"Many spent the war in hiding. In thick woods and swamplands and on small river islands, they bided their time, refusing to fight and die for slavery. They bore many names: deserters, layouts, jawhawkers, tories. Some called them, because of the vegetation that slowly grew on their clothes while they hid from Confederate troops, "mossbacks."
I recently visited one of the main hideouts for these anti-Confederate mossbacks, somewhere I had written about but never before seen. This in itself wasn't unusual; my research covers the entire Deep South, so most of the places I have studied I have not experienced firsthand. But there was something deeply haunting about this place.
When the great Mississippi River flood of 1927 drove my grandfather's family out of Avoyelles Parish (the northern tip of Cajun country), they settled in New Orleans, so I grew up visiting the city with some frequency. I still try to go there at least twice a year (Jazzfest, Christmas) because it's one of my favorite cities in the world; though, thanks to Hurricane Katrina, I no longer have any family there. On my last trip, a few days before the New Year, I decided to rent a car and make the 45-minute drive up Highway 10 to the Pearl River swamp, where several companies offer guided tours…"
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Amicalement
Armand