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Acadiana Diary: Cajuns got special scorn from soldiers of the Civil War
Jim Bradshaw
jbradshaw@theadvertiser.com
Fully half of the wealth of the state - railroads, plantations, farm buildings, livestock, mills, stores, homes - was stolen, torn down, burned or ransacked.
There was nothing left in Acadiana when the war was over. The reason was explained by one Union soldier who marched through. He wrote in his diary: "Never did an army make cleaner work than ours. ... Our boys drove to the rear every pony and mule, every ox and cow and sheep. They did not leave, on average, two chickens to a plantation. Whenever they encamped, the fences served as beds and firewood."
Roads were in disrepair, damaged levees allowed the barren land to flood, there was no seed for crops, no money to buy more. People were desperate and apparently took desperate measures to survive.
Historian Michael Wade points out, "The country was dotted with plantations, large and small, shorn of fencing, stock, provisions and equipment. Cattle and other creatures could not be kept away from growing crops. Some crops could not be grown."
The situation was ripe for bands of former Confederate soldiers to run rampant through the countryside, preying on locals as well as their former enemies. And the sad state of affairs sometimes put local people at odds with the federal troops that had stayed in South Louisiana to maintain the peace.
To begin with, the troops required rations that were already scarce, and they got theirs before the local people got any. The troops seemed to particularly dislike the Cajuns, who appeared to be especially innovative in getting what they could.
Col. Charles Ledyard Norton, the Connecticut soldier who was assigned to keep peace in the New Iberia area, regarded the Cajuns as "wholly treacherous," reporting to a commission that was supposed to take care of the destitute, that Cajuns "will many of them swear to anything in order to obtain rations."
Lt. Lorenzo Cook, stationed in Breaux Bridge, wanted to be transferred to the Wild West rather than stay in South Louisiana. He said he'd rather be among the Comanches than the Cajuns, "who had now come home to nothing and now attempt to take whatever they want or need."
Another officer who was sent into Calcasieu Parish to investigate stories of unlawful goings-on reported back that as far as he could find, no law had ever existed there to begin with.
ARTICLE FROM THE LAFAYETTE, LA. DAILY ADVERTISER
CECIL HEBERT
Jim Bradshaw
jbradshaw@theadvertiser.com
Fully half of the wealth of the state - railroads, plantations, farm buildings, livestock, mills, stores, homes - was stolen, torn down, burned or ransacked.
There was nothing left in Acadiana when the war was over. The reason was explained by one Union soldier who marched through. He wrote in his diary: "Never did an army make cleaner work than ours. ... Our boys drove to the rear every pony and mule, every ox and cow and sheep. They did not leave, on average, two chickens to a plantation. Whenever they encamped, the fences served as beds and firewood."
Roads were in disrepair, damaged levees allowed the barren land to flood, there was no seed for crops, no money to buy more. People were desperate and apparently took desperate measures to survive.
Historian Michael Wade points out, "The country was dotted with plantations, large and small, shorn of fencing, stock, provisions and equipment. Cattle and other creatures could not be kept away from growing crops. Some crops could not be grown."
The situation was ripe for bands of former Confederate soldiers to run rampant through the countryside, preying on locals as well as their former enemies. And the sad state of affairs sometimes put local people at odds with the federal troops that had stayed in South Louisiana to maintain the peace.
To begin with, the troops required rations that were already scarce, and they got theirs before the local people got any. The troops seemed to particularly dislike the Cajuns, who appeared to be especially innovative in getting what they could.
Col. Charles Ledyard Norton, the Connecticut soldier who was assigned to keep peace in the New Iberia area, regarded the Cajuns as "wholly treacherous," reporting to a commission that was supposed to take care of the destitute, that Cajuns "will many of them swear to anything in order to obtain rations."
Lt. Lorenzo Cook, stationed in Breaux Bridge, wanted to be transferred to the Wild West rather than stay in South Louisiana. He said he'd rather be among the Comanches than the Cajuns, "who had now come home to nothing and now attempt to take whatever they want or need."
Another officer who was sent into Calcasieu Parish to investigate stories of unlawful goings-on reported back that as far as he could find, no law had ever existed there to begin with.
ARTICLE FROM THE LAFAYETTE, LA. DAILY ADVERTISER
CECIL HEBERT