Chalmette Battlefield
Grassy rampart line where a lopsided eighteen-fifteen battle later became a chart-topping pop song.
This guide to Chalmette Battlefield in New Orleans starts with a jaunty 1959 chart-topping song about cannon fire and pirates, then rewinds to the Arkansas schoolteacher Jimmy Driftwood, who wrote it in the 1930s to make his students care about history. It follows the fight the song was based on, fought here on January 8, 1815, when Andrew Jackson's mixed army of soldiers, militia, free men of color and pirates dug in behind a mud rampart to face the British. You'll hear how the tune failed for Driftwood himself before someone else's recording carried it to number one. Stand on the grass rampart and look toward the river as you listen.
Audio guides are written and narrated by AI.