Joe Cain

Joseph Stillwell Cain Jr. (October 10, 1832 – April 17, 1904) was an American Confederate military veteran largely credited with initiating the modern way of observing Mardi Gras and its celebrations in Mobile, Alabama, following the Civil War.

In 1868, while Mobile was still under Union occupation, Joe Cain paraded through the streets of Mobile, dressed in improvised costume as a fictional "Chickasaw" chief named Slacabamorinico. one of Mobile's mystic societies, in 1846; however, their banquets were part of Mobile's New Year's Eve celebrations, rather than being held on Mardi Gras day.

The Mardi Gras mystic society of "Cain's Merry Widows" (a women's mystic society) was founded in 1974 in Mobile, Alabama. Each Mardi Gras, on Joe Cain Day (the Sunday before Fat Tuesday), members of this society dress in funereal black with veils, lay a wreath at Cain's burial site in Church Street Graveyard to wail over their "departed husband's" grave, then travel to Joe Cain's house on Augusta Street to offer a toast and eulogy to their "beloved Joe," continuously arguing over which widow was his favorite.