USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume I > Part 43
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Dimitry, John B. S., educator, journalist and author, was born at Washington, D. C., a son of Alexander and Mary P. (Mills) Dimitry. He was educated at Georgetown college, and from 1859 to 1861 was secretary of legation under his father, who was at that time U. S. minister to Costa Rica and Nicaragua. At the breaking out of the Civil war he returned from Central America and enlisted in the celebrated Crescent regiment, of New Orleans, with which he was engaged at Shiloh, where he was severely wounded. As this wound unfitted him for further active military service, he was ap- pointed chief clerk in the Confederate postoffice department at Richmond, where he served under Postmaster-General Reagan until the close of the war. In April, 1865, he accompanied President Davis and his party as far as Washington, Ga., and then returned to Louisiana. From 1873 to 1876 he was professor of languages and belles-lettres in the Colegio Caldas in South America, and in 1895 he was appointed to a similar position in Montgomery college, Virginia, where he remained for several years. In the meantime he had been conected editorially with the press of New Orleans, Washington, Philadelphia and New York, and became widely known as a scholarly and forceful writer. While working on the New York Mail and Express his short story, "Le Tombeau Blanc," won the first prize of $500 offered by Swinton & Barnes, pub- lishers of the Storyteller. Prof. Dimitry was the author of several works, the most noted of which are "A School History and Geog- raphy of Louisiana," "Three Good Giants," "Atahualpa's Curtain," and the Louisiana volume of a "Confederate Military History," published in 1899. His epitaphs of Henry Watkins Allen, Albert Sidney Johnston. Stonewall Jackson. Edgar Allen Poe, The Con- federate Flag, Jefferson Davis, etc., have been much admired for their beauty of sentiment and purity of diction. Prof. Dimitry died at New Orleans on Sept. 7, 1901.
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Divorce .- Married persons may reciprocally claim a separation from bed and board, and divorce, on account of habitual intem- peranec, excess, cruel treatment or outrages of one of them towards the other, if the said habitual intemperance or ill-treat- ment is of such a nature as to render their living together insup- portable; when the husband or wife may have been condemned to an infamous punishment or guilty of adultery ; or on account of public defamation, abandonment, attempts against the life of the other; or when the husband or wife has been charged with an infamous offense and shall have fled from justice. No divorce shall be granted unless a judgment of separation from bed and board shall have been rendered between the parties, and one year shall have expired from the date of such judgment, during which no reconciliation shall have taken place, except in the cases where the husband or wife may have been sentenced to an infamous pun- ishment, or guilty of adultery. A judgment of divorce carries with it a dissolution of the community of acquets and gains; each spouse taking back the separate property that he or she brought into the marriage, and one-half of the community after the pay- ment of debts.
Dixie, a postoffice of Caddo parish, is situated on the Texas & Pacific R. R., in the eastern part of the parish about a mile west of the Red river and some 12 miles north of Shreveport, the parish seat. It has an express office, telegraph station and telephone facilities, and in 1900 reported a population of 87.
Dodson, a village in the northern part of Winn parish, is a sta- tion on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R. R., about 10 miles north of Winnfield, the parish seat. It has a bank, a money order postoffice, an express office, telegraph station and telephone facili- ties, and is the shipping point for a large farming and timber district.
Donaldsonville, the seat of justice of Ascension parish, is located in the southwestern part of the parish on the right bank of the Mississippi river. about 80 miles by water above New Orleans, though the distance on an "air line" is only a little over 50 miles. The Ascension Catholic church was founded here as early as 1772 by Father Angelus a Reuillagodos, a Capuchin friar. The town was founded in 1806 by William Donaldson. When the parish of Ascension was organized in 1807, Donaldsonville was made the parish seat, and in 1813 the town received its first charter of incor- poration. At one time it was inclined to contest honors with New Orleans and Baton Rouge. On Feb. 4, 1825, the legislature passed an act locating the state capital at Donaldsonville (See Capital), and the statehouse then erected remained standing until 1848. In 1846 Donaldsonville annexed the town of "Unionville," which was created by an act of the legislature, approved March 25, 1840, and which provided that "The inhabitants of the town of Donaldson- ville, known as fauborgs Lessard and Conway, are hereby incor- porated under the name of Unionville."
The Donaldsonville of the present day is an important industrial
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and commercial center and an active shipping and distributing point, as 15 lines of Mississippi and Red river steamers touch at its landing to receive and discharge freight and passengers. It is also on the Texas & Pacific R. R., and is the northern terminus of a branch of the same system that runs south to Thibodaux. The city has 3 banks, 3 newspapers, rice mills, large lumbering interests, machine shops, a canning factory, several extensive brickyards, an ice factory, etc., Catholic and Protestant churches, a Jewish syna- gogue, good public schools, several fire companies, and lodges of all the leading fraternal societies. The population was 4,105 in 1900, when Donaldsonville was the 10th city of the state. The estimated population for 1908 was 5,000.
Donner, a village in the northwestern part of Terrebonne parish, is on the Southern Pacific R. R., about 10 miles west of Schriever, and 15 miles northwest of Houma, the parish seat. It has a money order postoffice, an express office, telephone and telegraph facilities, important sugar industries, and in 1900 had a population of 125.
Dorcheat, a money order post-village in the northeastern part of Webster parish, is on a bayou of the same name, about 8 miles east of Cotton Valley, the nearest railroad station, and 15 miles north of Minden, the parish seat.
Dorcyville, a village in the southeastern part of Iberville parish, is situated on the west bank of the Mississippi river and is a sta- tion on the Texas & Pacific R. R., about 10 miles southeast of Plaquemine, the parish seat. Its principal industries are lumbering, woodenware factories, and rice mills, and it is the shipping and supply center for a considerable district. Its population in 1900 was 250, and in 1908 it was estimated at over 500.
Doss (R. R. name Windsor), a post-hamlet in the southwestern part of Morehouse parish, is a station on the St. Louis, Iron Moun- tain & Southern R. R., about 8 miles south of Bastrop, the parish seat.
Dossman, a post-hamlet in the northern part of St. Landry parish, is on Bayou Cocodrie, about 4 miles west of Milburn, the nearest railroad station.
Douay, Anastase, a Recollet friar, was one of La Salle's com- panions, and in connection with Father Zenobe Membre wrote an account of the voyage to the mouth of the Mississippi river in 1682. Two years later he accompanied the expedition to found a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi; went with La Salle to Canada in 1685; and was present at the latter's death on March 18, 1687. After many hardships he succeeded in reaching Fort St. Louis on the Illinois, and finally France. In 1699 he came back to Louisi- ana with Iberville, and was one of the 48 men who accompanied Iberville on his expedition up the river. The same year he returned to France and there passed the remainder of his life.
Downs, Solomon W .. U. S. senator from Louisiana, was born in Tennessee in 1801. He received a classical education and grad- nated at the Transylvania university ; studied law; was admitted to the bar; began practice at New Orleans in 1862; was for a time
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U. S. district attorney ; was elected U. S. senator from Louisiana as a democrat, and served from Dec. 6, 1847, to March 3, 1853. . He died at Orchard Springs, Ky., Aug. 14, 1854.
Downsville, an old town in the southern part of Union parish, was incorporated in 1860. It is about 10 miles south of Farmer- ville, the parish seat, and 8 miles north of Tremont, the nearest railroad station. It is situated in a rich agricultural district and supplies a large area. In 1900 it had a population of 125.
Doyline, a money order post-village in the southwestern part of Webster parish, is a station on the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific R. R., about 9 miles southwest of Minden, the parish seat. The population in 1900 was 52.
Dred Scott Decision .- Probably no case ever decided by the supreme court of the United States created more general comment and excitement than that of Dred Scott, a negro who brought suit in the courts to gain his freedom. The events leading up to the case were as follows: In 1835 a Dr. Emerson, of Missouri, was appointed surgeon at Fort Snelling, Minn., and took with him a slave named Dred Scott. Shortly after arriving at Fort Snelling Dr. Emerson bought from Maj. Taliaferro a negro girl named Harriet, who became the wife of Scott, and a child was born to them while at Fort Snelling. In 1838 Dr. Emerson went back to Missouri, taking the two slaves with him, and died there a few years later. In 1848 Scott brought an action in the courts of Mis- souri to establish his freedom, on the grounds that Minnesota was in that part of the Louisiana purchase in which slavery was ex- pressly prohibited by the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and that his residence in that territory annulled all his master's rights of ownership to him or the other members of his family. In 1852 the Missouri supreme court decided against him, holding that return to Missouri, withont any objection on his part, reestablished his status as a slave. Two years later the case was taken before the U. S. circuit court, which decided that Scott was a citizen of Mis- sonri and could be a party to a suit in the Federal courts, but decided against him, as the state courts had done. Several promi- nent anti-slavery lawyers carried the case to the U. S. supreme court without charging Scott any fees for their services, and in March, 1857, the famous opinion was handed down by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, all the justices concurring except Benjamin R. Curtis, a native of Massachusetts, who gave a dissenting opinion.
In rendering his decision Mr. Taney said: "It is difficult, at this day, to realize the state of public opinion in relation to that unfortunate race which prevailed in the civilized and enlightened portions of the world at the time of the Declaration of Indepen- dence, and when the constitution was framed and adopted. But the public history of every European nation displays it in a man- ner too plain to be mistaken. They had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior race, and altogether. unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations ; and so far inferior that they had no rights which the
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white man was bound to respect, and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit."
The abolitionists of the North seized with avidity upon the ex- pression : "The negro has no rights which the white man is bound to respect," and made it their slogan. Many in their ignorance attributed the words to the chief justice, when, as a matter of fact, he merely used. the expression in the nature of a quotation to show the prevailing opinion of the black race during the century preceding the establishment of the American republic. Others, who understood the sense in which the language had been used, kept silent upon the subject, and in this way Mr. Taney was made the victim of an injustice. There is little room for doubt, however, that the use of this "war cry," whether in ignorance or malice, had much to do with crystallizing the abolition sentiment in the Northern states. On the other hand the slaveholders of the South found reasons for rejoicing in the majority opinion of the court, which held that the Missouri Compromise was tinconstitu- tional; that the obligation of Congress to protect private property was paramount to the power to govern the territories: that slaves. being property, were entitled to this protection under the constitu- tion ; and that Congress had no power to enact laws prohibiting the owner of slaves from taking them wherever he pleased. This portion of the opinion was regarded by many attorneys as extra-judicial-a sort of obiter dictum-and without direct bearing on the case, but it gave encouragement to the slaveholders to know that all the jus- tices of the U. S. Supreme court, with one exception, held such views. Coming as it did just after the inauguration of President Buchanan, the anti-slavery element accepted it as a challenge ; intense feeling soon manifested itself in both sections, and there is no question that the decision had its influence in precipitating the Civil war.
Dreux, Charles D., soldier, was a native of Louisiana, and was one of the first men to volunteer from that state for service in the Confederate army. On April 11, 1861, as captain of the Orleans Cadets, he was ordered with his command to Pensacola, Fla., and soon afterward to Virginia, where he was placed in command of of the 1st Louisiana battalion with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. About midnight. July 4, while the battalion was stationed at Young's Mills, Va., Lieut .- Col. Dreux, with 100 infantry, 15 or 20 cavalry and a howitzer, moved out on the road toward Newport News and took position in ambush near a place known as the Curtis farm. His command was scarcely stationed when the videttes came in and reported a body of Federal cavalry approaching. Although Dreux gave orders not to fire, shots were exchangel between the scouts and the Federals. and soon after the firing became general. In the skirmish Dreux was mortally wounded and lived but a few hours. The Confederate Military History says: "Charles D. Drenx, so early killed in the war, was mourned in the city which knew him best as a loss both as a citizen and soldier. In New
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Orleans and Shreveport, Confederate crape was first displayed in Louisiana."
Dreyfuss, a post-hamlet in the eastern part of Iberville parish, is situated on the east bank of the Mississippi river and on the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., about 10 miles south of Plaquemine, the parish seat. In 1900 it had a population of 60.
Drycreek, a post-village in the eastern part of Calcasieu parish, is situated on a creek of the same name, about 3 miles southwest of Red Buck, the nearest railroad station. The population was 52 in 1900.
Dry Prong, a post-village and station in the central part of Grant parish, is on the Louisiana & Arkansas R. R., about 12 miles north- east of Colfax, the parish seat.
Dubach, a village in the northern part of Lincoln parish, is situ- ated on Bayou D'Arbonne and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R. R., about 11 miles north of Ruston, the parish seat. It has a money order postoffice, an express office, a telegraph station and telephone facilities, and is the center of trade for a fine agricultural district. The population in 1900 was 150.
Dubberly, a village in the southeastern part of Webster parish, is on the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific R. R., 9 miles by rail southeast of Minden, the parish seat. It has a money order post- office, express office and telegraph station, and in 1900 reported a population of 125.
Duboin, a post-hamlet of Iberia parish, is in the central part, about 3 miles southeast of Curtis, the nearest railroad station.
Dubourg, Louis Guillaume Valentine, first Roman Catholic bishop of New Orleans, was born at Cape François, San Domingo, Feb. 14, 1766. He was given an excellent education in France, and later, when he decided to enter the priesthood, went to the seminary of St. Sulpice. where he studied under M. Nagot, who introduced the order of St. Sulpice into the United States. At the completion of his course in the seminary, he was placed at the head of a new institution of Sulpicians in France, but the revolu- tion caused it to be abandoned. and Dubourg sought refuge with his family in Bordeaux. This hiding place proved to be unsafe, however, and he fled to Spain and later to America. Upon appli- cation he was ordained a Sulpician priest and in 1796 received an appointment as president of Georgetown university, Washington, D. C. Three years later he went to Havana to establish a college, but was unsuccessful, and returned to the United States, bringing with him the sons of many of the prominent families of Havana who wished to receive a college education. He founded an acad- emy in Baltimore. had St. Mary's school raised to a college in 180+ and united to the Sulpician seminary of St. Mary. In 1806 the college was raised to the rank of a university by the state legisla- ture of Maryland, and it became a prominent institution. In 1812 Father Dubourg was appointed administrator apostolic of the dio- cese of Louisiana and the two Floridas. When New Orleans was threatened by the British in 1815, he issued a letter directing public
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services to be held in all the Catholic churches of the city to pray . for protection. Gen. Jackson highly commended this action and after the victory requested Father Dubourg to hold a public service of thanks in the cathedral. This was done on Jan. 23, 1815. The Abbe met Gen. Jackson at the door of the Cathedral and delivered a patriotic address, and Jackson in turn thanked the Abbe for the prayers offered in the churches. The same year Dubourg went to Europe and was appointed bishop of New Orleans at Rome on Sept. 24, 1815. He secured several Lazarist priests for the mis- sions of Louisiana, and priests of other orders in France. The king of France placed the war ship Caravani at his disposal and in com- pany with the 31 priests he had secured for the church in Louisiana he sailed for the United States. One of the first things Bishop Dubourg did was to establish a seminary in connection with a col- lege at Barrens, Mo .. but soon transferred it to the care of the Jesuits. It has since become known as the university of St. Louis. Bishop Dubourg visited Washington in 1823, secured an appropria- tion from the government for the Indian tribes of his diocese and placed them in the care of the Jesuits. He induced the Ladies of the Sacred Heart to come from Paris and establish convents in America ; founded a convent at Florien, Mo .; took a deep interest in the Ursuline nuns, who had been established in New Orleans in 1727; and was very active in establishing the "Association for Propagation of the Faith." He went to Europe on business in 1826 and never returned, as he was transferred from the diocese to Montauban, France, and in 1833 was appointed Archbishop of Besancon, France, where he died on Feb. 12, 1833. (See Catholic Church.)
Dubreuil, Claude Joseph, a rich planter, was a native of Dijon, France, and La Harpe records him as one of a number of French gentlemen who arrived at Dauphine island on March 9, 1717, for the purpose of establishing colonies in Louisiana. His grant was located on the Mississippi river, a few miles above the site Bien- ville had chosen for the capital of the province, and here he estab- lished a thriving plantation. Says Father Charlevoix in his journal describing his voyage down the Mississippi during the winter of 1721-2: "On the 5th (Jan., 1722) we stopped to dine at a place which they call the Chapitoulas, and which is but three leagues distant from New Orleans. The Chapitoulas, and some neighbor- ing habitations, are in a very good condition. The soil is fruitful, and is fallen into the hands of people that are skilful and laborious. They are the Sieur de Breuil and three Canadian brothers, named Chauvin. . .... They have lost no time, they have spared no pains, and their example is a lesson for those lazy people whose poverty very unjustly disparages a country which will render a hundred fold of whatever is sowed in it." Dubreuil appears to have been active in promoting the first establishment of New Orleans, and Prof. Fortier quotes with approval a letter of Dubreuil's, written in 1740, indicating that he was the first man to make levees and drainage canals in Louisiana. The letter mentions a canal he
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was then digging near New Orleans at his own.expense, and says further: "The establishment of New Orleans in the beginning was awful, the river when it was high spreading over the whole ground, and in all the houses there were two feet of water, which caused general and mortal diseases. As I was known to be enterprising and not capable of refusing a service, the directors begged me to make the levee, and I made two-thirds of it without any compen- sation, and New Orleans was out of inundation and as dry as if it had been built on a high land." Fortier also quotes a document of 1724, which describes Dubreuil as "one of the most laborious and intelligent of all the inhabitants. * * He understands mechanics, and is of all trades. His lot is the largest, the finest, and the best cleared in the colony. He has been the first to make levees and deep ditches for the drainage of the waters in the
* swamps, to keep his lands dry. * * He has a large house with two wings which serve as a store, which he is completing at pres- ent. He has the best lodging in the colony. He has a very fine view." In a list of the first inhabitants of New Orleans to whom lots were assigned for building purposes, as given in French's Historical Collections, Dubreuil appears as the owner of lot No. 2.
According to Bossu, the French traveler and explorer, who made three extended journeys through the province of Louisiana by order of his government during the administrations of Vaudreuil and Kerleree, Dubreuil was prominently identified with the begin- ning of the sugar industry in Louisiana. Says Bossu: "Whilst I was in Louisiana (1751), the inhabitants got from St. Domingo plants of sugar-canes, in order to make plantations of them. M. Dubreuil, who commands the militia of citizens, was the first planter that built a sugar-mill at New Orleans." This was in 1758.
Duck Port, a village of Madison parish, is situated on the west bank of the Mississippi river, about 4 miles northeast of Thomas- town, the nearest railroad station, and 10 miles east of Tallulah, the parish seat. It is a shipping point for a considerable district and has a population of about 60.
Dueling .- In the early days, to be an expert swordsman was the ambition of nearly every young Louisianian. Military officers fenced for pastime by moonlight on the levee ; fencing schools flour- ished, and were well patronized by fashionable young men. Though the mere love of fencing may not have been responsible for the numerous "affaires d'honneur." it certainly did not discourage the practice of dueling, so that during the colonial period, and for many years after the admission of Louisiana as a state, the "code," as it was called, was universally recognized in New Orleans. It must not be inferred, however, that the custom was peculiar to that city. as the "code" was observed and dueling practiced in all parts of the country. Duels were fought sometimes more as a test of skill with the sword than to redress a wrong or avenge an insult. Gayarre. in his History of Louisiana, gives an instance of this kind.
. where six young French noblemen engaged in a duel on what is now one of the principal business streets of New Orleans. As
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they were walking along together, with no ill-feeling among them, one exclaimed : "O, what a beautiful night! What a splendid level ground for a joust ! Suppose we pair off, draw our swords, and make this night memorable by a spontaneous display of bravery and skill." The proposal was favorably received, almost instantly six swords were glittering in the light of the moon, and the en- counter-begun in a spirit of heroic but foolish bravado-ter- minated by two of the participants being left on the field seriously injured.
The favorite weapon of the creoles was the rapier, or coliche- marde, which was used almost exclusively prior to the purchase of Louisiana by the United States, the saber and broadsword being rarely brought into requisition, though there are several recorded cases of duels on horseback, with broadswords. One of these occurred on "Plaine Raquette" in the Faubourg Marigny, between a young creole and a French cavalry officer. The former was no match for the Frenchman in physical strength, but by his dexterity in the use of the sword he parried every blow, and finally drove his biade through the body of his antagonist. A slight wound with the rapier was usually sufficient to satisfy sullied honor, and many a duel resulted in nothing more serious than the shedding of a small quantity of blood. But after the cession of the province to the United States, the American introduced firearms upon the field of honor and pistols, rifles, and sometimes shotguns, were used with more deadly effect.
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