USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume II > Part 1
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REYNOLDS ISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
1
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02305 2365
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LOUISIANA
Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form
EDITED BY ALCEE FORTIER, LIT. D. PROFESSOR OF ROMANCE LANGUAGES IN TULANE UNIVERSITY
IN TWO VOLUMES WITH A SUPPLEMENTARY VOLUME OF CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY
VOLUME II
ATLANTA SOUTHERN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 1909
45430
563
1764732
F 876 .306
Fortier, Alcée, 1856- ed.
Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form; ed. by Alcce Fortier ... In two volumes, with a supplementary volume of contemporary biography. Atlanta, Southern historical association, 1909-
v. front. (port. ) 28°m.
THE CARO 1. Louisiana-Dictionaries and encyclopedias.
GC 776.3 F77?
FARVE VI3
9-31665
210030-1 Library of Congress F367.F74 -
-- Copy 2.
@ Dec. 6, 1909 : 2c. Dec. 10, 1909, A 252826: Selwyn A. Brant, Madison, Wis.
9-31
COPYRIGHT, 1909 BY SELWYN A. BRANT
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Laark, a post-village and station in the northeast corner of More- house parish, is situated on Coffee bayou and the Arkansas & Gulf R. R., 25 miles northeast of Bastrop, the parish seat. It is the ship- ping and supply point for the northeastern part of Morehouse and the northwestern part of. West Carroll parishes.
Labadieville, a village of Assumption parish, is situated on the Southern Pacific R. R .. near the southeastern boundary, 8 miles southeast of Napoleonville, the parish seat. in the sugar district. It has a bank, a money order postoffice, express office, telegraph sta- tion, telephone facilities, good schools, several mercantile establish- ments, and in 1900 had a population of 440.
Labor Troubles .- At various times, in different localities in the State of Louisiana, there have been labor strikes, caused by general discontent among the workmen or through some misunderstanding with their employers. In some of these disturbances the race ques- tion entered, but the majority of them were simply strikes for higher wages or better conditions. It is not the purpose of this article to give a history of all the labor troubles that have taken place within the state, but only to deal with the most important-those which have disturbed the general peace of the community in which they occurred, or were sufficiently far-reaching in their effects to work an injury to commerce or industry.
The first labor problem presented itself soon after President Lin- coln issued his emancipation proclamation. Prior to that time most of the unskilled labor in the state had been performed by negro slaves, and the planters depended upon it to raise and harvest their crops. Following the emancipation proclamation many of this class of laborers left their work to become hangers-on about the Federal camps. In a few weeks the situation grew so bad that Gen. Banks, commanding the Department of the Gulf, was compelled to take action. Accordingly, on Feb. 3. 1864, be promulgated a set of rules for the regulation of labor. Under these rules the enlistment of soldiers from plantations under cultivation was prohibited : laborers were not permitted to pass from one plantation to another without ·permission of the provost marshal of the parish ; soldiers were not allowed to visit plantations without written permission from the commanding officer, and never with arms, except when on duty ac- companied by an officer ; the sale of whisky, or other intoxicants,
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to negroes was forbidden ; planters were required to furnish to the provost marshal a roll of the persons employed upon their estates, and all questions between the employer and the employed were to be decided by the provost marshal. Laborers were divided into four classes, and were to receive monthly wages as follows: 1st class, $8; 2nd class, $6; 3d class, $5: 4th class, $3. They were re- quired to render to their employers, between daylight and dark, ten hours in summer and nine hours in winter, of honest, faithful labor, and as an inducement to remain in their places, at least one half of their wages was to be withheld until the end of the year.
Rule 20 of this "code" was as follows: "These regulations are based upon the assumption that labor is a publie duty, and idleness and vagrancy a crime. No civil or military officer of the govern- ment is exempt from the operation of this universal rule. Every enlightened community has enforced it upon all classes of people by the severest penalties. It is especially necessary in agricultural pursuits. That portion of the people identified with the cultivation of the soil, however changed in condition by the revolution through which we are passing, is not relieved from the necessity of toil, which is the condition of existence with all the children of God. The revolution has altered its tenure, but not its law. This uni- versal law of labor will be enforced upon just terms by the govern- ment, under whose protection the laborer rests secure in his rights. Indolence, disorder and crime will be suppressed. Having exer- cised the highest right in the choice and place of his employment, he must be held to the fulfilment of his engagements until released by the government."
Some good resulted from the application of this system of super- vision, but in the disorganized condition of society it was impossible to secure the strict enforcement of the rules, and there was more or less trouble with the freedmen all through the reconstruction period. With the restoration of the state government to the people in the spring of 1877, the influence of the carpet-bagger was lessened to some extent, and about three years elapsed before any of the laborers mustered sufficient courage to inaugurate a strike. But early in the spring of 1880 strikes occurred in some parts of the state, particularly in the parishes of St. James, St. John the Baptist and St. Charles. In March negroes went from one plantation to another in these parishes trying to persuade laborers to quit work, and even to leave the parishes. They rode about armed, took laborers from the fields and whipped them when they refused to quit work, and in some instances broke into cabins and terrified the inmates. Fortunately they attempted no outrages upon white people and no clash of the races resulted. Gov. Wiltz issued a proclamation of warning to the strikers, but it produced no results. The militia was then called out and sent to two or three of the worst places to restore order. The strike leaders were arrested and taken to New Orleans, where they were tried and several of them sentenced to prison. This had a salutary effect and the trouble was soon ad- justed. The prisoners were subsequently pardoned. .
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Jealousy and rivalry among the different labor organizations of New Orleans, especially those engaged in loading and unloading steamers at the docks, have several times resulted in strikes, many of these laborers being foreigners who quickly resent what they consider any encroachment upon their rights. On Sept. 1, 1881, a strike broke out in that city, and for a time commerce was at a standstill and the peace of the community was seriously menaced. The mayor asked for militia to protect property and to assist the police in preserving order. The strike was finally adjusted on Sept. 15, when the men returned to work.
In the fall of 1894,. the Screwmen's benevolent association adopted a rule that its members should no longer work with negroes, and declared a boycott against all persons who employed colored screw- men. On Oct. 27 some negroes engaged in loading vessels were assaulted by a body of white screwmen, violently driven from their work and their tools thrown into the river. Commerce suffered to a considerable extent as a result of the riot, as the negroes were afraid to return to work, and the steamship company was ultimately obliged to secure an injunction to prevent the white association or its members from interfering with the business of loading or unload- ing vessels. Matters remained quiet during the winter, but on March 11, 1895, the trouble broke out afresh. Riots on that and the succeeding day resulted in the death of + men and the wounding of 8 others. Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia for 1895, page 427, gives this account of the affair: "The business of loading cotton has been monopolized by the white crew, who screw or load the cotton bales into the holds of vessels. They constitute one of the strongest labor unions in the country. They have an annual income of $50,000, and have $160,000 in bank. They have dictated terms on the levee, commanding wages of $5 or $6 a day. At the beginning of the last season, the white laborers, considering that there was not enough business for them and the negroes, concluded to drive the latter from their work. The ship agents, under orders from the shipowners abroad, who are mainly English, stuck to the negroes, and the result was a running warfare, in which a number of levees were sacrificed and some property destroyed. The war began with incendiary fires, which destroyed the wharves of the West India steamship company, with $250,000 loss; the wharves of the Texas & Pacific, with 25.000 bales of cotton ; loss $500,000."
Gov. Foster called out the militia and under this protection the negroes returned to work on March 14. During the trouble the Cuban steamship company precipitated a conflict between the state and Federal courts. A state law, passed in 1880, provided that "no sailor or portion of the crew of any foreign seagoing vessel shall engage in working on the wharves or levee of the city of New Orleans beyond the end of the vessel's tackle." While the strike was on the Cuban steamship company set their own sailors to load- ing a ship, but the men were arrested under this state law. The agents of the company then applied to the U. S. circuit court for
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relief, and obtained from Judge Parlange an order enjoining the local authorities against interfering with the work.
Early in July, 1908, there was a strike of the freight handlers of the Illinois Central railroad employed at the Stuyvesant docks. On the 10th the Longshoremen's union decided that there was no strike on the river front, and that the members of that organization were · to be allowed to use their discretion about working on ships at the Stuyvesant docks. This was considered as a great victory for the conservative element, as the agents of the steamship companies would be justified in employing non-union labor in case the long- shoremen as individuals declined to handle the freight from the docks where the freight handlers were on strike. This action on the part of the longshoremen had a tendency to end the strike of the freight handlers, who returned to work on the 25th. About the same time there was some trouble between the longshoremen and the agents of the steamship companies regarding the employment of "rollers" in loading cotton, and the unsettled conditions along the levee being of such a nature as to threaten commerce. Gov. Sanders appointed a new state board of arbitration. (See Arbitration.)
In the matter of legislation for the protection of labor, Louisiana has not been unmindful of her working people. The preamble of an act passed on July 1, 1890, declares that "Trades unions, Knights of Labor assemblies or lodges, and Farmers' Alliances, as now estab- lished in this state, are intended to benefit and promote the interests of laboring men and promote the public welfare." The act con- ferred on all such bodies all the corporate rights, powers and im- munities as conferred by section 677 of the Revised Statutes on corporations for literary, scientific, religious or charitable purposes, thus giving these organizations a legal standing. Subsequent legis- latures have enacted laws relating to organized, convict and child labor, and at the session of 1908 bills were passed to provide for the examination of engineers in cities of over 100,000 population : to en- large the powers of the state labor commissioner ; to protect work- men engaged in the construction or repair of buildings, bridges, via- ducts, etc., in cities of 30,000 population or over ; to license firms or corporations installing electrical apparatus; requiring that skilled laborers engaged on public works shall be citizens of the state : and the child labor law was amended.
La Branche, Alcee, legislator and diplomat, was a native of New Orleans and a member of one of the representative French families that was prominent about the beginning of the nineteenth century. His father, Col. Alexandre La Branche, was a delegate to the first constitutional convention : commanded the 5th regiment of Louis- iana militia at the time the British under Pakenham tried to capture New Orleans in the winter of 1814-15; was stationed with his regi- ment at Lake Tigouyou, and was praised by Gen. Villere for his "zeal and activity displayed throughout the campaign." Alcee La Branche received a liberal education : was a member of the state legislature that met at Donaldsonville on Jan. 3, 1831 : was elected to the succeeding legislature, and on Jan. 7. 1833, was chosen
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speaker of the house, an office he filled with marked ability. From March 3, 1837, to April 2, 1840, he was charge d'affaires in Texas, resigning the position on the latter date, and in 1842 was elected to Congress from Louisiana as a Democrat. On April 26, 1846, Gen. Taylor called for 5,000 volunteers from Louisiana and Texas to serve in the War with Mexico, and Mr. La Branche was one of the vice-presidents at a mass meeting held in New Orleans on May 5 to raise troops. When the roll was opened for signatures some one in the crowd called out : "Let those on the platform sign first." The suggestion was accepted by the officers of the meeting and Mr. La Branche put down his name along with the others, but the records do not show that he actually served in the army.
Lacour, a village in Pointe Coupée parish, is situated on the Texas Pacific R. R., 15 miles northwest of New Roads, the parish seat. It has a money order postoffice and in 1900 had a population of 75.
Lafayette, the seat of government in the parish of the same name, is located in the eastern part of the parish at the junction of two divisions of the Southern Pacific R. R. and is one of the most im- portant cities on that line between New Orleans and the Texas boundary. It was settled about the beginning of the 19th century. On Feb. 7, 1824, the Louisiana legislature passed an act providing that the town laid off by Jean Mouton, near the Bayou Vermilion, in the parish of Lafayette, should be known as Vermilionville, and about the same time the parish seat was removed there from Pin Hook. By the act of March 11, 1836, the limits of the town were designated and it was fully incorporated. It was reincorporated by the act of March 9, 1869, and under this charter Alphonse Neven was the first mayor. In 1884 the charter was amended as to bound- aries and the name was changed to Lafayette. In 1900 the popula- tion was 3,314, and at that time Lafayette was the 12th largest city in the state. The estimated population in 1908 was 8,000, which will give some idea of its rapid growth in recent years. The South- western Industrial Institute is located here. The city has 2 banks, 3 newspapers, one of the finest and largest cotton-gins in the state, cotton seed oil mills, a cotton compress, an ice factory, a number of first class mercantile houses, good public schools, and in fact all modern utilities usually found in cities of its class.
Lafayette Parish, one of the early parishes, was erected in 1823, while Henry S. Thibodaux was acting governor, and then embraced within its limits the present parish of Vermilion. It is situated in the southern part of the state and as now constituted is bounded on the north by St. Landry parish ; on the east by St. Martin and Iberia parishes ; on the south by Vermilion and Acadia parishes, and on the west by Acadia and St. Landry parishes. It lies in what was known during the Spanish and French occupancy of Louisiana as the "Attakapas district", named after the Attakapas Indians, a tribe which once held possession of this region. During the first half of the 18th century the only whites in this section were traders and trappers. Andrew Martin was one of the pioneers of Lafayette, having settled there as early as 1770, and used Indians as herders
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and servants. He was followed by the Acadians soon after their arrival in Louisiana. The increase in population was steady, and at the time the parish was incorporated the population was 5,653. The seat of justice was originally at Pin Hook, but was soon moved to Lafayette, in the eastern part of the parish. John M. Mou- ton donated the land on which the court house stands. Lafayette parish has an undulating surface of 259 square miles, and is the third smallest parish in the state. Its formation is chiefly prairie, though there is some alluvial and some bluff land. Except where there is forest growth or the land is under cultivation, the prairies are covered with a heavy growth of nutritious grass, providing ex- cellent pasture for stock the entire year. The Vermilion river, run- ning north and south, divides the parish into two nearly equal parts. East of the river the surface is quite rolling, breaking into hills of considerable height, known as "Cote Gelee" hills, which were called "Cote Gelee" or frozen hills from the fact that there was little timber on them when first known to the early settlers, who suffered from cold without fire-wood. To the south the surface gradually undulates to the level stretch that reaches to the gulf. The hills are devoted to agriculture. Prairie is the natural cattle country, and though no less fertile than the hills, this section offers induce- ments to the stock man unequaled by any portion of the state. Water is abundant and of good quality. Transportation facilities are furnished by the Southern Pacific R. R., which extends through the parish, and has a branch line to Cheneyville in Rapides parish. affording an outlet for the products of the parish south, west and north. Lafayette, the parish seat. Broussard and Carencro are the most important towns. Others are Duson, Scott, Milton, Ridge and Youngsville. The U. S. census for 1900 gives the following statis- tics : number of farms in the parish, 3,088; acreage, 154,921 ; acreage, improved, 116,452; value of land and improvements exclusive of farm buildings, $2,851.600; value of farm buildings, $732,960; valne of live stock, $767,498; total value of products not fed to live stock, $1,400,472 ; number of manufacturing concerns, 64; capital invested, $682,759; wages paid, $76,401 ; cost of materials used, $333.228; total value of products, $543,128. The population for 1900 was 13,309 whites, 9,516 colored. a total of 22,825, an increase of 6,859 over the year 1890. The estimated population for 1908 was over $28,000.
Lafayette's Visit .- The Marquis de Lafayette, statesman, soldier and patriot, was born at Chavagnac, France, Sept. 6. 1757, and in- herited a large fortune from his father's estate. In 1774 he married the daughter of the Duke d'Aven, and this marriage, with his great wealth, gave him brilliant prospects at court, but with an inherent love of liberty he offered his services to the English colonies in America, then engaged in a war for their independence. He rose to the rank of major-general in the American army, was wounded at the battle of Brandywine, and received the thanks of Congress for his gallantry at Monmouth. After the war he returned to his native land, but in 1824 visited America and made a triumphal tour through the 24 states of the Union. While he was in the country
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Congress voted him $200,000 as a recompense for his timely and unselfish services during the Revolution.
On Jan. 27, 1825, Mayor Roffignac of New Orleans sent to the two houses of the Louisiana legislature copies of a letter from Gen. Lafayette, announcing his intention to visit New Orleans early in the spring, and a joint committee of the legislature and the city council was appointed to make suitable arrangements for his re- ception. When the time arrived the city of New Orleans chartered the steamer Natchez and sent it to Mobile to carry the illustrious visitor to Louisiana. On board the steamer was a committee headed by Joseph Armand Duplantier, who had served with Lafayette in the army. Early on the morning of April 10 the Natchez arrived at Chalmette, where Lafayette landed. He was greeted by an artillery salute and the plaudits of a large concourse of people. Accom- panied by Gen. Villere and Mr. Duplantier, Lafayette was con- dueted to the house where Gen. Jackson had his headquarters in Jan., 1815. Here he was welcomed by Gov. Henry Johnson in a brief but appropriate speech, the concluding paragraph of which was as follows :
"In calculating only the sum of present happiness, you might still be satisfied ; but in turning your eyes toward the future, with what delight will you see the prosperity continually increasing in future ages! Rapid in its course, civil and religious liberty will march without a pause; its exhaustless energy will multiply everywhere its new creations, new states will succeed each other, and millions of free men hidden in the future will bless with the same fervor and the same enthusiasm that animate us today, the illustrious philanthropists whose virtues have raised the glorious edifice of American liberty. As first magistrate, and speaking in the name of all Louisianians, I repeat to you, be welcome on this land discovered by your ancestors."
To this address Lafayette replied: "When I saw myself on this majestic river, within the limits of this republic from which I re- ceived an invitation so honorable and so affectionate, sentiments of American and French patriotism united in my heart, as they were united in that happy I'nion which has made of Louisiana a member of the great American confederation, established for the happiness of several millions of living men, for that of so many other millions yet to be born, and for the example of the human race. But I feel an emotion still greater on receiving on this celebrated soil, in the name of the people of this state, by the voice of its first magistrate, a greeting so affectionate. It is here, gentlemen, that under the conduct of Gen. Jackson, after a vigorous attack against the enemy who was coming to invade this territory, the blood of the sons of my revolutionary contemporaries was mingled with that of the children of Louisiana, on the memorable day when an incomparable victory, if we consider the circumstances, ended in such a glorious manner a war just in principle, and maintained with glory on both elements.
"You have kindly, sir, congratulated me on the satisfaction given
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to me by the marvels I have witnessed and by those that remain for me to see-satisfaction so much the more delightful for an American veteran, that we find in these marvels irresistible arguments in favor of the principles for which we raised the banner of independence and liberty. I thank you particularly for the obliging and liberal observation which you have made, that in this state one can be con- vinced of the aptitude which a French population has of using wisely the benefits of a free government ; and I take the liberty to add that one finds consequently in this aptitude the proof of the part which the European despots and aristocrats have had in the deplorable excesses that have delayed thus far the establishment of liberty in France."
Upon arriving at New Orleans the party entered the city between two lines of troops, marched to the center of the Place d'armes, where an arch of triumph 68 feet in height had been erected, and here Lafayette was formally received by Mayor Roffignac. At the court-house he was received by the city council, on behalf of which body an address was made by Denis Prieur, after which he was conducted to the Cabildo, where he reviewed the troops. He was visited the next day by members of the legislature and of the New Orleans bar, and in the evening, as the guest of the state, at- tended Caldwell's English theater and the Orleans French theater, being received with great enthusiasm at both places. He remained in the city until April 15, when he departed up the Mississippi on the Natchez. At Baton Rouge he spent a day in visiting the U. S. military post there, and in a cordial and enthusiastic reception by the people. Several Louisianians remained with him until the steamer reached St. Louis.
On March 26, 1826, the general assembly appropriated money to close accounts for expenditures in the reception of Gen. Lafayette, and the visit of the celebrated Frenchman lingered long in the memory of the people of Louisiana.
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