Looks like our swamp Maple...surprised to see it grows down there in the Bayou.
Yessir. Acer Rubrim. Also known as Swamp Maple, Red Maple, Scarlet Maple, White Maple, and/or Soft Maple. Very common down here, but rarely gets very big. Shallow rooted, and likes water, bad combination in Hurricane country. Usually blows down before it gets very big.
Bark looks a lot like Beech, but wood is soft, comparitively low BTU, easy to split compared to Beech, which is hard, high BTU, and hard to split. Therfor, my guess "Beech" since Cajunboy says what he has is hard to split.
If Cajunboy knows what kind of soil the tree came out of that would help. Lot of swamp maple in the swamp and hard clay close to the swamp, like around Lake Maurepas (LaPlace?). Very little Beech in the poorly drained soils.
Lot of Beech around Poplarville, Sandy Hook, Pearl River drainage just North of LaPlace. Beech likes better drained soils.