by Eric Rivet
The
first settlers of the Caddo Parish area were the various tribes of the Caddo
Nation. These peaceful tribes remained largely undisturbed, despite European
explorations, until the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Soon after the purchase,
U. S. Indian Agents persuaded the remaining Caddo Indians to sell their claims
to the area and move west.
White settlement in the Caddo Parish region was slow at first. The area was
difficult to reach due to the Great Raft, a 160-mile long logjam in the Red
River. Once Captain Henry Miller Shreve removed the jam in the 1830s, the
Caddo Parish region’s population began to grow rapidly. The first major
settlement in the area was Shreve Town (soon renamed Shreveport), in 1836.
The town served as an international border town and gateway into Mexican-owned
Texas.
The state legislature created Caddo Parish on June 19, 1843, with Shreveport
as the parish seat. Once Louisiana joined the Confederacy, Shreveport became
the headquarters of the Trans-Mississippi Department. Soon after, in May
1862, Shreveport became the capital of Confederate Louisiana when Baton Rouge
fell to Union forces. Caddo Parish also saw the last surrender of Confederate
arms when General E. Kirby Smith surrendered his army at Shreveport on May
26, 1865.
Like much of the defeated South, Caddo Parish faced hard times after the
Civil War. The parish was economically unstable until the discovery of large
quantities of oil beginning in 1901. This discovery produced great wealth
for the parish, which helped it to weather the Great Depression. The establishment
of Barksdale Air Field near Shreveport also helped Caddo Parish during the
1930s.
Although the oil industry began to decline in the 1960s, Caddo Parish continues
to flourish today. It is home to several major manufacturing plants in addition
to Barksdale AFB. The parish also contains two major colleges, as well as
several extensions of other universities located throughout the state.
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