I believe that this newspaper article gives us a truer sense of when the Acadians left for New Orleans and that they left from Mobille, Alabama since they were nearby in Georgia to where they had been deported and exiled. Some have believe they went all the way to New York in order to head to New Orleans. This article does disprove that theory to a great extent.
Newspaper America
Headline: America. Savannah, December 22;
Paper: Georgia Gazette.; Date: 1763-12-22; Iss: 38; Page: [2];
AMERICA.
SAVANNAH, December 22, 1763
Yesterday more of the Acadians in number about 21, went in a vessel for Mobille, from which place they are to go to New Orleans.
Custom-House Outwards.
December 21, Sloop Savannah Packet, John Somerville, Mobille
GEORGIA.
I have also found the following article in the Pennsylvania Gazette that pertains the Acadians arriving in New Orleans in 1768.
April 7, 1768
The Pennsylvania Gazette
PHILADELPHIA, April 7.
Extract of a letter from a gentleman in Newport, to his friend in Philadelphia.
Captain Guitton, from this Port, is arrived at Pensacola.--- Captains Webley and Snell, in Sloops, Captains Walker and Moore, in Brigs, and the Captains Pell and Ashfield, all from New York; Captain Rider, in a Brig with Neutrals from Maryland; and a Schooner from Connecticut, are arrived at New Orleans