Joe Cain returned Mardi Gras to Mobile

  Though Mardi Gras had been celebrated for nearly a century and a half in both New Orleans, Louisiana and Mobile, Alabama, as with many things, the Civil War had nearly ended this celebration permanently. Though no one ever gets to know what might have been, one thing is certain, Mardi Gras was no longer being celebrated once the long and gruesome war had come to end.

  To set the stage for what was occurring in the Deep South at the end of this period of history, one must realize that what had been a thriving, jubilant society had come to a sudden and final death. The society of southern planters was in mourning for their fathers, sons, and husbands, and life as they had known it had been irrevocably altered. The south was occupied by the Union army and reflected this occupation in every facet of life.