The 1868 St. Bernard Parish Massacre

by C. Dier

  COMMUNITIES WITH MAROONS like San Malo helped shape the complex and diverse region where local Native American, German, French and Spanish inhabitants all lived in proximity. The Isleños, Spanish for islanders, were another early ethnic group of St. Bernard Parish. From 1778 to 1783, the Isleños emigrated from the Canary Islands, a Spanish mountainous archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean about sixty-two miles west of Morocco. Spain colonized the islands and almost entirely wiped out the resistant native Guanche population. In 1492, Christopher Columbus stopped on one of the islands, La Gomera, on his first voyage to the Americas to repair his ships and restock.

  The events leading up to the arrival of the Isleños are complex. The French and Indian War broke out between France and Great Britain in 1754. Louisiana was a colony of France until 1762, when France ceded Louisiana to Spain in exchange for assistance against the British. At first, Spain considered the territory a liability. However, from a military perspective, Spain agreed to the treaty to prevent Great Britain from obtaining and posing a threat to the Spanish territories of Texas and Mexico.14

  Spain immediately conducted a census on communities throughout Spanish Louisiana. Bas du Fleuve had a population of over two thousand, the majority of whom were slaves and maroons. Whites, Native Americans and indentured servants also present. The Spanish government quickly became aware of the economy of the maroons, especially in terms of their mastery with cutting and squaring cypress logs.15

  The transfer of Louisiana to Spain did not stop the influx of francophone immigrants to the colony, especially after the Acadians—referred to today as Cajuns—migrated after their expulsion from Canada by the British. Spain needed to populate the region for a variety of purposes: to combat the existing and growing francophone culture, for basic protection against the English and in case the newly founded United States decided to expand. The impoverished and illiterate population of the Canary Islands provided an illustrious solution. The Spanish Crown ordered seven hundred Canary Islanders to settle Louisiana. Some Canary Islanders initially resisted, but to no avail.16

  A 1745 map of the Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco. Courtesy of the New York Public Library.

  An oil painting of Bernardo de Gálvez by Mariano Salvador Maella Pérez, circa 1783. Gálvez was the fifth Spanish governor of Louisiana and oversaw the arrival of the Isleños. St. Bernard Parish received its name from him. Mariano Salvador Maella, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

  Starting in 1778, hundreds of Isleños embarked toward the Spanish colonies either by coercion, recruitment or a hope for a better life. The Spanish government attempted to establish four key settlements in various areas around New Orleans, the most prominent and successful being in lower St. Bernard Parish. Spanish documents refer to the region as Nueva Galvez, Concepcion and St. Bernard, the latter of which evidently emerged as the primary name.17

  Bernardo de Gálvez, the Spanish governor of Louisiana from 1777 to 1785, oversaw the arrival of the Isleños to Louisiana. Gálvez played a prominent role in both Spanish and United States history. He assisted the thirteen colonies during the American Revolution by smuggling weapons and supplies to the rebels, protecting French colonies in the Gulf of Mexico and conquering British Florida for the Spanish Crown. St. Bernard Parish is named after his patron saint, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, following an archaic tradition customary with Catholic monarchies.18

  Gálvez and French Creole Pierre DeMarigny, the St. Bernard Parish commandant, chose Terre-aux-Boeufs, “land of cattle,” located in lower St. Bernard Parish, for the Isleños settlement. The reasons are probably twofold. First, the upper part of what is now St. Bernard Parish was already inhabited by profitable plantations settled by the French. Second, a settlement there could provide a crucial buffer and allow the Isleños to help defend New Orleans in case of an attack from that direction.19

  Life in the flat Louisiana swamps was much different than the volcanic Canary Islands. Louisiana provided much different challenges: bugs, harsher climate, snakes, floods and one of the most problematic of all obstacles, hurricanes. Repeated floods and hurricanes in 1779 and 1780 forced the majority of the Isleños at Barataria to relocate. With permission from DeMarigny, they settled in Terre-aux-Boeufs with their Isleños counterparts. St. Bernard had three separate thriving Isleños communities, with the Barataria Isleños establishing the fourth.20

  Upon arrival, the Isleños in St. Bernard Parish had their food rationed and received land grants, housing and other sources of welfare from the Spanish government. They became skilled fishermen who caught shrimp, oysters, crawfish, alligators, crabs, various fish and whatever else the water provided. They raised animals and grew agriculture. In 1782, DeMarigny wrote to Spanish administrators that the Isleños settlements in Terre-aux-Boeufs were completely self-sufficient.21

  The Isleños migration ended in 1783 as the last three ships departed Cuba for St. Bernard Parish. However, migration from Spanish settlers did not cease. The parish was opened by Spanish officials to ex-military personnel who did not want to return to Spain. St. Bernard Parish also provided refuge for discharged Spanish soldiers and sailors. Some Isleños from Terre-aux-Boeufs assisted Gálvez’s quests in the American Revolution (the exact numbers are unknown). This might have provided a source for some veterans looking for Spanish settlements in the region.22

  In 1786, Terre-aux-Boeufs saw the arrival of Acadians. Intermarriage between the two groups was common, and it is still common among their descendants. The Acadians and Isleños shared the same religion, Catholicism, despite many linguistic and cultural differences between them. In 1787, construction began on the St. Bernard Church and the St. Bernard Cemetery. In 1791, the area was granted a tavern.23

  A renovated house depicting early Isleños settlements at the Los Isleños Heritage and Multi-Cultural Museum. Author’s collection.

  Renovated homes and agricultural tools at the Los Isleños Heritage and Multi-Cultural Museum. Author’s collection.

  The entrance sign to the St. Bernard Cemetery. Author’s collection.

  The entrance to the St. Bernard Cemetery. Courtesy of Rhett Pritchard.

  St. Bernard Catholic Church. Author’s collection.

  In 1792, a groundbreaking achievement in St. Bernard Parish transformed the parish and the regional economy. Don Antonio Mendez, a Spanish officer living in Terre-aux-Boeufs, successfully granulated sugar. Mendez sold seed cane to Etienne de Boré, whose plantation stood where Audubon Park in the Uptown neighborhood of New Orleans is currently located. De Boré commercialized the industry. St. Bernard Parish morphed into a sugar-producing powerhouse that would boost its economy and significantly alter the demographics of the parish.24

  THE EARLY DEMANDS for cash crops led to an extension of slavery within the region. A census from the Spanish colonial government in the mid-1790s showed sixty-one enslaved persons in St. Bernard Parish, although this was probably an underestimate, as the purpose of the census was to collect a tax on slaves. This census excludes many of the plantations fronting the Mississippi River because those plantations were not located historically within the borders of St. Bernard Parish during the colonial era. None of the impoverished Isleños communities owned slaves. Race relations between the Isleños and the enslaved were consistently stable. Documents show many Isleños sold patches of land to free people of color and lived in proximity without provocation. Some Isleños left property and other possessions to black acquaintances in their wills.25

  This semblance of camaraderie between ethnicities was not as common with marooning communities. The majority of runaway slaves were often compelled to steal in order to survive in a state of existence considered illegal. They had not been a major cause of concern since the lynching of Juan San Malo; however, they again became an issue at the turn of the century as they marauded for food and resources. In 1799, French Creole slave owners in what is now considered St. Bernard Parish complained to the governor about excessive theft of property and animals. The maroons, outcast by socie
ty, also stole property from Isleños farmers. The evil institution of slavery forced those seeking freedom into exile and, at times, starvation. This inevitably led to conflict between impoverished groups competing for resources. This created additional hardship for the struggling Isleños settlements. The Spanish government put bounties on maroons, mostly to protect the property of slave owners, but it had little, if any, impact.26

  The land now considered St. Bernard Parish was vastly eclectic as it entered the nineteenth century. French Creoles owned plantations in the upper part of the region with hundreds of enslaved people who toiled the land. Armed maroons roamed around Lake Borgne and established Bas du Fleuve and other makeshift communities. Filipinos thrived in their own isolated community, Saint Malo. Hundreds of Isleños and other Spaniards lived self-sufficiently and intermarried with Acadians in Terre-aux-Boeufs. Heavy trade probably existed between these early ethnic groups. In the first two decades of the nineteenth century, the region would be significantly altered by two lasting events: the Louisiana Purchase and the Battle of New Orleans.

  IN 1800, SPAIN signed the Treaty of San Ildefonso and returned Louisiana to France as Napoleon Bonaparte desired the establishment of an empire in the French colony. Napoleon’s ambitions were thwarted due to various factors, most notably a successful slave revolution led by Toussaint L’Ouverture that resulted in a loss of Saint-Domingue, present-day Haiti. Haiti became the second independent republic in the Americas. The loss of a profitable colony combined with a need to fund its militaristic endeavors in Europe prompted France to sell its territory to the United States.

  Thomas Jefferson sent Robert Livingston to New Orleans in an attempt to purchase the city to control an important entrance to the interior of North America. Since Napoleon was desperate for finances, he sold the entire Louisiana territory to the United States for a mere $15 million, less than three cents an acre. The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States and remains the largest real estate transaction in history. Spain protested the transfer because France agreed not to sell the land to a third party in the Treaty of San Ildefonso, but Spain was in no position to contest Napoleon. St. Bernard Parish thus fell under American rule.

  Reactions to the transaction were probably heavily mixed in St. Bernard Parish. It is uncertain how the Isleños or those enslaved reacted to the sale. However, it is certain how the Americans reacted to the Isleños. Governor William C.C. Claiborne was the first American governor of Louisiana. He spoke no Spanish or French, a problem for a state where only one-sixth of the population spoke English at the time and a problem for St. Bernard Parish, where almost all inhabitants spoke Spanish, French or various African languages. Claiborne sent Dr. John Watkins to assess the settlements in St. Bernard Parish. According to Gilbert C. Din in his book The Canary Islanders of Louisiana, Dr. Watkins characterized “the inhabitants as humble, poor, indolent, and ignorant” simpletons who “idolize” their priests. At the time of transaction, roughly eight hundred people lived in the parish.27

  THE NEW REPUBLIC faced many challenges shortly after the Louisiana Purchase. Peace between the United States and Great Britain was short-lived. A motive for new territory coupled with resentment toward Great Britain prompted President James Madison to declare a war that would forever change St. Bernard Parish. The War of 1812 began miserably for the young United States. As the British burned Washington, D.C., to rubble, the country was again left to defend itself against one of the mightiest empires in the world. Great Britain planned three invasions of the United States. Capturing New Orleans was the goal of the third invasion. Major General Andrew Jackson was tasked to defend the city.

  Jackson’s army marched to New Orleans to meet the formidable British force, which included Native Americans and maroons from Spanish Florida, led by the famed Lieutenant General Sir Edward Michael Pakenham, brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington. Both armies were unaware that representatives from their respective countries had already signed the Treaty of Ghent, which declared the war over. However, the British capture of New Orleans would have been an attractive bargaining chip as both countries ratified the treaty.28

  Both Great Britain and the United States sought the recruitment of a well-armed contingent of pirates from Barataria Bay led by Jean Lafitte. Lafitte’s settlement was not far from the original Isleños community that attempted to settle before migrating to St. Bernard Parish. The factors that made permanent settlement difficult are the same factors that provided Lafitte with the necessary elusiveness to run his illegal operations. His empire consisted of hundreds of rogue men with an intimate knowledge of the waterways. These men looted and smuggled so excessively that Governor Claiborne offered a bounty of $500 for Lafitte’s head; Lafitte counteroffered a $5,000 bounty for Claiborne’s head.29

  The British offered Lafitte a position in the Royal Navy and $30,000 and promised to protect his land and assets. The Americans offered to release captured pirates and amnesty for past crimes. Lafitte pledged his allegiance to the Americans. Jackson reluctantly accepted the pirates as allies after he unintentionally met Lafitte in the French Quarter. 30

  Jackson’s arrival was bittersweet. New Orleanians were skeptical but needed protection. Jackson was also skeptical of a city inhabited by people he hardly considered Americans. He declared martial law in the city and the surrounding areas, including St. Bernard Parish. A judge and a lawyer who opposed the draconian measure were immediately detained.31

  Anglo-Americans who lived in New Orleans welcomed Jackson. He managed to arouse Creole support because of their mutual hatred of the British. He also accepted a large battalion of local free men of color. He placed confidence in their abilities and loyalties and called them “brave fellow citizens.” Jackson, a slave owner himself, was no friend to people of color, but he needed the support.32

  THE ROYAL NAVY entered Lake Borgne in St. Bernard Parish in late December 1814, not far from the town of Saint Malo, and quickly overwhelmed American gunboats in the Battle of Lake Borgne. The loss allowed the British to safely land in Bayou Bienvenue in St. Bernard Parish. The British visited a small fishermen’s village to find scouts to help survey the land to decipher how to best approach New Orleans. A few village residents of Spanish and Portuguese origin provided pirogues, gave reconnaissance information and served as guides for the British, perhaps not by choice. The British maneuvered to a sugar cane plantation in Chalmette owned by Major General Jacques Villeré, a prominent figure throughout Louisiana politics and then commander of the Louisiana State Militia. His home was a mere nine miles downriver from the city.33

  The British quickly attacked Villeré’s plantation, freed all fifty-two slaves and used it as their headquarters. Jacques Villeré’s son, Gabriel Villeré, escaped through a window as British soldiers tried to shoot him. British pursuit was hopeless once Villeré retreated to the swamps. He went to another plantation in Chalmette owned by Colonel Pierre Denis de La Ronde. Villeré and de La Ronde boarded a boat and quickly paddled up the Mississippi River to the French Quarter to notify Jackson of the British location.34

  Meanwhile, the British marched about a mile closer to an unprepared New Orleans. However, General John Keane decided to halt to wait for reinforcements. Keane set up camp and ignored the pleas of lower-ranking officials to continue marching. The British felt overly confident about their position. One officer remarked that he was excited to spend “carnival” in New Orleans.35

  Battle of Lake Borgne. Courtesy of Rhett Pritchard.

  Wilson Chinn wearing a torture instrument used to keep potential runaways from resting their heads. Private collection, courtesy of William L. Schaeffer.

  Many British troops marched into Terre-aux-Boeufs and stole approximately forty horses and supplies from the Isleños. The Isleños were never compensated for their losses. The British also hired or freed slaves, mainly to disrupt the local economy. Slave owners of St. Bernard Parish met with British officers to regain what they considered property but only received one o
f the some three hundred who deserted.36

  At the British camp, dozens of enslaved persons from nearby plantations sought refuge and protection. They were put to work in strenuous conditions to assist the British in their preparations. The British soldiers documented their conditions. One runaway in particular approached an officer and asked in French if the officer could remove his collar of spikes that had been placed on him as punishment for having intentions of fleeing. The spikes hindered the man’s ability to lie down to sleep or rest. It was a glimpse of the brutality faced at the hands of planters in the area. The officer, impressed with the maroon’s ability to speak French, Spanish and “a little English,” made a derisive comment regarding America as the “land of liberty” before he ordered the blacksmith to remove the collar.37

  The British found such treatment a contradiction to the principles pledged by the United States. However, in order to win over the local population against the Americans, the invading army ensured that slavery would not be abolished under British occupation. They printed signs in French and Spanish and plastered them to plantation fences: “Louisianians! Remain quiet in your houses; your slaves shall be preserved to you, and your property respected. We make war only against Americans.”38

  IN JACKSON’S HEADQUARTERS, Villeré’s rushed French was translated to English. Once Jackson realized the severity of the situation, he rose out of his chair and yelled, “By the Eternal, they shall not sleep on our soil!” The U.S. Army, free men of color, Choctaw Indians, militias from around the South, local French Creoles and Isleños from St. Bernard Parish marched in unison to meet the British. The diverse group demonstrated a unique solidarity as the British threatened their home and livelihood.39