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Newspaper The Opelousas Patriot (Opelousas, Parish of St. Landry, La.) 1855-1863 Patriote des Opelousas / Published with an additional masthead in French: Patriote des Opelousas

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About The Opelousas Patriot (Opelousas, Parish of St. Landry, La.) 1855-1863

Opelousas, Louisiana, the seat of St. Landry Parish, was established in 1720 as a French trading post. By the middle of the 19th century, it had developed into a cattle trading center and market town of regional importance. In 1862, it served briefly as Louisiana’s capital after the state legislature abandoned the strategically more vulnerable city of Baton Rouge. Opelousas, too, was abandoned the following spring when Federal troops advanced toward the town.

The Opelousas Patriot was founded in 1855 by Albert Dejean, Cyrus Thompson, and Alfred Livingston. It was published weekly in four pages, two in English and two in French. Although the Patriot initially claimed to be neutral in politics and refuted accusations that it was an American (or Know Nothing) Party paper, it soon came out in support of the party, which sought to limit the political influence of Irish and German Catholic immigrants. Initially unpopular in heavily Catholic Louisiana, support increased in 1855 when Charles Derbigny, son of a former governor and member of an established French Catholic, Creole family, received the Know Nothings’ gubernatorial nomination.

The Patriot‘s focus through about 1857 was American Party politics, but it also carried general foreign and domestic news as well as essays, poetry, and fiction, including serialized French novels. In the years leading up to the Civil War, it contained articles on topics such as abolition, slavery in the territories, and the influence of free blacks. Dejean and Thompson ended their connection with the paper after the election of 1856. Later publishers and editors included Charles Ealer, Charles Potier, Rodolphe Chachere, Samuel Nolley, Onezime Guidry, and Edmond Ducré Estilette, a graduate of Yale.

At present, no issues of the Patriot are known to exist from February 1860 to May 1861; according to a biographical sketch of Estilette, it was at that time “an independent organ, but favoring what was known as the Cooperative Party.” The few issues that survive from the Civil War document troop movements and unrest in St. Landry Parish. After the Federal occupation of Opelousas in 1863, Estilette fell into disfavor with Union commanders, who shut the Patriot down.

Provided By: Louisiana State University; Baton Rouge, LA

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Opelousas Patriot (Opelousas, Parish of St. Landry, La.) 1855-1863

Other Title

  • Patriote des Opelousas
  • Published with an additional masthead in French: Patriote des Opelousas

Dates of Publication

  • 1855-1863

Created / Published

  • Opelousas, Parish of St. Landry, La. : [Albert Dejean, Cyrus Thompson, Alf. Livingston], 1855-

Headings

  • -  Opelousas (La.)--Newspapers
  • -  Louisiana--Opelousas
  • -  United States--Louisiana--Saint Landry--Opelousas

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 1 (Mar. 3, 1855)-
  • -  Ceased in 1863?
  • -  Crandall: 5234.
  • -  Editor: E.D. Estilette, <1863>.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  In English and French.

Medium

  • volumes ; 54-61 cm

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn86079076

OCLC Number

  • 13169142

ISSN Number

  • 2377-8296

Preceding Titles

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Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

The Opelousas Patriot Opelousas, Parish of St. Landry, La. -1863. (Opelousas, LA), Jan. 1 1855. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86079076/.

APA citation style:

(1855, January 1) The Opelousas Patriot Opelousas, Parish of St. Landry, La. -1863. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86079076/.

MLA citation style:

The Opelousas Patriot Opelousas, Parish of St. Landry, La. -1863. (Opelousas, LA) 1 Jan. 1855. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn86079076/.