Weeks Family Flee Teche Region During Civil War
Excerpts from letters from the Weeks family offer vivid glimpses of the Civil War’s impact on daily life, helping to provide insightful images of residents’ reactions.
Allie Weeks Meade writes to John Moore in June 1862, “I have been very much annoyed for a few days past, with the report and I am sorry to say one that has a good deal of foundation, that Genl Pratt intended filling up the Bayou just at this point, and if it done they are going to establish a camp, & plant cannon for the purpose of making resistance should the enemy attempt to come up. In that case of course my dwelling house trees & in fact every thing would be torn and shattered to pieces.”
Allie’s concern about the destruction of her personal property reflects the fear of all residents, as well as evidence of the frequent rumors surrounding war. While rumors likely abounded due to the minimal methods of receiving news, the facts themselves must have been even more frightening.
Portrait believed to be of David Weeks Magill.
From the collection of the Shadows-on-the-Teche.
The following month, David Weeks Magill writes to his uncle William Frederick Weeks, “On the morning of the 28th of June we had a very hard fight with the fleet from below which attempted to pass our batteries consisting of 26 Mortar boats 14 gunboats & four sloops of iron. We kept them in check for four hours…. We had another brush on the 15 of July…. It is impossible to tell when I will be able to get home on a furlough. …the stores all being closed on account of the shelling they have shot through nearly every house in the city.”
As rumor transformed to reality, the exodus began as one-by-one members of the Weeks family fled the area. In October 1862, Allie writes her mother, Mary Weeks Moore, informing Mary that she sent “up to Charlie’s this evening a cart loaded with things, a three mule cart, with trunks and boxes. I would like to send them all the way to New Town but fear I may need the cart. I can neither eat or sleep, but I hope it will all turn out right. Carts loaded are passing all the time. …a large number have just passed. my neighbors are all going to leave except Judge Palfrey’s family.” Each resident faced the decision to remain or leave.
“I am told the Federals are near you,” writes Jonathan F. Leigh to John Moore, who is in New Iberia, in November 1862. “Perhaps you had better come up. …should take you prisoner, and of the whole I cannot but deem it meet and prudent for you to evade the iron rod of the beast & Brute Butler.” Eventually, most of the family traveled to northern Louisiana and Texas, as evidenced by Allie’s letter to John in May 1863. “I am very must disappointed at not seeing you when you were in Mansfield. I reached town soon after you left. I am with my negroes on my way to Texas, will go into the wheat portion of the state, somewhere near Dallas or in that neighborhood. I will let you know as soon as I get settled. I would have remained in or near Mansfield, but could find no occupation for my negroes. Mrs. Brashear is travelling with me, she has her negroes with her. I have heard nothing from below.” Receiving news of family and friends became more complicated as they traveled and as the Union Army advanced into the Teche region.
John, in October 1863, writes to William about his frustrations, “I have just seen the La Democrat [newspaper] of the 30th in which there is a letter from New Orleans stating that the enemy’s troops sent to Berwick’s Bay are destined for Texas by way of the Red River. I have been unable to hear any thing about their movements on the Teche. I have been looking at some places near the Sabine to locate our negroes but as yet have seen none that pleased…. I have heard from a reliable source that corn is selling at $10 a bushel in McClelland Co. Texas near Waco. I can not stand such extortion. We are buying corn here at $1 a bushel. …C. C. Weeks [Charley] went to Shreveport day before yesterday & I expect him back today—he is intent on going to Texas unless you write to him advising him otherwise.”
As the family sought revenue by producing crops in Texas or hiring out the enslaved labor force, the cost of supplies and news from home increased anxiety. “The great & growing distrust of Confederate money is such as to warrant me in the belief that a few more reverses of our [fortunes] will cause its almost entire rejection,” writes William to his sister, Allie, in 1863. “Prices of Every thing are steadily advancing. You had better secure a good supply of corn from Mr. Hewitt. I will write you again from Houston, when I get my letters I tremble to receive them. How many changes may take place in one month. I see that 400 federal cavalry had advanced to near Franklin….except burning the house on the plantation of Major Fusilier. It must be that they have burned the sugar house of Alfred Fusilier, his residence having been burned in October last. This movement of the Feds must have [exerted] great alarm among the citizens of St. Mary.”
Despite William’s concern about the cost of supplies and his own alarm at the action of Union troops near his home, adults encouraged as much normality as possible for young members of the family. Charley Conrad Weeks’ son John Moore Weeks wrote a birthday party invite to his grandfather and namesake, Judge John Moore, asking him to come soon for cake and candy.
With the continuation of the war, communication deteriorated further among the family and led to the uncertainty of news. Allie writes on October 15, 1863, that she has not heard from her family since the 15th of last month. On October 31, she writes to John, “I think it so strange that I do not hear from you.” By November 3, 1863, she writes, “I have written to you repeatedly by mail, but as I have received no answer to my letters I suppose you do not receive them.” Finally, to her mother, Allie writes on December 20, 1863, “…as they will not allow a sealed letter to pass, I shall also leave this one unsealed. …This is the sixth time I have written to you since the 13th of November.”
Whether or not her mother received the earlier letters, she most likely did not receive this one. Mary died on December 29, 1863. By that time, the war had taken its toll on the area and Mary’s health had declined. Her grandson David Magill had been killed at Vicksburg. Her husband and children were away from home with infrequent letters and little actual news. The news when received, both by those in Texas and those who remained at home, was filled with the defeats of the Confederate Army. Hannah Jane Conrad, Mary’s sister-in-law who was at the Shadows when Mary died, wrote to John nearly a year later on December 4, 1864, “I wrote you by mail some time ago, but think it probable my letter never reached you. …Alfred is still at home, but speaks of going to Texas soon. There is no news of any kind. We never see any papers, & the people are yet indoubt [sic] whether McClellan or Lincoln has been elected. The people of New Iberia incline to McClellan they are with a few exceptions for re-construction. I think Lincoln’s election would be better for our cause.”
Alfred Weeks traveled to and from Texas in the two weeks following his aunt’s letter. However, he died on December 26, 1864, about a year after his mother. The remaining family eventually returned home to face an uncertain future as they tried to re-establish their sugar plantations in a new political and economic situation.
Originally published in the Shadows Service League newsletter, April 2001.
