HISTORICAL HIGHWAY MARKERS
Beauregard Parish 

1. Atakapa Ishak
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2. Camp Ground Cemetery
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3. Confederate Military Road
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4. Coushatta Indian Village
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5. DeRidder Army Air Base
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6. Grabow Riot - 1912
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7. Sugartown 
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1. ATAKAPA ISHAK Foot Trails

marker

Erected at Junction, Hwy 190 (Atakapa-Coushatta Trace) and Hwy 111, between DeRidder and Merryville

Atakapa lands encompassed all of what is today southwestern Louisiana, extending from Bayou Teche to Sabine River and from the Gulf of Mexico to the present-day Alexandria. The Atakapa were the trail makers in S.E. Texas and S.W. Louisiana since prehistory. Atakapa language records contain the statement "I go to Red river."

The area of modern Beauregard Parish is noticeably vacant of Indian Tribal groups in Pre-1700 maps. It also is a region revealing few clues as to its prehistory, and has long been heglected by archeologists. Referred to as nomadic people, the Atakapa followed wondering herds of bison. It can be said that our red clay deposits attracted the Atakapa as evidenced by pottery pieces found by the seekers of relics.

U.S. Highway 190 (Atakapa-Coushatta Trace) from DeRidder to Merryville is a modern part of the prehistorical and early historical Atakapa Indians' Foot Trails ("PAKTAISH"...Atakapa) connecting their S.E. Texas bands to their S.W. Louisiana Bands, especially their Opelousas Band midst whom sat the Atakapas Trading Post. Six bands formed the tribe. Three easternmost were the 'Sunrise People'; west of them lived the 'Sunset People'. All these indians called themselves Ishaks ('the people'), not Atakapas. The latter, a Choctaw slur long shunned by the Ishaks, was first unwittingly spread, then always used, by Europeans, and Coushatta.

The six bands spoke a consistent language and stayed in frequent contact with each other via foot trails. A number of highways were old bison trails. Due to their dispersed occupation, sizable areas were left vacant without any recorded villages. Being hunters and gatherers, the Atakapa migrated by season all over their homeland and went inland each harvest season. They had mobile houses, which could be moved from one site to another.

One of the earliest descriptions of the historic Atakapa came from Cabeza de Vaca in 1526. A relationship possibly existed between the Atakapa and the Chitimacha.

A number of fascinating names are relics of the Atakapa such as Anacoco, Mamou, Opelousas, Calcasieu and others. Another fascinating fact is that our modern, popular dance "Zydeco" originated with the Atakapas "Dance of the Young."

Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco and Hugh D. Singleton, Atakapa-Ishak descendant, participated in the unveiling of the historical marker on January 10, the year of the DeRidder Centennial, 2003.

Ref: Hugh D. Singleton, Atakapa-Ishaks' descendant, Hstorian, Linguist

Velmer Lenora Smith, DeRidder, Historian

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2. Old Camp Ground Cemetery

marker

Erected one mile east of Sugartown on Hwy 112, turn right on dirt road at sign. Continue about 1/2 mile to where a cemetery is visible on the left, continue into a wooded hollow and into the Old Camp Ground

The Old Campground Cemetery was established in the 1820's by early Beauregard Parish settlers. This site was originally an Indian campsite. Later the wooded stretch along Sugar Creek became the community's camp meeting grounds where circuit riding ministers performed weddings, conversions and funerals.

Old timers point out unmarked graves of Union-sympathizing Jayhawkers who were killed while raiding workers on the Confederate Military Road which passed by the cemetery.

Contraband was carried on the Military Road from Mexico and Texas to Confederate forces fighting in the east. Three Confederate soldiers are believed to rest there.

There is a double headstone for the grandfather and grandmother of Louisiana's former Governor, Sam Jones, However, only is the grandfather actually buried there. His grandmother died in New Orleans at a time when the city was under quarantine and the family could not move the body, so she was buried in New Orleans. Later, when Governor Jones couldn't locate her burial site in New Orleans, he put up a double headstone where his grandfather is buried.

Former Governor and Mrs. Sam Jones took part in the historical marker dedication program in 1966, to the "Pioneers of Sugartown."

Only a few tombstones remain in in the cemetery. A representation of names of the older settlers is as follows:

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3. Confederate Military Road 1862 - 2865

marker

Erected 11 miles east of Hwy 171 South on Hwy 26

A large majority of the people of what is now Beauregard Parish were opposed to the secession of Louisiana from the Federal Union, but when the act was passed in the convention, as loyal citizens, a large majority enlisted in the service and served until the close of the war. Quite a few lost their lives in that struggle and many more were wounded and carried their battle scars to their graves.

During the war, about 1862, when the Federal troops captured New Orleans and blockaded the mouth of the Mississippi River, Taylor's army was in Central Louisiana at the time, retreating from Baknes' army. It became necessary to furnish Taylor's army with provisions and ammunition. For this purpose a military road was hastily cut out from Nibletts Bluff (the head of deep water navigation at that time) to Alexandria. The Confederate Government assigned the following men to build it: Rev. William Perkins of Big Woods; Alexander Frazar of Merryville; and W. J. Slaydon of near Singer. They were in charge of completing the road from Nibletts Bluff to Sugartown. Another crew was to take charge from there on.

Ordered to be constructed by Confederate General Taylor, the "Old Military Road" began at Nibletts Bluff, a well established supply point. It continued across present day Beauregard Parish diagonally, starting near the southwest corner and exiting the parish less than a mile south of its northeast corner.

On its way through the parish it passed near, practically every resident known to live anywhere near a route to Sugartown at least twenty years before the Civil War. The work was done mostly by soldiers. What few slave owners lived near the road furnished their male slaves to help in the work. They improved slopes on fords, moved some standing and fallen timber in order to straighten curves and crosslaid marshy places to withstand the heavier traffic. Generally the road followed a route that had been used many years.

The Old Military Road stretched about 130 miles from Niblett's Bluff to Alexandria. About 58 miles of it existed in modern day Beauregard Parish. Calcasieu Parish had 18 miles, Allen Parish had over one mile, Vernon had 17 miles and the remaining miles were in Rapides Parish. Another perspective of the road is that 18 miles went through Ward One, 12-1/2 miles in Ward Five, 11 miles in Ward Four, 3/4 miles in Ward Three, 1-3/4 miles in Ward Eight and 14 miles in Ward 7.

For many years after the war, this military road was the only road in Beauregard Parish.

Four Historical Markers were erected on the route of the old Confederate Military Road in Beauregard Parish in the Bicentennial Year of 1976.

Ref. Gov. Sam Jones, Beauregard Pioneers

Joseph R. Hyatt and Curtis Jacobs The Old Confederate Military Road 1862 - 1865.

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4. Site of the Coushatta Indian Village

marker
Erected westbound along Highway 190 (Atakapa-Coushatta Trace) between Merryville and Sabine River, Texas-Louisiana Border

In 1790, at the invitation of President George Washington, three Coushatta leaders were among a score of Creek chiefs who went to New York to sign a treaty with the U.S. Government. At the time, the Coushatta were apparently regarded as an important tribe. In 1791, it was written that "old Red-Shoe, king of the Alabamas and Coosades," (sic) was one of the five "most influential chiefs of the country either in peace or in war."

The Spanish Government also gave the Coushatta diplomatic recognition, naming Red Shoes among the Creek tribal chiefs to be invited to a general conference in Pensacola in 1793.

In response to the Treaty of San Lorenzo in 1795, the Coushatta began migrating from Alabama across the Mississippi River to place themselves under the protection of Spain. About 1795, Red Shoes himself left Alabama for Louisiana, bringing with him about 100 of his followers.

It appears that Red Shoes first moved from the lower Red River southwest to Bayou Chicot in the Opelousas district and, a short time later, located about 80 miles farther west on the east bank of the Sabine River, near present-day town of Merryville.

Surveyor's field notes traced indications of a trail route from the Coushatta Village on the Sabine River through the area of ten present Texas counties. From the indian village, one major trail led eastward to Opelousas, Louisiana and another, extended northwestward to the post of Nacogdoches, where the Coushattas traded and received presents from the Spanish. The trail became so traveled that the Mexican government erected Fort Teran in l831 at the Coushatta Trace crossing of the Neches River as a means of controlling the movement of settlers into Texas.

With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, a new policy was established to help control Indian behavior on the frontier. To combat unlawful practices and to consolidate their control of the tribes, the Americans soon put into operation a factory system based on trading posts administered by the government. This venture soon miscarried, and the Americans, began issuing licenses to individuals. These private traders extended credit to Indians and began acquiring tracts of land in settlement of Indian debt. Losing hundreds of acres to the traders, the tribes often sought space in less settled and marginal areas, such as the Big Thicket of present-day east Texas.

About this time, the brother of Red Shoes was murdered by a white man, who escaped arrest. Immediately after the murder, part of the tribe cut its corn, abandoned its homes, and crossed the Sabine to settle on the Trinity River in Spanish territory.

By the opening of the War of l812 between the United States and Great Britain, the combines population of the Coushatta on the Sabine, Red, and Trinity rivers totaled about 800. The Sabine River settlement remained the principal center of the tribe. After the early period of Mexican Independence, 1821-1835, the Coushatta and other tribes living between the Sabine and the Trinity Rivers became alarmed at the influx of Americans seeking, once again, to push them off their lands. The Indians appealed to the Mexican Government for title to their lands, only to learn the lands had been conveyed to non-Indians.

The modern history of the Coushatta tribe begins about 1850 with the establishment of Indian Village on the Calcasieu River near Kinder. Here the tribe continued its ancient traditions and seemed to enjoy amicable relations with its neighbors. Finally, settlers forced them to move again, but for the last time. In the early 1850's, homesteaders began taking up Coushatta lands at Indian Village. A local non-Indian, James Cole, helped them locate vacant land 15 miles east of Bayou Blue, which they purchased. In 1854, most of the tribe moved to this site a few miles from Elton.

Ref:: "COUSHATTA TRACE" The Handbook of Texas Online.

Jim Bradshaw, Daily Advertiser, Oct 28, 1997, Lafayette, LA

Velmer Lenora Smith, DeRidder Historian

5. Airmen Who Lost Their Lives - DeRidder Army Air Base

marker
Erected adjacent to Hwy 190 West, (Atakapa Coushatta Trace) just north of the Beauregard Parish Airport

The Army Air Force (AAF) was organized in June 1941 and by December 25, 1941, the first unit arrived at the DeRidder Army Air Base (DAAB).

Pilots and service personnel flew and maintained such aircraft as the L20, B17, B25, B26, P40 and P51's.

Various units assigned to the DAAB were the 22nd Observation Squadron, 3rd Quartermaster Company, 4th Medical Battalion, 372 AAF Band, 423 and 424 Reconnaissance Group, 409 and 417 Bombardment Group and 322nd Sub Depot - Air Service Command. Preparations were made for overseas combat duty by flying perfectly precisioned and coordinated low-level and medium altitude attacks on DeRidder Army Air Base and imaginary enemy installations. Such simulated attacks included the silencing of A/A positions and cutting communications lines followed by rendering three airstrips unserviceable with direct bomb hits from 8,000 feet.

But not all airmen boarded the pullman train to start the long journey overseas. While serving their country, 35 men lost their lives in training accidents in and around the DeRidder Army Airport and Gunner Range that is located south of Merryville, 1942 - 1945. Such accidents resulted in men succumbing to death by "burning in airplane," "hung in tree after airplane crash," "air accidents," etc.

When the war with Japan ended, the DAAB closed in 1945.

DAAB HISTORICAL MARKER
ROLL OF HONOR
Frank E. Argenio
Vernon Kenapsoni
Jno Arnold
Wallace Kettle
Phillip J. Bartan
Robert M. Laban
Thomas Canning
Wm. Mackenzie
Russell Casbett
Daniel Montgomery
Jr. Cawthorn
Ralph W. Nelson
R. W. Clasen
Cecil Patterson
Charles Colson
Elmer L. Posten
Joseph Coma
Thomas Riley
P.F. Curdy
Camillo R. Schrappa
Francis Duggan
Albert A. Siegel
R.F. Edwards
Paul Smith
Robert E. Haywire
Francis Strickland
Howard J. Hildebrandt
Arthur J. Vogel
Jessie Hudson
M.S. Warth
Hugh Jackson
Richard Wentling
Vincent Jasinski
Lawrence Zelley
Wilbar L. Johnson
The historical marker was dedicated on May 12, 2000. Lt. Col. Kurt Story, Commander of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment's 4th Squadron, Fort Polk, delivered the dedication message. Phillip J. Jones, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, gave the "unveiling" message.

Ref: Velmer Lenora Smith, DeRidder Historian

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6. Grabow Riot of 1912

marker

Erected South of the Beauregard Parish Airport adjacent to Grabow Rd., off Hwy 190 West and Hwy 3099. The marker is sponsored by the Galloway Family and PACE Local 4-0725

During the early 1900's, the lot of sawmill employees was no better or worse than that of employees in southern cotton mill towns, coal towns or in meat packing enterprises. Men worked 11 hour days. It was through organizational efforts that 10-hour days were granted to workers in other areas.

In 1911 the Timber Workers' Union succeeded in closing down through strike these mills: Long Leaf in Longville, Hudson River at DeRidder, and King Ryder at Bon Ami. The mill owners vowed to destroy the unions among their employes. By shutting down mills, workers would starve or move elsewhere. The most apparent local danger to BTW unity was from the Negro population. According to the Spero-Harris study, employers favored using Negro strike breakers over other groups because the Negro was more accustomed to working for a particular person rather than for a specific wage.

Grabow was a typical sawmill town where everything was running peacefully. A. L. Emerson, Pres. of the Brotherhood of Timber Workers planned to unionize three sawmill communities - Grabow, Bon Ami, and Carson.

It was on July 7, 1912, that 800 hundred people gathered at DeRidder to accompany Emerson to Carson. People walked, some on horseback, some in wagons to Carson and at least 40 of them were openly armed. Waiting for them at Carson was a frigid welcome, cat-calling and tin-canning. The next stop was Bon Ami where they also met with a cool reception. Most of the group returned to DeRidder but a small group with Emerson moved through the woods to the small milling town of Grabow.

The shootout occurred when A. L. Emerson was giving a speech in favor of organization of workers. Three men died instantly and one later from a head wound. Three were union men and one was a company guard. There were an estimated 60 wounded. Emerson spoke of it as a massacre, a deliberate attempt to "shoot us down and murder me."

"Not Guilty" was the verdict after an hour of deliberation by the jurors. The trial virtually bankrupted the BTW. Following an unsuccessful strike at Merryville, against the American Lumber Company, in which company guards sacked the union headquarters and attacked President Emerson, the disintegration of the BTW in the South proceeded rapidly. The union was never so vigorous again and was dead within three years of its beginning. The Brotherhood effectively was destroyed by the spring of 1914.

Grabow, so named by the railroad company is located in the vicinity of the Santa Fe Railroad track and the airport. The old mill pond is still situated on the site. Former Governor Sam Jones was prosecuting Attorney. Judge Hunter established that union men were on Santa Fe Railroad property when the riot began and therefore, not trespassing on Galloway property. He also established that the first shot was fired from the Galloway Lumber Company office.

The historical marker was dedicated during the DeRidder Centennial Celebration, April 5, 2003.

Ref: Robert Benoit, Pres. SW LA Historical Assn

Connie E. Berry, The Brotherhood of Timber Workers and the Grabow Incident in Southwest Louisiana

Velmer Lenora Smith, DeRidder Historian

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7. Sugartown

Situated in the disputed area once claimed by Spain and the U.S., called NO MAN'S LAND; the site of Sugartown Academy, a pioneer educational institution in Southeastern Louisiana. The school was of sufficient importance in 1875 to be listed by the Louisiana Education Dept. Located in Clinton, District 3, East Feliciana Parish

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After the Louisian Purchase, the area that later became East Feliciana Parish in southeast Louisiana was actually part of Spanish West Florida and not part of the purchase. American settlers there staged a little revolution to try to break away from Spanish West Florida and become part of the United States, but there was no actual boundary dispute about the area between the U.S. Government and Spain.

But on the southwest side of the state immediately after the Louisiana Purchase, there was a very definite boundary dispute between Spain and the U. S. concerning a piece of very disputed territory because the French and Spanish Governments had never agreed on the western boundary of Louisiana. The Spanish government considered the boundary between Louisiana and Spanish-held Texas to be the Red River. The new owners of Louisiana, the U.S. Government, claimed the boundary between Louisiana and Texas to be at the Sabine River. Finally, in 1806, when it was clear no agreement on the boundary could be made, the two governments agreed to creat a "neutral strip" of ground between Louisiana and Texas, a buffer zone belonging to neither government, in effect creating a lawless "No Man's Land." This situation persisted for 15 years until 1821 when the boundary issue was finally resolved in America's favor in the Adam-Onis treaty between the U.S. and Spain Within the same geographical area that encompassed the strip until 1821, eventually to become the Beauregard Parish of today, one W.H. Baldwin, graduate of Columbia University, established a very basic but very much-needed educational institution in December of 1878. The one-classroom school came to be known for the small community in which it was located, Sugartown, thus the name: Sugartown Male and Female Academy. Though the school operated for only two years in an environment where no formal education had existed since the Civil War, it had an enormous impact, enrolling students not only from the immediate Sugartown vicinity, but also from the communities of Lake Charles, Alexandria, Sulphur and Mansfield in Louisiana, and from as far away as Liberty and Angelina counties in east Texas. Sugartown Academy became the foundation of the education system that would later develop in southwest Louisiana.. The academy was indeed the pioneer educational institution in southWEST Louisiana.

Ref: Marc Wellman, LA Section, State Library of LA, Baton Rouge, LA

Velmer Lenora Smith, DeRidder Historian

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Provided by: Velmer Lenora Smith, DeRidder Historian