Terrebonne County Louisiana Archives News.....Caillou Island in 1836 (part 2) December 26, 1891
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Savanna King savanna18king@gmail.com August 10, 2023, 11:40 pm

The Thibodaux Sentinel December 26, 1891
“All this may be true,” said he, “where you came from; but it is not so here. 
And as to the slavish drinkers of rum that you speak of, that may be true where 
that liquor is used; we do not drink rum down here; as for me, I despise rum-
suckers. Good whiskey is my ordinary drink. It must be remembered too that this 
is a low, damp, and swamp country, where water is often bad when you get up in 
the morning, and go out in the damp foggy weather; it is good to drink 
something, and it is also good to take a drink at night. When the weather is 
cold, it will keep you warm, when it is hot, it will keep you cool. When you are 
wet and cold, it is well to take about two drinks; and when you are dry it will 
do no harm to take a little. When a lot of men meet and wish to be friendly, 
they take a social drink. When the doctor looks at you and sees that you are 
pale and look sickly, he will tell you to take three drinks a day of brandy or 
whiskey; when a man is recovering from fever, or any sickness, the doctor 
prescribes brandy toddies. And when his health is fully re-established, he will 
tell him to continue taking, now and then, a little brandy or whiskey, to keep 
from getting sick.”

Now I never was good on a debate, I tried that at school when we had a debating 
society. This was, according to the slang of the times, a knock down argument. I 
had to consider myself defeated, whether I thought so or not, and retire from 
the contest; the middle aged gentleman wound up his eloquent discourse on 
intemperance, by talking of his favorite beverage with Mr. Gautier. We then 
parted company.

All the sugar plantations that we passed in going down, had names, such as 
Myrtle Grove, Hope Farm, and some others that I do not now remember. A few miles 
below the latter place, was a house which was pointed out to me, as one of the 
headquarters of Lafitte, the Pirate, when he came up this bayou to sell 
contraband goods. As long as the house remained standing, there were marks on 
the floor showing where his men pitched dollars and doubloons. The house was 
rather an elegant one for a place like this, from its appearance seemed to have 
been built by a man of means. But who built it, or who lived here, in Lafitte’s 
time, I cannot now remember. The property had very recently been purchased by 
Grugar C. Pierce. It was built in the old French or Spanish style, much used in 
the early settlement of this State. It was elevated on pillars about ten feet 
from the ground, the lower story being used as a storeroom, lumber room and 
other rough purposes. Here, they say, Lafitte and his men assembled to sell 
contraband goods, to drink wine and play cards. The name Lafitte was not unknown 
to me. I once saw a book, when I was a boy, containing the history of the most 
noted pirates, and among them was that of Lafitte. It told how these pirates 
captured ships on sea, killed the men, and those they did not kill, they forced 
to walk the plank, as they call it, with their hands tied behind them, and then 
tipped into the sea to drown. After that they took all the money, all the goods, 
and everything that was of any value, and then set the ship on fire. But the 
book was so full of horrid deeds, that I did not read much of it. And I have 
often thought since that it is wrong for persons, particularly young persons, to 
practice reading such books as the history of the pirates, the stories of 
highwaymen or the records of the Police Gazette. It is well enough for people to 
know these things; but not to acquire a taste for that style of literature. The 
mind, particularly that of young persons, is liable to become too familiar with 
vice and crime.

We arrived at Bayou LaCache between three and four o’clock P.M. Here we made 
coffee and ate our lunch. The name LaCache means hiding bayou; from the fact 
that Lafitte ran his goods up this bayou to hide them. Some say he had money 
buried somewhere along its banks. But if there ever was any buried, they have 
come long ago and taken it away as they have done in other places.

[To be continued.]



Additional Comments:
Note: I have not found the next continuation of this series, although I’d love to 
read it if it was ever published! The Pierre Gautier mentioned is my 5th great-
grandfather. He was married to Pelagie Rosalie Crochet.

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