Roads and Ditches

The battle was fought on agricultural fields crossed by drainage and irrigation ditches. British commander Sir Edward Pakenham probably launched his main attack from behind the cover of the First Ditch. Some troops advanced and later withdrew along the Center Road, a narrow dirt track leading across the field toward the American rampart. The heaviest fighting took place near the cypress swamp and the Double Ditch along its edge. After the battle, the First Ditch became the line of truce where the armies met for formal communications and arranged burials. Traces of the road and ditches remain visible today, and an 1844 drawing portrays the battle's aftermath, when troops from both sides assisted the wounded.

Chalmette, Louisiana · United States