Jack of Harts

Fort Polk was one of the larger United States Army bases when the Second Great Depression began. Situated in the middle of western Louisiana, not far from the Old Texas border, it trained and sustained over ten thousand soldiers, though widespread desertions greatly reduced that number. They still had enough men to secure the area, and as Louisiana fell into more and more chaos, the western parishes looked to the neighboring Texas counties for mutual support and cooperation. Fort Polk did not initially follow their lead, but as the new President’s orders became more and more divorced from reality, they would eventually break from the chain of command and turn their support to what would in time become West Louisiana.