For a while now I've been saying "Barring family and business travel, I'm not going anywhere else until I get to the Chalmette Battlefield." It's the site of the Battle of New Orleans, and it's the most historically important site within easy driving distance, and for all these years I've been in the area, somehow I'd never quite made it there. That was remedied today. The Battlefield is a fairly simple place: a small museum, a 19th Century stone monument, a rebuilt plantation house, a medium-large field across which the British marched to their slaughter, and, most significantly, the remnants and reconstructed American fortifications along the trace of Rodriguez Canal.
Despite the relatively modest size of both the site and the battle, it's the single biggest event that solidified the United States' place on the world stage. If you find yourself in the area, you owe it to yourself stop in and look. It only takes an hour or so to completely tour the site, and it is very easy to get there from I-10.
On to a few pics, but first, one more link to the New Orleans page on the site. They have better pics than I took today.
The American line, seen from the Mississippi Rive levee. The shaggy, swampy strip of grass is the remnant of the Rodriguez Canal. American forces were to the left of the canal, behind a (now nonexistent) mud embankment dug from the canal.
The start line for the British. It's about 500 yards across the open field to reach the American fortifications. The monument in the center is 100' high.
A tour riverboat arriving from the French Quarter. The River's pretty been high lately.
Anyway, it's good to get this visit in. Been meaning to get over there for a while.
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