Casquette Girls: Louisiana’s Original Mail-Order Brides (With a Few Baggage Fees)
Ah, Louisiana—the land of bayous, beignets, and… baffled French brides? Yes, long before dating apps and reality TV matchmaking shows, France decided to play Cupid in the most questionable way possible: by rounding up young women, packing them into ships, and sending them off to marry men they’d never met in the mosquito-infested wilds of Louisiana.
These young women, known as Casquette Girls, were named after the small suitcases (cassettes) they carried—which, given their situation, likely contained little more than a rosary, a vague sense of optimism, and a deep misunderstanding of Gulf Coast humidity.
Brides on a Budget
France’s plan to populate its struggling colonies started in the 1600s with the “Filles du Roi” (King’s Daughters), women who were sent to New France (Canada) with dowries paid by the crown. Louisiana, however, was apparently not worth such luxury. Instead, officials got creative—rounding up young women from orphanages, convents, and occasionally, the less charming corners of French society, such as correctional facilities and the streets of Paris.
The results? A delightful mix of well-bred but impoverished young ladies, reformed (or not-so-reformed) ladies of the night, and the occasional “oops, she wasn’t actually a criminal” case.
One particularly grim shipment in 1720 arrived aboard La Mutine, a prison ship whose name literally means "The Mutinous." (Not exactly the Love Boat, is it?) Many of the passengers had been arrested under dubious circumstances—some falsely accused, others guilty of simply being poor, and a few who might’ve actually been troublemakers. By the time they arrived in Louisiana, their weary, bloodshot eyes earned them the nickname "Vampire Girls", which really makes you wonder what early New Orleans men considered dateable.
Marriage or Bust
Once in Louisiana, the Casquette Girls were placed under the supervision of Ursuline nuns, who were tasked with keeping them chaste and away from the more, let’s say, “enthusiastic” advances of colonial men. The plan was simple:
Arrive in Louisiana.
Pick a husband from a lineup of sweaty, fur-covered, gator-wrestling settlers.
Marry said husband before realizing he doesn’t own a house and spends most of his time in the woods.
Have lots of babies to help France keep its foothold in the Americas.
Sounds easy enough, right? Not so fast.
The Petticoat Rebellion
Unsurprisingly, the Casquette Girls were not thrilled when they discovered that their new husbands had the work ethic of a particularly lazy swamp turtle. Instead of building houses or planting gardens, the men spent their time hunting, trapping, and drinking. So, in a bold act of early feminism, the women staged what became known as the “Petticoat Rebellion”—refusing to share their beds until they had roofs over their heads and food in their pots.
Faced with the terrifying prospect of celibacy, the men miraculously found the motivation to build homes, clear land, and create a functioning society. If that’s not proof that women have always been the true backbone of civilization, I don’t know what is.
Fact or Fiction?
Now, not everyone is convinced that the Casquette Girls were quite as virtuous (or even as numerous) as legend suggests. Some historians argue that Louisiana’s French Creole population formed more organically, with a mix of Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans creating the diverse culture we know today. Others claim the Ursuline nuns never actually chaperoned the Casquette Girls at all.
But let’s be honest—when a story involves mysterious French brides, rebellion, and vampire rumors, why ruin it with facts?
So, the next time you’re sipping a cocktail in the French Quarter, raise a glass to the Casquette Girls—Louisiana’s original mail-order brides, pioneers of passive resistance, and proof that sometimes, a well-timed headache really can change history.