Camp Parapet was a

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

fortification at

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...

Jefferson Parish, Louisiana Jefferson Parish () is a List of parishes in Louisiana, parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 440,781. Its parish seat is Gretna, Louisiana, Gretna, its largest community is ...

, a bit more than a mile upriver from the current city limits of

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

History

The fortification consisted of a

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

defensive line about a mile and 3/4 long stretching from the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

northward to Metairie Ridge. (The area farther north from the ridge to

Lake Pontchartrain Lake Pontchartrain ( ; ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from w ...

was at the time

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

land.) This was intended to protect the city of New Orleans from Union attack from upriver. As the Union fleet took the city by sailing in from below, the fortification was never used. After the

capture of New Orleans Capture may refer to: Arts and entertainment * "Capture", a song by Simon Townshend * Capture (band), an Australian electronicore band previously known as Capture the Crown * ''Capture'' (TV series), a reality show Television episodes * "Chapter ...

, U.S. forces garrisoned and expanded the fortifications to defend against a

counter-attack, which never came. Under Union control, the Camp lay in the district of Brigadier General Thomas W. Sherman. In late-September 1862, Halbert E. Paine, captain of the 4th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, assumed command of the camp. George H. Hanks, a lieutenant in the 12th Connecticut Infantry Regiment was detailed as aide-de-camp for Sherman for the superintendence of the many

contraband Contraband (from Medieval French ''contrebande'' "smuggling") is any item that, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold. It comprises goods that by their nature are considered too dangerous or offensive in the eyes of the leg ...

arriving at the camp. He organized six colonies at Camp Parapet each led by a non-commissioned officer and directed black labor in the repair and fortification of the camp and surroundings. This scheme was expanded under Hanks to become the Bureau of Negro Labor, which was one of the organizations which would eventually become the

Freedmen's Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was a U.S. government agency of early post American Civil War Reconstruction, assisting freedmen (i.e., former enslaved people) in the ...

. Companies C and H of the 42nd Regiment Infantry Massachusetts Volunteers, serving on engineer service, were assigned to Camp Parapet on January 15, 1863 under Senior-Captain Leonard and Major D. C. Houston, chief engineer, Department of the Gulf (XIX Corps). Steps were taken in March to begin organizing and enlisting men from Camp Parapet to form the 1st Regiment Louisiana Engineers. The regiment was mustered into service April 28, 1863 and consisted of 12 companies of sixty men each in three battalions under command of Colonel Justin Hodge. Thirteen enlisted men of the 42nd Mass. Vols. were promoted to officers a month later after receiving their commissions. The 1st Regiment Louisiana Engineers would later be split in two to form the 1st and 3rd Regiment Engineers, Corps d'Afrique (95th and 97th U.S.C.T.).

Remains

Powder magazine

The only remaining structure of the fortification is the powder magazine, of brick enclosed in an earth mound. It is located off Causeway Boulevard near the American Legion Post 267, preserved in a small park and added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on May 24, 1977. wit
two photos and a map
With .

Cemetery site

Nearby is the historic Shrewsbury (Camp Parapet) Cemetery, the site of the camp's cemetery, where 7,000 Union bodies were once interred before being moved to

Chalmette National Cemetery Chalmette National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located within Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in Chalmette, Louisiana. The cemetery is a graveyard adjacent to the site that was once the battleground of the ...

References

External links