Military
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Built as a mill race that provided water to power a sawmill, the Rodriguez Canal had long been abandoned by 1815. With its collapsed banks and grass-covered bottom, it resembled a ditch more than a waterway, but it provided a perfect defensive position for Major General Andrew Jackson's men. American troops and slaves from area plantations dug out the canal and used its soil to build a rampart stretching from the Mississippi River to the cypress swamp. When the rampart was completed and the canal filled with water, it formed an imposing line of defense.
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Chalmette, Louisiana · United States
