the county. These will be described here:

Summary of Current Revi ew
For thi s article, 29 sites have been identified (often overlapping with the previous lists). Table 1 enumerates the sites, the major drainage in which the sites are located, the presence of historic European artifacts, and some description of the main artifact types.
Because surface treatment of utility ceramic wares may prove to be a helpful tool in distingui shing various Hi storic Caddo groups, three statistics are presented as part of Table l providing some measurement of the frequency of brushing as a decorative or functional surface treatment: (1)% Br is simply the percentage of all sherds with brushing as the o nly surface treatment; (2) Br/PI is the ratio of brushed sherds to plain/undecorated sherds; and (3) %Br!Br+Pl is the percentage of the sherds with brushing out of all sherds that do not have the more elaborate decorative styles such as incised, engraved, or punctated. This percentage is comparable to, but usually hi gher than, the "% Brushed" figure.  Figure 1 displays the approximate locations of the 29 sites. Sixteen sites are considered to be confirmed Historic Caddo sites on the basis of European trade goods; 13 are possible Historic Caddo sites but currently lack evidence of European material. The sites will be described in groups based upon the drainages they are found in as these may represent individual constituent groups (but this assumption needs to be tested). There are seven sites in the Angelina River drainage, three in the Legg Creek drainage, 12 in the Loco Bayou, five in the Lanana, and two in the Attoyac Bayou drainage. The reported sites have received varying levels of investigation: seven have seen controlled excavation; six sites have received limited testing with shovel tests, few small excavation units, or backhoe trenching; 12 have only been surface collected, and four have received unknown levels of field study.
,\ ~ , only modest archaeological evidence for Historic Caddo has been reported in this drainage. The two sites near the river with European beads mentioned by A. T. Jackson in the 1930s have never been found on the ground. Two other sites with recent locational confirmation are up side tributaries and some distance from the main river channel. Three other sites near the confluence of Legg Creek (recorded by Tom and Janice Mayhew) hold some promise for future investigation but as yet cannot be identified as Historic Caddo with any certainty.

41NA6
Dorsey Site Research Potential: A. T. Jackson's ceramic collection is available in TARL. Whereabouts of burial material is unknown . Current landowners have given permission for field work at the site. Site is currently endangered by gas well drilling that is ongoing at the time of this writing.

41NA53
Legg Creek #10 Of the 19 sites, seven had artifacts from early 1900s house refuse, two had 1800s historic components, four yielded minimal Caddo artifacts, two were clearly Archaic, and eight were non-specific lithic scatters. The most important site found on the large tract of International Paper land was "MC-8," which is an early to mid-1800s structure and possibly the location of Samuel Davenport's rancho. Two sites, "MC-12" and "MC-21" may be a part of a Caddo community in the vicinity of the yet-to-be-discovered Mission. Findings from these two sites are too limited to be included in the current review.

Legg Creek Sites
The three Legg Creek sites were recorded by the Mayhews and investigated by Dr. James Corbin. While no historic European artifact" were recovered in this area. these sites may have been on the major trail from the Angelina River to Nacogdoches and may have been near the Presidio Dolores.

41NA33
Legg Research Potential: Small collection available at T ARL. Additional fieldwork at the site may be useful ; landowner is currently unknown.

Bayou Loco Sites
The Bayou Loco basin has the highest number of Historic and possible Historic Caddo sites in large measure due to the tireless efforts of avocational archaeologists Tom and Janice Mayhew in the 1970s and the Lake Nacogdoches project. But the high number of sites may also reflect some historical realities.
Conclusion: Historic Caddo site, Allen phase Research Potential: Extensive collection is available at TARL. Decorated sherds need to be re-analyzed. Site is unavailable; under waters of Lake Nacogdoches.

Comments
The overall number of Historic Caddo sites known in Nacogdoches County is relatively small. Sites generally are clustered in the western portions of the county, especially along Bayou Loco and Legg Creek. Future analysis of sites along individual streams and comparison to other cluster of sites may begin to help us understand the archaeological signature of individual constituent groups. Aggressive site-seeking surveys of the eastern one-half of the county (and the Moral and Alazan basins) are needed.
Historic Caddo sites cannot simply be defined by the presence of European trade materials; only one historic artifact was recovered in 22 cubic meters of deposit at the Henry M site while only four beads were recovered at Deshazo in 163 cubic meters of excavated archaeological deposits. Understanding the Caddo ceramics of Historic native sites will be essential for workers in this area.