Encampment offers look at local event

Gift books make shopping easy
November 3, 2011
"The Zeitgeist Chronicles" (New Orleans)
November 7, 2011
Gift books make shopping easy
November 3, 2011
"The Zeitgeist Chronicles" (New Orleans)
November 7, 2011

It was 150 years ago that the American Civil War broke out and became one of the most significant events in U.S. history. Louisiana had seceded from the Union on Jan. 26, 1861. It was not long before New Orleans, at the time the largest metropolitan area in the south, became a strategic target. The port city was captured by Federal troops on April 25, 1862.


History books list 26 significant battles having occurred in the Bayou State, most of which were concentrated along major water transportation routes.


Louisiana was one of those unusual members of the Confederacy where both northern and southern forces responded to sympathizers of each side and recognized designated areas as being under the authority of Union or Confederate interests.

Many of the sugar plantations of southern Louisiana became encampments for troops that had been deployed from other regions of the divided nation. One such plantation was The Shadows-on-the-Teche.


Nearly one and a half centuries after being taken by Union troops, The Shadows, located at 317 E. Main St. in New Iberia, is marking its 50th anniversary of being designated a national historic site and is working with historic preservationists and actors to present a Civil War encampment, such as was in place there during the later parts of that conflict.


The encampment is set for Nov. 5-6 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with the camp being decommissioned on Sunday at 4 p.m.

“Each year we try to focus on a different theme of the Civil War,” The Shadows Education Curator Catherine Schramm said. “Since this is the year that many people are starting to recognize the sesquicentennial of the war, we are doing something we have never done before.”


During past years, The Shadows depicted for visitors a time period in 1863 when Union forces advanced from New Orleans and along Bayou Teche and spent approximately one month in the New Iberia after having taken The Shadows.


“The [Civil War] fighting didn’t really reach this area until 1862 and 1863,” Schramm said

The Shadows has been offering historic presentations for visitors since the 1980s. The new presentation will feature the Union encampment in the context of daily plantation life from 1861, with units being raised and men signing up for military duty.

“People like to see the fights,” she said. “So on Saturday afternoon the Union army is going to march in and take over. They win every time. There might be little skirmishes where the Confederates win those but we want to remain as historically accurate as possible. We don’t change the facts.”

The nearest actual battle took place about a mile away from the Shadows, but for the sake of offering a history lesson, location liberties have been taken.

Union troops did occupy The Shadows on occasion with the longest period being November 1863 through January 1864.

Units of re-enactors and historians include locals to New Iberia plus groups from Baton Rouge and other locations.

“This is the first time we will be showing Confederate arms and uniforms because we [typically] have the union taking over right away,” Schramm said. “This time [the Confederates] will be seen getting ready for the fight.”

Originally owned by the David Weeks family, The Shadows-on-the-Teche was willed to the National Trust for Historic Preservation and is dedicated to telling the story of 19th century Louisiana.

More than 25,000 people from around the world visit The Shadows each year. The white column brick main house was constructed between 1831 and 1834. Not only has the plantation house been historically preserved, but curators are in possession of more than 17,000 documents, including historic photographs and furnishings, that testify to the lives of former inhabitants of the property.

Admission to the Shadows-on-the-Teche Civil War Encampment cost $5 for people 18 and older, $3 for ages 6-17 and children age 6 and younger enter free.