Alan Brown - Louisiana Legends Lore

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC

www.historypress.com.

Copyright 2021 by Dr. Alan N. Brown

All rights reserved

First published 2021

E-Book edition 2021

ISBN 978.1.43967.205.1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020945779

Print Edition ISBN 978.1.46714.751.4

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

INTRODUCTION

Louisiana is different than any other state in the union. The truth behind this rather trite pronouncement lies in its geography, its history and its culture. Named after Louis XIV, king of France from 1643 to 1715, Louisiana is composed of the uplands in the north and the alluvial region in the south, which includes the coastal marshlands and the low swamplands. Its waterways include rivers, like the Sabine and the Pearl, and countless sluggish bodies of water called bayous. Louisianas multicultural heritage springs from its original inhabitantsthe Native Americans, as well as the Spanish and French settlers who began arriving in the seventeenth century. In the early eighteenth century, slaves were transported to the state to work on plantations. Over time, all of these different nationalities intermingled to produce a patchwork of folklore, customs and superstitions that can be found nowhere else. The states distinct culture is celebrated and preserved in its cuisine, music, religious beliefs and legends.

Folklorists began mining the states rich treasure trove of legends in the nineteenth century. Alcee Fortier (18561914), a professor of folklore at Tulane University, collected Creole versions of Brer Rabbit tales at Laura Plantation near Vacherie in the 1870s. He published these tales in Louisiana Folk Tales: In French Dialect and English Translation, 1894. George Washington Cable (18441925), who gained fame for his portrayal of Creole life in New Orleans, published a compilation of seven Louisiana legends, including the haunting of the Lalaurie House, in his book Strange True Stories of Louisiana (1890). Lyle Saxon (18911946) is arguably the greatest collector of Louisiana lore from the twentieth century. As a writer for the Times-Picayune in New Orleans, Saxon became fascinated with the history of the city. In 1935, when he became director of the Louisiana branch of the Federal Writers Project in Louisiana, which produced the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Guide to Louisiana, he immersed himself in the lore of the entire state. In his book Gumbo Ya-Ya (1945), Saxon preserved tales of pirate treasure, haunted houses, voodoo queens and cemeteries, many of which had never been written about before. Saxon clearly saw value in the folk culture that many of his contemporaries took for granted.

Louisiana Legends and Lore owes a great debt to Fortier, Cable, Saxon and all of the others who have followed their lead and sought to share Louisianas wealth of stories with the world. The proliferation of books written about the states unique history and culture testify to Louisianas enduring appeal to outsiders. As long as the people of Louisiana continue to entertain and educate themselves and the younger generations by telling the tales they grew up with, the Pelican State will remain an extremely fertile spawning ground for legends and lore.

CIVIL WAR LEGENDS

THE MSTERIOUS CONFEDERATE SUBMARINE

Baton Rouge

In 1878, a work crew was dredging Bayou St. John at the point where it joins Lake Pontchartrain, when the crew discovered what appeared to be a Civil Warera submarine. The iron vessel was twenty feet long, three feet wide and six feet deep. It was propelled by a hand crank. The crank was operated by two crew members. Historians assumed that it had been scuttled after the fall of New Orleans to keep it out of the hands of the Yankees. In 1895, the submarine was moved to Spanish Fort Amusement Park, where it was displayed as the Confederate submarine Pioneer. A group led by Horace Huntley built the Pioneer early in the war. The Confederate government established it as a privateer in May 1862. After New Orleans was captured by David Glasgow Farragut in April of that year, the Confederates scuttled the vessel in a New Orleans canal.

The submarine that was identified as the Pioneer was eventually neglected. By the early 1900s, it was dumped into a patch of weeds. By the time it was moved to the Camp Nicholls Confederate Home on Bayou St. John in 1908, vandals had stolen the remaining propeller blade. Part of the lower hull was missing, as well. The State Museum acquired the submarine in 1942 and displayed it in Jackson Square. A few years later, it was moved once again, this time to the Pontalba Building, where it became part of the Defense Exhibit. In 1957, the submarine was relocated to the Presbytere arcade, where it remained until 1999, when it was transport to Baton Rouge. Following a period of extensive restoration, the submarine was put on display at the Capitol Park Museum in Baton Rouge.

The submarine was displayed as the Pioneer until naval historian Mark Ragan found drawings of the Pioneer that were made by a team of Union experts. The drawings and dimensions proved that the Confederate submarine had been misidentified. The Pioneer was actually a cigar-shaped craft, thirty feet long and four feet wide. However, the submarine discovered in Lake Pontchartrain was a pumpkinseed-shaped vessel, twenty feet long and three feet wide. To this day, its identity is unknown.

THE LOUISIANA ORIGIN OF DIXIE

New Orleans

The American Heritage Dictionary defines the word legend as an unverifiable popular story handed down from the past. Linguistic legends are the most intriguingand tantalizingof these mysterious tales. A good case in point is the origin of the word Dixie, which originally referred to the eleven Southern states that seceded from the Union between 1860 and 1861: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee. Three standard explanations have been offered for the origin of the word, one of which is grounded in Louisiana.

One of these legendary theories pertains to the term Mason and Dixon. According to David Wilton, author of the book Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends