Editing Cameron Parish, Louisiana (section)

===19th century===
In 1803, Napoleon sold all the French territory west of the Mississippi River to the United States in the [[Louisiana Purchase]]. The US was particularly intent on getting control of New Orleans, an important port for its large agricultural interests in what is now the Midwest. Early Anglo-American settlers{{where|date=March 2023}} after the Louisiana Purchase included John M. Smith, Millege McCall, John William Sweeney, George W. Wakefield, William Doxey, James Hale, James Root, and John M. Miller.<ref>Perrin, W.H. (1891) ''Southwest Louisiana Biographical and Historical,'' Reprinted 1971. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Claitor's Publishing Division</ref>

In 1807, this territory became part of Calcasieu Parish, established by the new Louisiana Territory legislature. The western part of this coastal area was included in what was called No Man's Land, a disputed area of control between Spain and the US after the Purchase. In the 1806 [[Neutral Ground (Louisiana)|Neutral Ground]] agreement, both parties agreed to leave this free of military occupation or civil law enforcement.<ref name="blockcal"/> The area between the [[Calcasieu River]] (at the time known to the Spanish as the Arroyo Hondo) on the east and the [[Sabine River (Texas–Louisiana)|Sabine River]] on the west became a hotbed of outlaws, pirates including [[Jean Lafitte]], and other nefarious characters for many years.<ref name="blockcal"/> It was finally acquired by the United States in 1819 under the [[Adams-Onis Treaty]] with Spain. (In 1870 these two rivers were designated as the eastern and western boundaries, respectively, of the new Cameron Parish, taken from the southern part of Calcasieu Parish.)

During the [[American Civil War]], loyalties in this area and in the greater coastal area were divided between Unionists and Confederates. Bands of local "Jayhawkers," also known as bushwhackers, were active in the area. There were numerous Unionists near Sabine Lake and Leesburg (now Cameron). Others were located near the mouth of the Calcasieu and near [[Grand Chenier, Louisiana|Grand Chenier]], then in Vermilion Parish. The Union Navy had forces at Sabine Lake.<ref name="blockcal"/>

The Mermentau Jayhawkers were made up of a band of "200 mounted draft dodgers, bushwhackers, cattle thieves, runaway slaves, and Confederate deserters from Texas and Louisiana."<ref name="blockcal"/> They regularly raided federal supply lines and plundered from the local people, earning the enmity of both Union and Confederate regulars. If caught by Confederate forces, Jayhawker deserters were quickly court-martialed and executed. Local forces also organized as Regulators in an effort to protect women and children of local families, and repulse the Jayhawkers. After the end of the war, some of the [[vigilante]] Regulators turned to suppressing blacks and resisting Reconstruction.<ref name="blockcal">[http://www.wtblock.com/wtblockjr/ W.T. Block, "CALCASIEU PARISH, LA: HOTBED OF THE CIVIL WAR JAYHAWKERS"], W.T. Block website and blog, 1988-2016</ref>

Cameron Parish was organized in 1870 during the [[Reconstruction era]] and was made up of portions of [[Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana|Calcasieu]] and [[Vermilion Parish, Louisiana|Vermilion]] parishes. It was one of several new parishes organized by the Republican-dominated legislature to create new centers of Republican political strength. Cameron Parish is named for Republican [[Simon Cameron]], a [[Pennsylvania]]n who was President [[Abraham Lincoln]]'s first [[United States Secretary of War|secretary of war]]. Today its population is overwhelmingly majority white and Republican in the 21st-century realignment.

This is among the largest civil parishes in Louisiana, yet the least populated, owing to the high proportion of land area made up of marsh and wetlands. Cameron Parish comprises a large portion of the Louisiana [[Chenier]] Plain; it is home to numerous cheniers, and elevated fertile ridges that occur in certain coastal regions, particularly in Louisiana. These were developed for cotton plantations both before and after the Civil War; settlers also raised stock.