AMERICAN HISTORY
The Opelousas Post Militia in the American Revolution
A LITTLE KNOWN STORY OF THE ACADIANS WHO WERE VICTORIOUS AGAINST THE BRITISH By John Francois
T
he event described below took place in the summer of 1779 in Louisiana, but you’ll rarely read about it in the history books. Even among history aficionados, few realize the crucial role one group of Louisianans played in America’s gaining independence from Britain. This is their story.
In the torrid summer heat of late August 1779, the men of the Opelousas Post Militia were called to a special muster by their post commander. The puzzled men made their way across the surrounding prairies by horseback, wagon, cart, and on foot. Most were in their twenties and thirties. (Males under fifteen and over forty-five were exempt from militia service.) Upon arriving, they were informed that war had been declared between Spain and England, and that the Spanish Governor-General, General Gálvez, was calling them to duty. They were ordered to make preparations to leave their families and farms for an indefinite period of time, and to join other militia units at San Gabriel (today’s St. Gabriel) on Bayou Manchac.
Spain had joined France in the war against England two months earlier, in June—one year after the French had been enticed to support the American rebellion in the English colonies along the Atlantic coast. The two countries were each still smarting from their territorial losses to England at the 1763 Treaty of Paris, which had formally ended the French and Indian/ Seven Years War (1756-63). France had lost her North American claims to Canada and to Louisiana, among other possessions. Spain had lost her Florida colonies at Mobile and Pensacola, though it did gain—thanks to the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau made between the French and Spanish in 1762—the entire western Mississippi River Valley from the Appalachians to the Rockies, along with New Orleans. By joining the new war with France, Spain saw a chance to recoup her losses. Gálvez had been aware for some time of rumors of war with England. He received official word from Havana in mid-August of 1779 that war had been declared, and he was ordered to at-
tack the English at Mobile and Pensacola. He knew, however, that he first needed to protect his provincial capital of New Orleans from the English forces just up the Mississippi at Fort Panmure, Natchez. He also anticipated that the attack would begin from the recently-constructed fort at Baton Rouge. As Gálvez was gathering his resources, a devastating hurricane swept out of the Gulf of Mexico and struck New Orleans, causing great destruction. Most of the homes in the city and surrounding countryside were damaged or destroyed, leaving the local citizenry naked to the elements. Cattle that had been rounded up to feed Gálvez’s troops on his planned march upriver were scattered and lost in the surrounding swamps, where they were bitten by poisonous snakes and attacked by alligators. Four of his gunboats were sunk at the river dock by the fury of the storm. After a several days spent helping his unfortunate townspeople recover as best he could, plus recovering his gunboats, Gálvez knew that the palisade defens-
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