Jackson Barracks

Jackson Barracks, regarded as one of the finest complexes of Greek Revival buildings in Louisiana and among the few comparable groups in the United States, began as New Orleans Barracks after Congress authorized its construction in 1832 and 2nd Lt. Frederick Wilkinson, a West Point graduate, drew the plans. The first land was bought from Pierre Cotteret and Fannie Duprê in late 1833, and on February 24, 1834, Major J. Clark, Assistant Quartermaster from Baton Rouge, began construction. By the end of 1835, fifteen major buildings stood within a rectangular brick masonry-walled enceinte with four corner towers. President Andrew Jackson supported the project, and in 1866 the barracks were renamed in his honor. Established to provide a stabilizing military presence in New Orleans, the site also served as a temporary internment camp for Indians forcibly removed from Florida en route to Indian Territory during the Second Seminole War and as a point of embarkation for troops. Many wounded veterans of the Mexican-American War were treated at the barracks hospital. Louisiana seized the barracks during the Civil War, and Federal control resumed in 1862. The military cemetery was moved from the barracks in 1864 to the newly established Chalmette National Cemetery. In 1869, a segregated unit of African-American soldiers became the 25th Infantry Regiment there. During World War I it served as headquarters of the Coast Defenses of New Orleans. The barracks were transferred to the Louisiana Army National Guard in 1922, and in the 1930s the WPA employed over 1,300 people to renovate the historic garrison and build new facilities. The U.S. military reoccupied Jackson Barracks during World War II, and in 1955 it was declared surplus and turned over to the Louisiana Army National Guard.

New Orleans, Louisiana · United States