Chalmette Battlefield and National Cemetery
The landscape of the 1815 Battle of New Orleans shares ground with a national cemetery and interpretation of the many communities drawn into war.
Artwork inspired by John McCrady
The battlefield preserves the ground where Andrew Jackson’s diverse American force defeated a larger British attack after the Treaty of Ghent had been signed but before news crossed the Atlantic. Geography is the key artifact: river, swamp, levee, canal, fields, and batteries constrained movement. The victory influenced national memory, but it did not cause the peace treaty or resolve the war by itself.
Begin in the visitor center, then walk the line slowly enough to compare reconstructed positions with modern levees and development. Interpretation should include regular soldiers, militia, Baratarian sailors, free men of color, Choctaw fighters, British and colonial troops, and enslaved people whose labor shaped defenses. The adjoining cemetery began during the Civil War and contains burials from later conflicts, so do not treat it as a graveyard solely for 1815.
- Battle
- January 8, 1815
- Key terrain
- River, canal, and swamp
- Plan for
- 1½–3 hours
Quick guide
- Start
- Visitor center map
- Walk
- Rodriguez Canal to river edge
Make the visit count
- Orient before monuments
- Use terrain and troop maps before reading later commemorative structures.
- Name the coalition
- Track distinct units and communities instead of repeating one “frontiersmen” legend.
- Separate battle from memory
- Ask when each monument, reconstruction, or interpretive claim entered the landscape.
- Enter the cemetery quietly
- Read its Civil War origin and later burials; it is active commemorative ground, not battlefield scenery.
Good to know
The battlefield is exposed to heat, storms, mosquitoes, and high river conditions, while the cemetery requires respectful quiet. Visitor-center and grounds hours can differ, and river cruises do not always provide enough time for the full trail; check the NPS calendar and transportation plan.
Notice these
- Rodriguez Canal line
- Chalmette Monument
- National cemetery