Irish Bend

The placename Irish Bend, in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, refers a turn in Bayou Teche that was settled by a relatively high number of Irish-American planters, in what was otherwise Acadiana. Irish Bend was also known as American Bend; among the key settlers were John Murphy, the Cafferys (nephews of Andrew Jackson), and Alexander Porter. As told in the memoirs of a woman who moved there around 1811, "The Country being settled by French, Spaniards, & Indians principally, when we went there, very soon many from Kentucky, Tennessee, & Mississippi came & purchased. Having plenty made quite a favourable change on our Bayou. 3 or 4 Irish families living near us, Mr. Martin gave it the name of the Irish Bend which goes by that name today." Irish Bend has historically been a sugarcane-producing section of Louisiana. On April 14, 1863, it was the site of the Battle of Irish Bend, an engagement of the American Civil War.

References

  1. ↑ Louisiana; a Guide to the State. 1941. p. 397. ISBN 978-1-62376-017-5. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  2. ↑ Leeper, Clare D'Artois (2012-10-19). Louisiana Place Names: Popular, Unusual, and Forgotten Stories of Towns, Cities, Plantations, Bayous, and Even Some Cemeteries. LSU Press. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-8071-4739-9.
  3. ↑ Kramer, Thomas Frère (2002). A Family Montage: Being the Families Kramer, Frère, Foster, Marsh, Gates and Allied Families. Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Louisiana at Lafayette. p. 197. ISBN 978-1-887366-46-5.
  4. ↑ Louisiana Review. Vol. 3. Council for the Development of French in Louisiana. 1974. pp. 70–79.
  5. ↑ Owsley, Harriet C. (1962). "Travel Through the Indian Country in the Early 1800s: The Memoirs of Martha Philips Martin". Tennessee Historical Quarterly. 21 (1). Tennessee Historical Society: 66–81. ISSN 0040-3261.
  6. ↑ Foscue, Edwin J.; Troth, Elizabeth (October 1936). "Sugar Plantations of the Irish Bend District, Louisiana". Economic Geography. 12 (4): 373. doi:10.2307/140425.
  7. ↑ Jones, Allen W. (1961). "Military Events in Louisiana during the Civil War, 1861–1865". Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association. 2 (3). Louisiana Historical Association: 301–321 [312]. ISSN 0024-6816.

29°48′39″N 91°27′16″W / 29.8109°N 91.4545°W / 29.8109; -91.4545