The usually bucolic Longfellow Evangeline State Historic Site in St. Martinville was a little more animated than usual Saturday. Visitors could here gunfire echoing across the fields, and the scent of gunpowder was wafting on the breeze.Then there was what sounded like a cannon blast.

There was nothing to fear, however.

It was the 10th annual re-enactment of “Vigilantes on the Bayou,” a representation of when the Vigilance Committees sought to levy justice on suspected thieves among the Acadians and other settlers in the 1800s.The re-enactment is based on true stories from the 1850s of families who were harassed and sometimes killed as the vigilantes sought to prevent settlers from occupying land in the region.

Heavily armed against what were usually unarmed and outnumbered immigrants, the battles were often one-sided.

The visitors to the event were also invited to share from the actor’s camp, including red beans and rice, corn bread and as much knowledge of the history and culture as they could take with them.