This is the outline I followed (more or less) for my presentation to the Sons of the American Revolution at the Picadilly Restaurant in Monroe, Louisiana on Friday, January 17, 2025.

Cajuns in the Revolutionary War

INTRO:

1. About me: I am a member of SCV. My ancestor: Samuel Pittman was a soldier in the American Revolutionary War, serving in North Carolina, most notably participating in the Battle of Cowpens where he fought under General Daniel Morgan. My wife’s ancestor: Was a STEWART in the Revolutionary War. She is a member of the UDC.
2. Why Cajuns fought against the British in the Revolutionary War and with Andy Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans: When the French and Indian War (7 Years War) ended, the Acadians were expelled between 1755 and 1764 by the British. 14,100 Acadians, approximately 11,500 were deported, of whom 5,000 died of disease, starvation, or shipwrecks. Their confiscated land in Canada was given to settlers loyal to Britain; they did not realize they had created enemies with a long memory and a depth of deep anger.
3. The Acadians joined the French Creoles, Creoles of Color, Spanish, Germans, and others under General Genardo de Galvez (Gov. of Spanish Louisiana) in the American Revolution War to recapture Baton Rouge and the West Florida Parishes in 1779 and to attack the British at Mobile, Natchez, and Pensacola. Spain was an enemy of Britain, so the Acadians, who suffered more cruelly than the American colonists from the British, were happy to fight against them.
4. Armand Broussard was a Cajun in the conflict. His family had been forcibly removed from Acadia (now Nova Scotia) by the British, leaving him with a strong resentment towards British rule. In addition to participating in battles, due to their knowledge of Louisiana’s swamps and waterways, the Cajuns employed effective guerilla tactics, ambushing British patrols and disrupting supply lines. There is an Armand Broussard House in Lafayette (I believe it’s still in Vermilionville. Another interesting place is Acadian Village).
5. Galvez was officially recognized by George Washington for his aid during the American Revolution, which qualifies the descendants of those militiamen to become members of Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) or Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) as Patriots.
6. There were Cajuns from other areas who fought the British. At the time of the Revolution, a group of Acadians from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia enlisted in the Continental Army and fought as patriots under the leadership of Colonel Jonathan Eddy who was originally from Massachusetts.
7. Strange as it may seem, however, this transfer of Louisiana from France to Spain in 1762 was a most fortunate development for the oppressed Acadians. France made little effort to relocate displaced Acadians and what attempts were made were dismal failures. The Spaniards, however, made it possible for the Acadians to settle in Louisiana, assisted them materially, and even managed to bring the thousands of stranded Acadians in France to Louisiana in seven expeditions. One of the first official acts of the Spanish governor of Louisiana was to take a census of Acadian militiamen.