Before the Civil War
"I still hope that nothing like Coercion will be attempted. Should it be, we will be involved in a war which will destroy both north & South. We will however have the advantage of fighting for our rights." -William F. Weeks to John Moore, January 25, 1861
In
January 1861 on Grand Cote the harvesting of the 1860 crop neared completion
and planting of the 1861 crop began. In April, as Fort Sumter fell to
the Confederates, cultivation of the new cane crop was under way with
plowing, hoeing and repairing drainage ditches to ensure a good crop.
Throughout the summer the slaves at Grand Cote kept busy getting ready
for what had the appearance of being a good harvest. Alfred, the cooper,
was busy making hogsheads for sugar and barrels for the molasses, while
Henry, the blacksmith, made sure the cane knives, mill rollers and gears
were in good working order for the harvesting and grinding season ahead.
All their hard work paid off, with the 1861 cane crop the best in Louisiana to that date, producing 459,410 hogsheads of sugar. The Weeks plantation at Grand Cote had a great year and by the time grinding was over in January 1862 over nine hundred hogsheads of sugar had been packed.
It
is probably no coincidence that it was also in 1861 that two paintings
of the Shadows were commissioned by the family from the artist Adrien
Persac. The paintings, one showing the front of the house, the other the
bayou side, present a picture of the serene prosperity and order, both
of which were soon to vanish with the coming war.
By mid 1862, sugar planters along Bayou Teche had to contend with armies on the move, both Federal and Confederate. But sickness and flooding posed a greater threat to the sugar crop that year. Measles and fevers reduced the labor force drastically, and heavy rains brought devastating flood waters covering corn and cane fields. As the war neared, Harriet, Charles and his family, and William F. Weeks and the Grand Cote slaves left South Louisiana to flee to Texas and Northwestern Louisiana to protect their interests and attempt to sustain some profits.
Next Page: After the Civil War
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