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Longtime Catahoula parish feud to reignite next weekend
Published Saturday, October 31, 2009
JONESVILLE — Next Saturday, a long-smoldering Catahoula Parish feud will reignite.
For the second year in a row, a re-enactment of the historic Jones-Liddell feud will take place in Jonesville.
The re-enactment will be 1 p.m. Nov. 7 beyond the seawall at Four Rivers Park, and scriptwriter, chairperson and narrator Dot Lazarus said the re-enactment will something to remember.
“We will have horses, guns, wagons, confederate uniforms, real gunshots, props — everything,” she said.
The re-enactment began last year with the Catahoula Parish bicentennial, and Lazarus said she was asked to write a script about the feud because it was an important part of the parish’s history.
“It went on for 18 years, and 18 men were killed,” she said. “Last year was a learning experience, and this year — if everything works — should be pretty good.”
Sixteen people descended from those involved in the feud will be involved in the re-enactment, as will veteran reenactor Wayne Elliott, Lazarus said.
“Wayne goes all around the country doing re-enactments,” Lazarus said.
The re-enactment will be a fundraiser for the Catahoula Parish museum, which is tentatively planned to be located near the reconstructed Great Mound in Jonesville.
Plans are to build the museum using a Preserve America grant, but Jonesville first has to be declared a Preserve America city, and reenacting the Jones-Liddell feud is part of the efforts to get it declared so, Lazarus said.
In addition to the re-enactment, the events will include two hours of music, 13 arts and crafts booths and vendors selling food items.
Those wishing for seating will need to bring their own chairs, and should be seated by 12:45 p.m.
Comments
Posted by crazyworld (anonymous) on October 31, 2009 at 6:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Not a word as to cost to attend for this fundraiser. If someone with a large family came, they'd sure want to know how much money to bring!!
I've gotten where I don't attend events anymore that don't let ya know the cost before you get there. Why waste the gas money to get somewhere and then find out the cost is more than you might want to pay?
Posted by freedom42 (anonymous) on October 31, 2009 at 8:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It would be nice to know what the fued was all about, too. I never heard of it.
Posted by Razzmatazz (anonymous) on October 31, 2009 at 9:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
History Lesson 101: St. John Richardson Liddell (September 6, 1815 – February 14, 1870) was a prominent Louisiana planter who served as a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He was an outspoken proponent of Southern emancipation of slaves. Liddell was murdered by a former Confederate Officer near his home in 1870. Liddell was born to a wealthy plantation family near Woodville, MS. He was a schoolmate of future Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, whom he would interact with several times during the early years of the Civil War on behalf of fellow general Albert Sidney Johnston.
Liddell held a reputation for being outspoken, and was well connected. In December 1864, he wrote a letter to Edward Sparrow, a Confederate Senator from Louisiana and chairman of the military Committee, expressing his conviction that the war was going against the Confederacy. He expressed the need for full emancipation of the slaves in order to secure foreign assistance. Although he admitted it may have been too late to act, he felt that emancipation may have also been a solution to the South's growing manpower crisis. Senator Sparrow showed the letter to General Robert E. Lee, who agreed with Liddell on all points, stating that "he could make soldiers out of any human being that had arms and legs".
Liddell was assassinated in 1870 by Col. Charles Jones, the culmination of a twenty-year real estate dispute that had seen Jones and his band of thugs murder several friends and family members of Liddell. He was buried on his sprawling plantation in Louisiana. (Taken from Wikipedia)
Posted by Kaintuck (anonymous) on October 31, 2009 at 10:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Having been born and bred in the Bluegrass State - of Hatfields and McCoys fame - I would be careful about "fanning the flames" of a long-term feud, even in jest, with the living descendants. It has been my experience that humans are NOT rational creatures....
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