All Around Arkansas: The Story of Saracen

                    

                  

                    A few weeks ago, my wife and I made an overnight work trip to Pine Bluff. Across from our hotel was the Saracen Casino Resort. Opened in 2020 on a former soybean field, the complex is owned by the Quapaw Nation of Oklahoma. Being a student of Arkansas history, I knew the Quapaw were one of the three Indian tribes (along with the Caddo and Osage) that inhabited the lands that would become our state. What I didn’t know was the story behind the namesake of the casino and thus began my search to find out.

                    The Quapaw came from the Ohio River Valley to what became Arkansas around 1200 B.C. We can thank the Quapaw for our state’s name; the Native Americans from the upper portion of the Mississippi River referred to the Quapaw as the "Akansea," which meant "the downriver people." The French exploration team of Marquette and Joliet encountered the Quapaw during their journey in the late 1600s through the lands of the lower Mississippi River and referred to them as the "Arcansas." Years later, English settlers who arrived in the land of the Quapaw took the French word and modified it to Arkansas.

                    According to early historians, the man known as Saracen was born around 1673 at Arkansas Post to a French father and Quapaw mother. But because he was not a full-blooded Quapaw, many of the Native Americans did not consider him as such. Noted Arkansas historian Morris S. Arnold wrote that although he was beloved by the European settlers, Saracen "did not fare nearly so well among most of the Quapaws.”

                    Around 1820, Saracen became a legendary hero after rescuing two young children kidnapped by members of the Chickasaw tribe from a white family who lived near what is now Pine Bluff. According to published accounts, once Saracen heard of the abduction, he floated down the Arkansas River the night of the kidnapping and located a Chickasaw camp near Arkansas Post. In the darkness and still of the night, Saracen lifted his tomahawk and gave the Quapaw battle cry, scaring the Chickasaw, which caused them to flee the camp and leave the children behind. For his brave efforts, Saracen was honored by the Governor of the Territory of Arkansas, James Miller, and was also appointed by Miller as chief of the Quapaw, even though Saracen had no hereditary claim to the position and Miller had no authority in the eyes of the natives to make him their leader.

            As the federally recognized chief of the Quapaws, Saracen signed the Treaty of 1833, which relinquished the tribe’s claim to their land in the Arkansas Territory in exchange for 150 sections of land in what was known as Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma.

            After his participation in the Treaty of 1833, details of Saracen’s life are sketchy. There is even confusion about when he died. Saracen’s tombstone, located at St. John’s Catholic Cemetery in Pine Bluff, says he died in 1832 at age 97. But this date cannot be true because he signed the Treaty of 1833. The Quapaw Nation's official account of Saracen’s life says he died in 1834 just before the removal of all the Quapaw to Indian Territory.

            Now if you ever visit the Saracen Casino in Pine Bluff, you’ll know the story of its namesake — a man who is not only an important figure in Quapaw history, but also the history of our great state.

            A proud sixth-generation Arkansan, Darrell W. Brown is a lover of all things Arkansas. He lives on beautiful Lake Norrell in Saline County with his wife, Amy, and their two beloved Boston Terriers. Find him on Facebook and Instagram at AllAroundArkansas.