THE CRESCENT CITY on the delta lived on borrowed time always. However, that troubled no one, as New Orleans was a place that care forgot. It was founded by the swashbuckling pirates and smugglers of another age, whose ghosts haunted their Mississippi lair forever. The city defiantly survived hurricanes and a great war’s starvation time. Its residents in later years were bohemian artists, street musicians and others whose roots could not be planted deeply, as there was no deep but the river. There were spectacles of madness at Mardi Gras time and a French Quarter where soulful horn music sounded on every street corner. Jazz came to be born in New Orleans along with a man named Satchmo. All who understood New Orleans knew that it was an erstwhile habitation that really belonged to Ole Miss. The people were intimate with the supernatural and sang and danced at the funerals of family and friends. Today, New Orleans is at the bottom of the river, but the city will live on in the memories of those who experienced the music, the creole food and the city’s French ambiance. There will be ornate wrought iron enough reclaimed from the delta’s overflowing waters to reproduce a remembrance of what was, but the people will not return. They will build new lives elsewhere, knowing that they are strong, but not as strong as Ole Miss. They will not soon forget the floods and starvation times. Fare thee well, beignets and coffee, trolleys, shrimp boats, smugglers and jugglers and all that was New Orleans during its sultry happy days of summer.

AMONG other outrages committed … at New Orleans is the feeding of the starving people …. We illustrate the scene on page 380 (picture). In accordance with notice, Captain John Clark commenced the distribution of the beef this morning, and issued eight hundred liberal rations for hungry families. A sight more fearful and harrowing I do not wish ever again to witness, and it is no discredit to Captain Clark to say that, in the association with the destitute which his position renders necessary, he is frequently deeply moved. I noticed to-day that the sight of so much want increased the amount of the allowance to each family to an extent which had not entered into his previous calculations.

At the hour appointed to issue the beef there were thousands of eager, hungry men, women, and children crowded around the Custom-home. A very large majority of the people were women, all carrying either baskets or napkins. Some were old and tottering with infirmity; others carried, wearily enough, a babe at the breast; and many, God help them! bore the evidence of another claim on their support soon to come.

The sun was pouring down his rays with an intensity greater than we have before experienced since our arrival, and the poor creatures struggled and jammed each other to get into the office; and finally getting to the desk, trembled from head to foot, and almost fell upon the floor from sheer exhaustion. ~~Harper’s Weekly, June 14, 1862

Linked at The Galvin Opinion.