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SHACKLEFOOT
by Bob Bowman
"Today,
Shacklefoot’s remains rest beneath a forest of oaks and pines beside the winding
river road known as Farm Road 276." |
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Shacklefoot
is an East Texas name sprinkled with myths, legends and an occasional morsel of
actual history.
The community existed two centuries ago as a robbers den
perched on the Texas side of the Sabine River somewhere near the present-day settlement
of Patroon Bay on Toledo Bend Reservoir.
Pirate chieftain Jean Laffite
supposedly picked the spot on the river and built a community of crude cabins
where his band of plunderers and highwaymen would have a commanding view of the
river. The town supposedly was about four miles up the Old Spanish Road from Carter’s
Ferry, which was long ago flooded by Toledo Bend Reservoir. Less than a mile to
the west was Patroon Bayou, which flowed into the Sabine.
History does
confirm that General Andrew Jackson called on Laffite and his men in 1815 for
help in repulsing the British at New Orleans, rebuffing an earlier offer by the
Redcoats.
The
most diverse myths surround the town’s name.
One story goes that it was
named for an old caretaker who looked after the cabins while the pirates were
off on their raids. The caretaker had a wooden leg which made a particular shackling
noise as he walked.
Another says the settlement earned its name for the
iron shackles placed around the ankles of men taken as prisoners by Laffite’s
pirates.
While Shacklefoot appeared on the first maps of Sabine County,
nothing remains of the old community except a hard-to-find community well. The
only other printed reference to the place was found in a diary of an Englishman
who passed this way around 1800. He took care to mention that travelers should
avoid the place because it was a “den of thieves and pirates.” Years ago, before
the river bottomlands were flooded, an old mine existed in the river banks. While
myths claim Laffite and his men dug gold from the mine, there is no evidence that
a gold source ever existed in East Texas. However, during the latter part of the
1800s, there was a discovery of lead, which was used to mold bullets, in Sabine
County.
Shacklefoot
also has a story of romance. Laffite supposedly captured a beautiful Spanish women
in one of his forays against a Spanish vessel carrying riches. Enthralled by her
beauty, he enthroned her as his queen at Shacklefoot and named her Polly Crow.
When Laffite left for New Orleans to help General Jackson, he abandoned
Shacklefoot and Polly. Months later she bore the pirate chief’s son and made her
way into Louisiana to establish a new life.
As a young man, the
late Herman Bragg lived next door to Shacklefoot, where he once chunked rocks
into the settlement’s community well. Bragg worked the fields around Shacklefoot
and often plowed up pieces of iron pots and pottery -- remnants apparently used
by Shacklefoot’s residents.
Today, Shacklefoot’s remains rest beneath a
forest of oaks and pines beside the winding river road known as Farm Road 276.
The only pirates you’ll find today are occasional buzzards who swoop down to feast
on a dead armadillo beside the road. |
All
Things Historical
April 3, 2005 Column
Published with
permission
(A public service of the East Texas Historical Association. Bob
Bowman of Lufkin is a former president of the Association and the author of more
than 30 books about East Texas.)
More
Texas Ghost Towns |
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