If the Declaration of Independence announced the birth of the United States of America, the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 marked our nation’s end of adolescence and assumption of maturity in world affairs.
Now comes great news: The already splendid Chalmette Battlefield memorial at the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park is likely to be better protected and possibly expanded. One of our country’s great historical-preservation organizations, The American Battlefield Trust, has secured a contract to purchase 40 acres of additional battlefield near the current, 145-acre national park.
Right now, the southeast border of the park is Chalmette National Cemetery, the burial grounds for veterans of the War of 1812, the Civil War, and the Vietnam War. But on the other side of the cemetery, on land where armed skirmishes took place two weeks before the ultimate 1815 battle, and across which the British marched toward their doomed encounter with Andrew Jackson’s American army, the property long has been zoned for industrial use.
If the Battlefield Trust is able to officially complete the purchase (it is now working to raise the final $1 million to do so, by September), the land could then be donated to the national park system and added to Jean Lafitte — if Congress approves, which should be easily doable with Louisiana holding the top two posts in the House of Representatives. Or it could be donated to Louisiana for state park use complementary to the national park, or, if nothing else works, the Battlefield Trust itself could curate exhibits there.
Either way, Battlefield Trust President David Duncan said in a phone interview, “we want to get it to a responsible steward as quickly as we can,” because “it’s important to the story of what they’re already (showing and) interpreting there” at Jean Lafitte.
For those less familiar with that story, it involves one of the most important wartime victories in American history. With the British still loath to admit that its former colonies were their equal, and with Great Britain at war with France, the parent country repeatedly violated American shipping rights and even captured American sailors and forced them to serve on British warships. Hence, the U.S. declared war — but then barely achieved a military “draw,” as it were, winning some naval battles and holding Baltimore Harbor but seeing our own Capitol and White House burned to the ground.
In late 1814, as diplomats were finally agreeing to peace terms that made neither side happy, the British were trying to seize New Orleans militarily and thus gain control of the Mississippi basin. But in a brilliantly planned and executed defense eight days into the new year, Jackson’s army absolutely routed the British attackers at Chalmette, news of which reached the rest of the nation before news of the peace accord. Suddenly, a weak “we barely survived” peace deal became, in the popular mind, a massive victory that proved the United States was a global power.
The benefits both to our national psyche and to the U.S. world standing were immense.
As it is, the current battlefield is a treasure. While rather rudimentary in presentation compared with other, far more sprawling American battlefields such as Gettysburg or Antietam, the story of the battle is portrayed in easily understandable ways. The tour guides on my sojourns have been superb, leaving visitors with a firm appreciation of how the battle progressed and how the Americans triumphed.
The sightlines from Jackson’s defensive lines, though, could be badly marred if the land on the other side of the cemetery is industrialized rather than preserved as a natural space.
“If somebody comes in and builds (a) warehouse complex, or a refinery expands to that property or some other industrial use, well, that’s going to diminish the power of place and the visitor experience when they come to the existing park,” Duncan said.
Adding the 40-acre parcel, he said, will amount to “adding to a very rich and important story in our country’s history and bringing it to life the best way we possibly can.”
Of course, the story of that battle — the help from New Orleans’ leading citizens, the crucial spy network of Jean Lafitte’s pirates, the astonishingly lopsided result — holds almost mythic sway, even as an entirely true tale, on the self-image of Louisiana natives.
Now the physical footprint of that fabled-but-real history appears likely to be materially enhanced. Our history, as city, state and nation, is a rightfully proud one. It’s a history well worth keeping in trust.