Historic Louisiana

cultural innovation, exceptionally able to
incorporate useful aspects of new cultures they
encountered. “New Orleans became another
crossroads where the river, the bayous, and the
sea were open roads, where various nations
ruled but the folk continued to reign.” 3
The riverine life of Louisiana must have
been very familiar to the Senegambians, whose
West African home was watered by the great
Senegel and Gambia Rivers. Slaves Jacques
and Petit Jean were leased to the sieur de
Monbrun, who financed a trip to the Illinois to
secure flour. The two were to serve as rowers,
much as they might have done at home. 4
Gilbert Dumas, called L’Empileur, leased the
Negro Pierrot to Delfau de Pontalba to help
him move from Madame Pellerin’s and to cook
for him. Pontalba liked the slave and took him
on a merchandising trip to Pointe Coupée,
bringing with them brandy and other goods. 5
Another example of slave life from the earliest
records involves Tiocou, a Negro slave freed
for his valor at Natchez in 1729. He married
slave Marie Aram. She had worked out an
agreement with the Ursuline Sisters to work
seven years at the new Charity Hospital, from
which she received her freedom in 1737. 6
Where the fortunate Frenchman could
accumulate large numbers of slaves, their
labor brought them wealth. Within the
riverine society, however, individual
personalities inevitably led some slaves to flee
or simply to go on holiday. These individuals
came to be called maroons, those who were
temporarily absent from duty. The striking
characteristic of maroons is that they did not
distance themselves from the plantations; they
surrounded the plantations. Maroons never
set off on a trek to California, or even to South
Carolina, much less to Canada. Most maroons
were simply looking for a way of life out from
under an individual master or overseer. They
worked in their swampy hideouts. Most
maroon camps contained fields planted to
✧
Above: Baton Rouge is the most southern
town on the eastern bank of the Mississippi
River that can claim high land. In this
illustration can be seen the state capitol
completed in 1850. The flatboat on the
river, reminiscent of Tom Sawyer, carries
goods all the way to New Orleans. The
voyagers returned on a steamboat like the
sidewheeler seen in the background.
COURTESY OF NEW ORLEANS PUBLIC LIBRARY.
Left: This drawing by A. R. Waud probably
contributed to the American image of
Acadians as “cajuns,” somewhat shiftless
swamp dwellers. Both the vegetation and
the home are more Creole than Acadian.
The Acadians were diligent farmers who
sought out the prairies and banks of the
Bayous Lafourche and Teche.
COURTESY OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS,
TULANE UNIVERSITY.
CHAPTER I
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