The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1868-03-14

the negroes in arms with the insurgents,
and that they had for a standard the body
ofa phite infant, recently inapaled on o.sta6e!
Having advanced too far to retreat undIscov-
cred, the delegation were slaughtered with
ont mercy. with the exception of two or
three, who escaped by flight and conveyed
the dreadful intelligence to the people of
the town, whose terrible ap%prehensio S were
soon heightened by the sight of all the sur
rounding plantations in flames.
Terror now seized on every mind, and the
screams of women and children, running
from door to door, intensified the horrors of
the >cene. All the citizens took up arms,
and the Governor was invested with the
command of the National Guards. One of
the first measures was to send the white
women and children on board the ships in
the harbor; serious apprehensions being
entertained concerning the domestic negroes
in the town, a great number of the ablest
men among whom were also sent on ship
board, and closely guarded. The free mu-
lattoes in the city would have been destroy
ed by the enraged populace, but for the
vigorous interposition of the Governor and
others. Grateful for this sucror, and prob
IDIf OcCIIlIiIS lllSlI lbCS OlllcI W lSC llISCCulC
all the able men among the mulattoes vol
UNFAIRLY offered their services against the
rebels, and were enrolled in the militia.
The next day a party of the militia and
troops of the line under the command of
Mr.. De Tousard, marched to the plantation
of Mr.. Latour and attacked a body of four
thousand rebel negroes, but the force of the
latter increasing to more than a centuple
proportion of their losses, the former were
obliged to retreat. The Governor then de-
cided to act solely On the defensive. The
roads leading into the town were barricaded,
and an embargo was laid on all the shipping
in the harbor to secure a retreat for the in
habitants in the last extremity. News of the
revolt had been previously sent to such par
ishes as, by land or sea, it was possible to
communicate with, and by the white inhab.
itants of these parishes a chain of camps and
posts was established, which for a short time
prevented the rebellion from spreading be-
pond the northern province. Two of these
camps however were attacked by the ne
groes and mulattoes, and forced with great
slaughter. The whole of the rich and ex-
tensive plain of the Cape together with the
mountains were now wholly
abandoned to the ravages of the enemy, and
the cruelties they practiced on such of the
miserable whites as fell into their hands are
almost to horrible for recital. They seized
Bleu, an officer of the police, and mailing
him alive alive to one of the gates of MS
plantation, chopped off his limbs with an
Ike. Binding a carpenter named Robert,
two boards, they sawed him asun-
der. All the white children, and even the
of mulattoes whose fathers refused
% join the revolt, were murdered, frequent
y before the eyes, or clinging to the bosoms
y their mothers. To detail the various
conflicts, massacres, and scenes of slaughter,
which this war of determination produced,
we're to present a picture too horrible for
contemplation. Human blood poured in
%orrents; the earth was blackened with ash
and the air tainted with pestilence. 1t
vas computed that within two months after
he revolt began, upwards of two thousand
White persons of all ages and conditions had
'een massacred that one hundred and eigh-
y sugar plantations, and about nine hun
red coffee, cotton, and indigo settlements,
'ad been destroyed by fire, (the buildings,
5c.) and twelve hundred white families re-
uced from opulence to AFFECT restitution.
Upwards of ten thousand insurgents had
erished by the sword or by famine, and
ome hundreds by the hand of the execu-
loner.