Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, September 30, 1997

Opelousas district named for Attakapas kinfolk

by Jim Bradshaw

There are three sites in the Opelousas area where remains of the Paleo-Indian cultural group have been found. These were people who lived as much as 12,500 years ago in small, nomadic hunting groups. They followed the game they hunted with spears tipped with rock points, camping near streams in temporary shelters made of branches, grass, and hides.

Meso-Indian remains have been found at about 20 locations in the Opelousas area. These people lived about 7,000 years ago. They were also nomads, moving in small groups from campsite to campsite, but they probably moved less often than the earlier tribes that had roamed the area. They remained in some spots long enough to create mounds (either as burial sites or as garbage middens) that can still be found.

In later times, other nomadic tribes passed through the Opelousas area, camping, hunting, and gathering food -- some staying longer than others. Even in historic times, the Opelousas Indians were apparently more-or-less nomadic. In 1733, representatives of the tribe appeared before the Superior Council (governing body) of the colony to ask that traders be sent to visit them. If the traders came, they said, they would give up their nomadic ways and settle into villages, giving assurance that they would trade with the French instead of with the Spanish to the west.

There is an old and suspect tale that the Opelousas and some neighboring tribes banded together before the coming of the white man to attack and all but destroy the fierce Attakapas tribe that had been dominant in the area.

According to a version of that story put down by Felix Voorhies before the turn of the century, "The conquered territory was divided among the victors." That part of the district which now forms the parish of St. Landry was allotted to the Opelousas, and went by that name until the cession of Louisiana to the United States.

The name Opélousas has been given many meanings, but the long accepted one is "Black leg." Some people think that members of the tribe painted their legs a dark color. One theory is that the Opelousas' legs were stained as they waded in stagnant waters to hunt and fish. Simon le Page Du Prat, who lived in Louisiana from 1718 to 1734, eight years of which he spent living among the Indians, said the Opelousas lived just west of two small lakes, thought to be "Leonard Swamp," east of Opelousas. This was the westernmost channel of the Mississippi River in prehistoric times. The waters of the lake were black because of the great number of leaves covering the bottom.

More recently, Hugh Singleton, a student of the Attakapas language, has advanced the theory that the name comes from the Attakapas words Ap (at this place) and Elush (it is very hot). Singleton says he thinks that early Spaniards visiting the area changed the spelling of the name from Ap Elush to Opelus and then named the people who lived there Opelusas, without the "o." Next came the French, who added the "o" to create the spelling Opélousas.

The tribe that would become known as Opelousas Indians probably came to Louisiana about 2,000 years ago. By about 1,200 years ago, they had pottery, farming and other crafts, made axes and other crude tools, and smoked tobacco in pipes. They traded with other tribes, lived in windowless houses set over shallow holes in the ground, and buried their dead in huge mounds like the group that can still be seen at Bayou Rouge, northeast of Palmetto.

By 800 years ago, they had changed customs and were building flat-topped funeral mounds topped with round temples.

In 1700, the Opelousas Indian were living on a stream, probably Bayou Courtableau, in houses built by arranging poles in teepee shape, plastering them with mud, covering them with palmetto leaves, and, finally, with mats of cane. They farmed, they hunted, they fished. They worshiped spirits, good (the sun) and bad (disease). They played games involving balls and sticks and they sang and danced . The Opelousas Indians, by most reports, were friendly with the Europeans, but there is an account reportedly written by the granddaughter of Judge Seth Lewis that says that his home near Opelousas was fortified during "Indian wars."

"When my grandfather bought his Louisiana plantation there was on it large double log house which had been a fort during the war with the Indians, and it was called Camp Hamilton.

"He retained the name, and the house was built of strong magnolia logs and was almost indestructible. He had the old building enclosed by a wood casing and added to it at the back; so that when I first saw it, it was a large old-fashioned double house, three rooms deep, and with a wide hall in the center and porches at the back and front."

According to a 1955 historical supplement to The Opelousas Daily World: "The old Camp Hamilton was to the north of the present overseer's house on the Camp Hamilton plantation, which is east of Opelousas. Looking north from the railroad overpass on the new road to Port Barre, one can see the overseer's house. The plantation is now owned by Dr. and Mrs. S.J. Rozas."

Near the end of the 18th century Martin Duralde, who was commandant of the Attakapas and Opelousas posts in south Louisiana, composed a manuscript on the Chitimacha and the Opelousas tribes that is now one of a few sources of information about the Opelousas Indians.

According to his report and archaeological evidence, they apparently shifted about on the prairies west of what is today Lafayette and, before the coming of the Europeans, they had a village about 15 miles from Opelousas at the edge of the Atchafalaya flood plain.

In 1706, Juchereau St. Denis, founder of Natchitoches, was among the Opelousas Indians on a trading expedition. According to a report to the Council of the Commerce of the Company of the Indies, "The Opelousas are not afraid of the white man and they seemed to be accustomed to him. Among these Indians were seen two buckles of French make. They understood the French word ami as friend."

According to an old study of commerce in Louisiana under the French regime: "In the year 1708, Allarge Bajoux and Joseph Verger had established themselves a point of operations at Pointe Coupée. Bijoux had established trade agreements with the Ayish Indians of Texas (near present St. Augustine, Texas, almost due east of Nacogdoches near the Louisiana line) and Verger had established trade with the Opelousas Indians where the Indian traits forked."

The Opelousas were reported living near the town of Opelousas in 1724, evidently remaining there as long as they kept their tribal identity. In 1805, their tribal village was 15 miles west of present-day Opelousas.

One of the places where the Opelousas Indians camped or lived was in the area of Opelousas Catholic School, behind St. Landry Catholic Church on North Union Street. A lot of arrowheads have been found over the years in the area and, at one time, there was a mound with a pine tree standing on the property. This is said to have been the lookout post. In addition, there were fresh water springs at the site.

According to old reports, at least a few of the Opelousas Indians camped at Ringrose Plantation (centered around what is today Opelousas General Hospital) just before the turn of the century. They sold palmetto and cane baskets to the Fontenot family there.

About 20 Opelousas Indians were still alive in 1814, but there is no mention of them later. Few signs of the days of the Opelousas Indians remain. At Moundville, between Grand Prairie and Washington, there are remains of a few Indian mounds near Bayou Courtableau , and there are several larger mounds on Bayou Rouge, near the Atchafalaya.