Civil War

Though 1861 is often thought of as the beginning of the Civil War, it was also planters’ most profitable sugarcane harvest to date. Using the exceptional profits from the Weeks family plantations, which were only possible due to the forced labor of enslaved men and women, John Moore commissioned two paintings of the Shadows by French artist Marie Adrian Persac. These works showcased the front (as seen here) and rear views of the home. Shadows-on-the-Teche Archive

The lives of those who lived at the Shadows were profoundly impacted by the outbreak and events of the Civil War. In January 1861, Mary’s second husband, Judge John Moore, had left for Baton Rouge to sit on the committee drafting Louisiana’s Ordinance of Secession. Within the month, Mary’s grandson, David Weeks Magill, had left university in Virginia to join the Confederate Army at Camp Moore outside of New Orleans.  

By the close of summer 1862, the Union Army was beginning to advance through Southern Louisiana, having taken control of New Orleans in April. By summer 1863, Judge Moore, as well as Mary’s children, Harriet, Charles, and William had all left the Teche country with Harriet and Charles’ families in tow. Mary wrote that she felt “abandoned by all,” but remained at the Shadows even as Union Troops occupied the mansion as its local headquarters in New Iberia. While Union soldiers took over the Shadows’ main floor and outbuildings, Mary, her sister-in-law Hannah Jane Conrad, as well as enslaved house-servants Louisa, Charity, and Sidney, occupied the family quarters on the 2nd and 3rd floors. 

Mary died in her bed at the Shadows while her family was away on December 29, 1863.