The Acadian Prairie

by Christopher J. Fontenot

Tugged and shoved by the winds of war, the petit habitants of the Acadian prairie arrived from many directions. Acadians arrived from Nova Scotia. Other families migrated to the prairie after the French and Indian War. All of the settlers sought land and isolation that shielded them from the intemperate affairs of European kings. The Acadian prairie provided both. Farmers and ranchers, Theodule Dupré, Emile Ortego, the Landrys, Frugés, and the traiteuse Olivia wanted only to be left in peace, but peace is not given freely. Death was always near, whether it was vigilantes and cattle thieves, storms and epidemics, or Jayhawkers operating in the chaos of the Civil War, they had to fight for what was theirs – sometimes even fight their own families. Connected by family and circumstance, theirs was a saga that would follow their families through generations.