The Mermentau River (french: Rivière Mermentau) is a river in southern

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. It enters the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

between

Calcasieu Lake Calcasieu Lake is a brackish lake located in southwest Louisiana, United States, located mostly within Cameron Parish, Louisiana, Cameron Parish. The Lake, also known as Big Lake to the local population, is paralleled on its west shore by Louisi ...

and Vermilion Bay on the Chenier Coastal Plain. The Mermentau River supplies freshwater for the Mermentau Basin. The Chenier Basin is located between the Mermentau Basin and the Gulf of Mexico, and is unique in that it no longer contains any true estuarine Gulf habitat, although historically the basin served as a productive estuarine nursery ground. Freshwater inflow is from the Catfish Point control structure. Presently, several large freshwater lakes ( Grand Lake, White Lake) and confined wetlands dominate the region. These habitats are confined within the mainland and isolated from the influence of saltwater by a series of water control structures or locks. A significant percentage of the basin lands are publicly owned as Federal refuges and State wildlife management areas. Pirate

Jean Laffite Jean Lafitte ( – ) was a French pirate and privateer who operated in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his older brother Pierre spelled their last name Laffite, but English language documents of the time used "Lafitte". Thi ...

is rumored to have sailed into the area during the 19th century, possibly stashing gold treasure. Early in the 20th century W. Scott Heywood of Jennings began operating barges on the river to carry oil, which he discovered in 1901, to the railroad. In 1932, Heywood was elected to the

Louisiana State Senate The Louisiana State Senate (french: Sénat de Louisiane) is the upper house of the state legislature of Louisiana. All senators serve four-year terms and are assigned to multiple committees. Composition The Louisiana State Senate is compose ...

from a large district encompassing much of southwestern Louisiana.

Landmarks

The Mermentau River contains the infamous "Negro Island" (also known as "Skull Island") situated near the tiny village of Grand Chenier in extreme southeastern

Cameron Parish Cameron Parish (french: Paroisse de Cameron) is a parish in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,617. The parish seat is Cameron. Although it is the largest parish by area in Louisia ...

. In March 1867, John W. Sweeney, Jr., found "countless skulls, skeletons, and leg bones, each of the latter still shackled by a rusting leg iron to the skeleton lying beside it." Since the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

had recently ended, slave captains knew that if a slave ship were caught with

Africans African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

aboard, the slaver captain would be tried for violating the 1820 U.S. Law on Slave Trade, the penalty of which was a charge of piracy and death by hanging. Without a doubt the shackled and starving Africans on Skull Island died quickly. Researchers believe this human cargo could possibly be the missing slaves from the topsail hermaphrodite schooner ''Huntress''. This schooner was the last slave ship which left the Congo region of Africa in March 1865 with a capacity of 200 slaves.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Louisiana Rivers of Acadia Parish, Louisiana Rivers of Cameron Parish, Louisiana