BOBBY ARDOIN Editor/Consulting Writer
The Civil War years in St. Landry Parish from 1861 until 1865, featured an array of personalities that included marauding Jayhawkers, several European immigrants that fought for the Confederacy and a Black U.S. Congressman elected during Reconstruction.
A detailed examination of the roles those individuals played parishwide and the underlying social and cultural aspects operating in St. Landry during the War Between the States, was presented Saturday by University of Louisiana-Lafayette history graduate student Kallie Johnston.
Johnston, who is also working as an intern at the Opelousas Museum And Interpretive Center, explained the roles of people and events that influenced the lives of parish residents as military engagements took place both locally and in adjoining Southern states.
The presentation by Johnston, which attracted a small group, was held in the Civil War artifacts room at the museum.
Johnston told her audience that she has become fascinated by local stories of people that were involved with shaping the Acadiana area.
It is a misconception Johnston explained, that all persons living in the South and St. Landry were ardent supporters of the Confederate viewpoint.
While wealthy parish planters more ardently supported the cause of the Confederacy, many of the poorer white farmers in St. Landry acted more indifferent about seeing the war conducted on such a large national scale, Johnston pointed out.
When Southern secession was declared in 1861, Johnston said St. Landry and Louisiana had more free people of color than most other Confederate states.
Complicating St. Landry’s reaction to the conflict, Johnston said, was the large number of slaves living in the parish by 1860.
Although Opelousas briefly served as the Confederate capital for several months in 1862, Johnston said St. Landry had its share of prospective soldiers who were not enthusiastic about becoming soldiers fighting for the South.
Many of those males potentially slated for conscription headed to the western boundaries of the parish and into border areas that now include Sabine River parishes and joined unaffiliated militia groups that included free Blacks, draft dodgers, mulattoes and escaped slaves, often preyed on inhabitants, stealing livestock and other personal property.
One of the more infamous miscreants operating along the Cajun prairies and labeled the Robin Hood of the Mallet Woods, was Ozeme Carriere, said Johnston.
Carriere’s group was often endangered, as military officials from both sides sought their location.
Charles Edward Nash of Opelousas served a two-year term as a Republican U.S. representative during Reconstruction. Nash became the only Black Congressman from Louisiana until 1991. Nash, who died in 1913, is buried in Washington, La., where he briefly served as postmaster of the town.
Johnston also explored the lives of Opelousas newspaper editor Leonce Sandoz and Lawrence Levy, whose families were pre-Civil War emigrants from Europe.
Sandoz edited a primarily pro-Democratic Party newspaper until 1910, while Levy, who operated as a roving Jewish merchant after the War, was injured during the Battle of Shiloh in 1862, said Johnston.
On prominent display for the group that attended were several military charts which listed the names of parish residents who fought for Confederate regiments. Also included were two listings for several all-Black infantry regiments that fought for the Union,
One of the Union-dedicated Black regiments was the 1st Corps D’Afrique heavy artillery regiment, while other 1st Corps D’Afirque, a regimental infantry outfit.
View photo gallery on St. Landry Now by Freddie Herpin
