Editing Mer Rouge, Louisiana (section)

== History ==
There is a hill that serves as a boundary between Mer Rouge and [[Bastrop, Louisiana|Bastrop]], named "Red Hill". According to legend, French settlers recognized the "sea of red [[sedge]]" between the bluffs to the north and west of the area. They called it Prarie Mer Rouge, or the "red sea" prairie.<ref>{{cite web |title=Historical synopsis of Morehouse Parish, Louisiana from the 1930s. |url=https://louisianadigitallibrary.org/islandora/object/state-lwp%3A7013 |website=Louisiana Digital Library |publisher=State Library of Louisiana |access-date=June 21, 2023}}</ref>

On February 3, 1865, near the end of the [[American Civil War]], two squadrons of the [[Illinois]] cavalry attacked Mer Rouge and, according to historian [[John D. Winters]], seized some horses and mules, while also freeing some enslaved African-Americans. They then "burned about 300,000 bushels of corn [and] some cotton", thus undermining the production power of the pro-slavery rebels.<ref>[[John D. Winters]], ''The Civil War in Louisiana'', [[Baton Rouge]]: [[Louisiana State University Press]], 1963, {{ISBN|0-8071-0834-0}}, p. 414</ref>

In August 1922, in a case that would attract national attention, members of the [[Ku Klux Klan]] abducted two Mer Rouge men—Filmore Watt Daniel and Thomas Fletcher Richard—on the Bastrop highway. After [[Lynchings of Mer Rouge, Louisiana|torturing and killing the men]], the Klansmen disposed of their bodies in nearby Lake Lafourche. Following [[Lynchings of Mer Rouge, Louisiana|the killings]], Louisiana Governor [[John M. Parker]] sought help from the U.S. Department of Justice in suppressing Klan violence within the state.<ref>Thomas R. Pegram, ''One Hundred Percent American: The Rebirth and Decline of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s'' (Lanham, MD: Ivan R. Dee, 2011), pp. 172-174.</ref>

On October 5th, 2014 a [[Norfolk Southern Railway|Norfolk Southern]] train crashed into a [[Lowboy (trailer)|lowboy trailer]] hauling a tractor,  seriously injuring both railroad crew and causing two engines along with 17 cars to derail. 50 homes were evacuated due to the leakage of argon gas from the tank car.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-03-20 |title=Cleanup continues after train derailment in Louisiana |url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/cleanup-continues-after-train-derailment-in-louisiana/ |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=Associated Press |language=en-US}}</ref>