Some history is forgotten, and sometimes it is purposefully concealed. In the years before the Civil War, Southwest Louisiana was shaken by the rise of the Vigilante Committees of the Attakapas, groups of armed citizens who claimed to defend justice when the courts “failed.” They said they were protecting society from crime, but many poor Cajuns and people of color experienced them as instruments of intimidation and control. What happened at Bayou Tortue in 1859 reveals a side of Louisiana histo