New Orleans Endangered Sites

Latest New Orleans update:

Updated at 11 a.m. Wednesday 8-31-05

We received an email from Sam Hood, president of the John Bell Hood Historical Society of Ashland, KY and a member of the Board of Directors of Confederate Memorial Hall Museum in New Orleans.

Sam informs us that he has been unsuccessful in reaching his colleagues at the Confederate Museum. However, he notes,the main gallery of the museum is 8-10 feet above street level and that the Warehouse District where the site is located is not one of the lower areas of New Orleans. The museum's standard hurricane preparations call for artifacts to be moved from the basement up to the main gallery. We have also added to the New Orleans Sites list the home of Gen. John Bell Hood, located at the corner of 3rd and Camp Sts. in the Garden District of the town.

Sam is currently trying to contact the current residents of the Hood house to check on its status, but communication into and out of New Orleans is nearly impossible at present. He also informs us that there are underground mausoleums beneath the Army of Tennessee and Army of Northern Virginia monuments at the Lake Lawn/Metaire Cemetery. Attempts to contact Lake Lawn management to check on the situation has likewise been unsuccessful.

We appreciate Sam's input. Readers with contacts in the area are encouraged to follow suit.

The impact of the Aug. 29 hurricane on the US Gulf coast region is so immense, and ongoing, that news accounts of damage to historic sites rank far down the list of importance when the living are in need of succor and unknown numbers of dead have yet to be recovered.

With the breaks in the levees protecting the city core of New Orleans from the waters of Lake Ponchartrain, all of the sites below must be considered endangered. Information as to the status of each site will be added as it becomes available. Lack of information does not mean that the site is safe or undamaged, simply that no reports have yet been found as to its condition.

1.) Beauregard-Keyes House. 1113 Chartres St., New Orleans. Built in 1826 by Joseph LeCarpentier. Confederate Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard lived in the house with several members of his family for 18 months between 1865 and 1867. It was the residence of Frances Parkinson Keyes, author of many novels including Madame Castel's Lodger which is an account of Beauregard's stay in the house. Her most famous novel was Dinner at Antoine's. The house sits in the French Quarter in the lower east side of New Orleans not far from the Mississippi River. . Most recent reports list that area as being increasingly affected by flooding since the breech in the Ponchartrain levees.

2.) The Cabildo and Battle Abbey. This museum is located on Jackson Square in the French Quarter, three blocks south of the Beauregard House cited above. Built in 1795-1799, also the site of the Louisiana Purchase transfer. Part of the Louisiana State Museum system, the building houses a collection of Civil War materials. The Battle Abbey, located behind the Cabildo, was used by Union military governor Ben Butler during his tenure in the city, and also houses a collection of artifacts.

3). Christ Church Cathedral. Site of the final resting place of "The Fighting Bishop", Confederate Gen. Leonidas Polk. The church was contracted to be built in 1846 to a James Gallier for $56,000. It is a gothic style building with buttresses and a central tower. Originally located on the corner of Canal and Dauphin Streets, in the French Quarter, growth caused a relocation in 1886 to its present site at St. Charles Avenue and Sixth Street.

4.) Forsythe House. Site of the death of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in 1889. Today a private residence in New Orleans. Status unknown.

5.) Jackson Barracks. Downriver from the French Quarter. Current home of the Louisiana National Guard. Built in 1834-35 for troops who were stationed at the river forts. The Jackson Barracks Military Museum is in the old Powder Magazine and in a new annex. It holds Civil War relics as well as artifacts from other wars in which the Guard has participated. It served as one of the first Confederate posts at the time of secession although later it was garrisoned by Union forces after they retook New Orleans.

6.) Jackson Square and Andrew Jackson statue. Located in the French Quarter, it served as the military parade ground and the center of New Orleans life since the city was first laid out in 1721. In 1856 the statue of Andrew Jackson was erected and the square named in his honor. Union Gen. Benjamin Butler, assigned as military governor of the town after the Federal retaking of the city, ordered the base inscribed with the words "The Union must and shall be preserved."
Late update. Report 10:30 a.m. CDT Wednesday 8-31-05: Two massive oak trees were toppled, taking out an iron fence and damaging a religious statue in the square. No reports of damage to the Jackson statue as yet.

7.) Metairie Cemetery. The most famous of New Orleans "above-ground cemeteries" it holds the remains of Gen. Richard Taylor, P. T. G. Beauregard and monuments dedicated to the Louisiana Division of the Army of Tennessee, Louisiana Division of the Army of Northern Virginia, and the Washington Artillery, all Confederate forces. The cemetery lies northwest of the Beauregard house, closer to the middle of the city. Reports as of Tuesday, Aug. 30, indicate the central part of town is somewhat less affected by the floodwaters, but this is subject to change as circumstances and water levels fluctuate.

8.) Trinity Episcopal Church. A Gothic Revival-style church built of handmade brick in 1860 and designed with a separate seating gallery for slaves. Consecrated by Bishop Leonidas Polk in 1861. Best known for a memorial altar window of stained glass dedicated to the Right Rev. Polk by the Bishop Polk Society in honor of his service as the first Episcopal bishop of Louisiana. Located in extreme southeast New Orleans.

9.) Confederate Memorial Hall. The oldest operating museum in Louisiana, it contains a nationally famous collection of items relating to Jefferson Davis donated by his wife Varina Howell Davis. Established in 1899. It is located at 929 Camp St., four blocks from the Mississippi River. Photos of the museum and some of its artifacts--in their pre-flood condition-- can be found at CivilWarAlbum.com, which has an 11-page section on Civil War New Orleans.

10.) Customs House. An Egyptian-Revival style structure built in 1848. The engineer in charge was P. G. T. Beauregard. During the Union occupation the Customs House served as a headquarters for Gen. Butler and as a prison for captured Confederate officers. After the war it was considered a relatively safe place for freed persons of color to do business. Located several blocks from the Mississippi River.

11.) Historic US Mint: Historic background:Scene of the Mumford hanging in 1862. William Mumford had seized the U.S. Flag from the building and dragged it through the muddy street. He was hanged by General Butler for treason


The US Mint in the French Quarter, once seized by the Confederate Army, is missing part of its roof. No reports on what has become of the artifacts inside.
Updated 10:30 a.m. CDT Wednesday 8-31-05

12.) Gen. John Bell Hood House: The postwar home of Gen. John Bell Hood and the scene of his death in 1879. Currently a private residence. Attempts to contact the current owners unsuccessful.
Updated information 11 a.m. 8-31-05

CWi will report more damage as we get it. Anyone with information on the condition of these sites, or other Civil War sites within Katrina's path are asked to post that information in comments here.