Chalmette Battlefield expansion seeks to secure 40 acres of history

The site, known as the final engagement of the War of 1812, currently faces intense pressure from commercial zoning. While the Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Chalmette National Cemetery already house portions of the grounds, much of the surrounding area has been lost to development over the last century. To reclaim this specific parcel, the Trust must navigate a $3.6 million transaction, bolstered by matching funds from the federal American Battlefield Protection Program and the Louisiana Outdoors Forever Program.

David Duncan, president of the American Battlefield Trust, noted the significance of the project arriving shortly after the nation’s 250th anniversary. The organization faces a September 2 deadline to reach its goal. The battlefield remains famous for the January 8, 1815, clash where Andrew Jackson’s diverse coalition of regulars, Choctaw, and volunteers inflicted over 2,000 British casualties, unaware that the Treaty of Ghent had already been negotiated across the Atlantic.