History
The Teche begins in Port Barre where it draws water from Bayou Courtableau and then flows southward pass to meet the Lower Atchafalaya River at Berwick. During the time of the Acadian migration to what was then known as the Attakapas region, the Teche was the primary means of transportation.
During the American Civil War, fighting occurred on Bayou Teche on November 3–5, 1862. Four Federal gunboats with twenty-seven guns came up the Teche despite weak obstructions placed in the bayou by Confederate General Alfred Mouton. The gunboats engaged the Confederate ship Cotton near Cornay's Bridge in an exchange that lasted for an hour and a half. Though struck several times, the Cotton escaped real damage. In the next two days, two other duels occurred, and each time the Cotton prevailed. However, the Union pacified the area of Bayou Teche and the Atchafalaya River. Historian John D. Winters reports: "Federal troops collected horses, mules, and sugar in large quantities. Planters who remained began taking the oath and were allowed to make contracts with the Negroes to finish their sugar crops."
After the levees were built along the Atachafalaya River in the 1930s, the Teche and the rice farms located along the bayou suffered a drastic reduction in fresh water. Between 1976 and 1982, the United States Army Corps of Engineers built a pumping station at Krotz Springs to pump water from the Atchafalaya River into Bayou Courtableau.
The etymology of the name "Teche" is uncertain. One hypothesis is that it comes from "tenche", a Chitimacha Indian word meaning "snake", related to the bayou's twists and turns resembling a snake's movement. The Chitimacha tell an ancient story of how the snake attacked their villages, and it took many warriors many years to kill it. Where the huge carcass lay and decomposed, the depression it left behind filled with water to become the bayou. Alternatively, George R. Stewart asserts that it is, "probably a French rendering of Deutsch, the name by which the German colonists of the area would have named their stream. Cf. Allemand ."
The sugar plantation Lagonda was established on Bayou Teche by Lewis Strong Clarke, who was also involved in Republican politics in the late 19th century.
Read more about this topic: Bayou Teche
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“... in a history of spiritual rupture, a social compact built on fantasy and collective secrets, poetry becomes more necessary than ever: it keeps the underground aquifers flowing; it is the liquid voice that can wear through stone.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“Jesus Christ belonged to the true race of the prophets. He saw with an open eye the mystery of the soul. Drawn by its severe harmony, ravished with its beauty, he lived in it, and had his being there. Alone in all history he estimated the greatness of man.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“You that would judge me do not judge alone
This book or that, come to this hallowed place
Where my friends’ portraits hang and look thereon;
Ireland’s history in their lineaments trace;
Think where man’s glory most begins and ends
And say my glory was I had such friends.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)