Chalmette National Cemetery: Hallowed Ground on a Battlefield

Chalmette National Cemetery: Hallowed Ground on a Battlefield

Chalmette National Cemetery sits on one of the most historically significant pieces of land in the United States—the site of the Battle of New Orleans, where Andrew Jackson’s ragtag army of regulars, militia, free men of color, Choctaw warriors, and Baratarian pirates defeated a vastly superior British force on January 8, 1815. Established during the Civil War in 1864, the cemetery was created to bury Union soldiers who died during the occupation of New Orleans, but it sits on ground that was already soaked in history.

History

The Battle of New Orleans was the last major engagement of the War of 1812, and it made Andrew Jackson a national hero. The British suffered over 2,000 casualties; the Americans lost fewer than 100. The battlefield at Chalmette became a national park, and when the Civil War brought Union troops to occupied New Orleans, the federal government established a national cemetery on the grounds in 1864. Over 7,000 Union soldiers were eventually re-interred here, many of them moved from scattered burial sites across Louisiana. Four African-American soldiers from the United States Colored Troops are also buried here, along with veterans of every American conflict from the War of 1812 through Vietnam.

The Grounds

Chalmette National Cemetery is maintained by the National Park Service and has the characteristic look of a federal military cemetery—rows of white headstones arranged in precise order across flat, manicured grounds. But unlike most national cemeteries, Chalmette sits within a larger historical park that includes the battlefield, the Chalmette Monument (a 100-foot marble column commemorating the battle), and the Malus-Beauregard House, a plantation home that survived both the battle and the Civil War. The Mississippi River levee runs along one edge of the cemetery, and the industrial landscape of St. Bernard Parish stretches beyond.

Notable Burials

The cemetery contains the remains of thousands of Union soldiers, many of them unidentified. Among the identified burials are soldiers from nearly every state in the Union, reflecting the diverse origins of the Federal forces that occupied Louisiana during the war. Veterans of subsequent conflicts are also buried here, including soldiers from the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. The cemetery was closed to new interments in 1945, though exceptions have been made for eligible family members.

Visiting Today

Chalmette National Cemetery and Battlefield are open daily and free to visit. The park includes a visitor center with exhibits on the Battle of New Orleans and the cemetery’s history. The grounds are peaceful and impeccably maintained—a stark contrast to the sometimes-chaotic condition of New Orleans’ municipal cemeteries. Standing among the headstones, with the levee at your back and the battlefield stretching before you, there is a solemnity to Chalmette that transcends the noise of the surrounding industrial corridor. This is where American history happened, and where the Americans who made it rest.