Mile 90.2 - LBD - Chalmette Battlefield & Chalmette National Cemetery

90.2 LBD - Chalmette Battlefield & Chalmette National Cemetery

Site of the Battle of New Orleans, a series of engagements fought between December 24, 1814, and January 8, 1815, together constituting the final major and most one-sided battle of the War of 1812. Now part of the National Park system and open to the public. The landscape was an integral part of the American victory at New Orleans. The British simply could not anticipate all of the challenges of the swampy landscape. Local residents, including the great pirate Jean Lafitte, used this to their advantage in the battle. One British fleet apparently misunderstood the current of the river and was swept far enough downriver to miss the battle completely. Local lore says that the Ursuline nuns gathered together on the eve of the Battle of New Orleans (in the Urusline Convent, which you can visit in the French Quarter), and prayed to the Virgin Mary for a miracle. They prayed to Our Lady of Prompt Succor, the patroness of the city. The next morning, as the two sides gathered at the Chalmette Battlefield, a thicker-than-normal fog clung to the wet earth. It stayed long enough for the British to walk unsuspectingly into the American ranks, where they were brutally killed. The field where they died has been preserved beyond the levee. New Orleanians attributed the victory to the Virgin. They still pray to Our Lady of Prompt Succor to protect the city when Hurricanes approach and gang violence spikes. (Wolf E. Staudinger)