The Mermentau River is a 72.3 miles (116.4 km) river in southern Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It enters the Gulf of Mexico

Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...

 between Calcasieu Lake

Calcasieu Lake

Calcasieu Lake is a brackish lake located in southwest Louisiana, United States, located mostly within Cameron Parish. The lake is paralleled on its west shore by Louisiana Highway 27 and is located about 17 miles south of Lake Charles, Louisiana....

 and Vermilion Bay

Vermilion Bay

Vermilion Bay is a bay in southern Louisiana in the United States.Vermilion Bay is located in southwestern Iberia Parish and southeastern Vermilion Parish...

 on the Chenier Coastal Plain.

The Mermentau River supplies freshwater for the Mermentau Basin. The Chenier Basin is located between the Mermentau Basin and the Gulf of Mexico, and is unique in that it no longer contains any true estuarine Gulf habitat, although historically the basin served as a productive estuarine nursery ground. Freshwater inflow is from the Catfish Point control structure. Presently, several large freshwater lakes (Grand Lake

Grand Lake (Louisiana)

Grand Lake is a freshwater lake located in Cameron Parish, Louisiana....

, White Lake) and confined wetlands dominate the region. These habitats are confined within the mainland and isolated from the influence of saltwater by a series of water control structures or locks.

A significant percentage of the basin lands are publicly owned as Federal refuges and State wildlife management areas. Pirate Jean Laffite is rumored to have sailed into the area during the 19th century, possibly stashing gold treasure.

Early in the 20th century W. Scott Heywood

W. Scott Heywood

Walter Scott Heywood, known as W. Scott Heywood , was a member of the Louisiana State Senate who earlier headed a family-owned company which struck the first oil well in Louisiana on September 21, 1901 near Jennings in Jeff Davis Parish.Heywood was born in Cleveland, Ohio. As a young man, he...

 of Jennings

Jennings, Louisiana

Jennings is a small city in and the parish seat of Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana, United States, near Lake Charles. The population was 10,986 at the 2000 census....

 began operating barges on the river to carry oil, which he discovered in 1901, to the railroad. In 1932, Heywood was elected to the Louisiana State Senate

Louisiana State Legislature

The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...

 from a large district encompassing much of southwestern Louisiana.

Landmarks

The Mermentau River contains the infamous "Negro Island" (also known as "Skull Island") situated near the tiny village of Grand Chenier in extreme southeastern Cameron Parish. In March 1867, John W. Sweeney, Jr., found "countless skulls, skeletons, and leg bones, each of the latter still shackled by a rusting leg iron to the skeleton lying beside it." Since the Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 had recently ended, slave captains knew that if a slave ship were caught with Africans aboard, the slaver captain would be tried for violating the 1820 U.S. Law on Slave Trade

1820 U.S. Law on Slave Trade

An Act to protect the commerce of the United States and punish the crime of piracy is an 1819 United States federal statute against piracy, amended in 1820 to declare the slave trade and robbing a ship to be piracy as well...

, the penalty of which was a charge of piracy and death by hanging. Without a doubt the shackled and starving Africans on Skull Island died quickly. Researchers believe this human cargo could possibly be the missing slaves from the topsail hermaphrodite schooner the Huntress

The Huntress (ship)

The Huntress of New York was a topsail hermaphrodite schooner which transported slaves. The Huntress was the last slave schooner to leave the Congo region.In March 1865, The Huntress left with a capacity of 200 slaves headed for Louisiana...

. This schooner was the last slave ship which left the Congo

Congo Basin

The Congo Basin is the sedimentary basin that is the drainage of the Congo River of west equatorial Africa. The basin begins in the highlands of the East African Rift system with input from the Chambeshi River, the Uele and Ubangi Rivers in the upper reaches and the Lualaba River draining wetlands...

region of Africa in March 1865 with a capacity of 200 slaves.