Chalmette National Cemetery

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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 17.5 acre plot adjacent to the site that once was the battleground of the Battle of New Orleans. Though now closed to new interments, it is the burial place to over 15,300 veterans of American military campaigns from the Revolutionary War to the Vietnam War.

[edit] History

Though used as a burial ground earlier, Chalmette was established as a National Cemetery in 1864 as a place to inter the Civil War battle dead, of both the Confederates and the Union. After the war, makeshift battlefield burial plots around the state had their interments moved to the more permanent National Cemeteries. Nearly 12,000 of which were brought to Chalmette.

As part of the Chalmette National Historical Park, it was transferred to the stewardship of National Park Service in 1933. The cemetery and battlefield were listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.

The cemetery suffered considerable damage due to Hurricane Katrina, toppling headstones and much of the perimeter wall. The days and hours the cemetery and battleground are open to the public are still limited as of early 2007.