Rapides Parish History PDF Download

Rapides Parish, Louisiana, a History, by George Purnell Whittington, was the first comprehensive history of Alexandria and Rapides Parish. Unfortunately, due to the author's early demise, it was left incomplete after its coverage of the Civil War. Originally appearing in issues of the Louisiana Historical Quarterly from 1932-1935, it was published posthumously in one volume by the Alexandria Committee of the National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of Louisiana. It was out of print from sometime in the early 1970s until this second edition was recently completed by Red River X-Press. Topics include native and migrant Indians, Indian traders, early settlements and explorations by Spain and France, the Louisiana and Orleans territories and how they affected the local area, slavery and slave insurrections, schools and school teachers, early religion, courts and lawyers, Rapides and its leaders in the presidential campaign of 1860, preparations for the Civil War, the invasions and occupations of 1863 and 1864, (i.e. the Red River Campaign), the building of Bailey's dam to allow the escape of Union gunboats and transports, and the burning of Alexandria and much of Rapides Parish by retreating Union troops in 1864.