This week, Davis continues our "Fort 'Splorin' series and parts the veil of time with an intriguing glimpse back into the history of our destination, Battery Bienvenue. You will be amazed at this tale, and it will only deepen your appreciation for what we find when will finally arrive at this Lonely Sentinel...
In mid-December of 1814, the British surveyed the various defenses of New Orleans in preparation for an attack on that city. The Mississippi River was well-protected by Forts Wilkinson, St. Philip, St. Leon and St. Marie, built by the French and Spanish during colonial times (only St. Philip remains). Lake Pontchartrain was defended by the unfinished and sparsly-manned Fort Petit Coquilles as well as Fort St. John and Fort Manchac, while the "back door" through Barataria Pass was, interestingly enough, defended by a fort built by the pirate Jean Lafitte to defend his base on Grand Isle.
As a result, New Orleans earned the reputation of being the best defended city in America. As had been shown at Baltimore, hardy fortifications could resist bombardment from the sea, which was the only known means of invasion for most port cities. When Andrew Jackson arrived in the area to inspect and command the defenses of the city, he ensured that every possible invasion route was addressed. One of the invasion routes, a winding waterway called Bayou Bienvenue, which means Bayou Welcome in French, was to be obstructed by General Villerie, a plantation owner and member of the militia. Though an oversight or outright negligence, the bayou was not obstructed, and the British were able to bring a landing force of 3,000 soldiers down the bayou, landing at the Villerie plantation where they prepared hasty earthen defenses and then fought Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans.
As a result of the battle, Jackson ordered the confluence of Bayous Maxent and Bienvenue to be fortified. Originally an earthen fort was constructed at this site and housed cannons captured from the British. This temporary defense named Fort Villerie, but was only a stop-gap measure. In southern Louisiana, earthen forts were expected to last no more than 10 or 15 years, given the nature of the soils. Therefore, in 1828, a brick-and-mortar battery was built nearby: Battery Bienvenue.
A battery, instead of a classic fort, was chosen because of the nature of the low land and marshes to the rear of the position. Therefore, only the leading wall was masonry. The rear portion relied on a low wooden wall and the relatively impenetrable marsh to protect against rear attack. Unlike other masonry forts, which held cannons in two tiers, the first tier consisting of casements with cannon ports through which cannons would fire, as well as a row of cannons on the roof en barbette, the fortification carried only a single row of cannons which fired over the wall en barbette.
In addition to the thick masonry wall, a heavy, bomb-proof magazine was built which would store the black powder. Great iron doors protected the interior from enemy fire (and so protected the defenders from a massive explosion in their midst). Also on the site was a brick hot-shot furnace, a furnace into which cannon balls were placed until they were hot enough to cause enemy ships to burn, as well as a cistern to catch rain water (potable water was not readily available at this site). Several wooden barracks and officers' quarters were also built on the site. When finished, the plan called for twenty cannons. During the Civil War, Confederate troops garrisoned the battery, but abandoned it when New Orleans fell to Federal Troops.
Following the war, the US government also abandoned the small, isolated fortification. In time, the battery fell into ruin, the wooden structures rotting away and finally being obliterated by storms. Subsidence, a problem in all of South Louisiana, has claimed the dry land until now the entire area is one large salt marsh. Yet the gradual sinking of the installation and the encroachment of the brackish waters prevented the great cannons from being removed from the site. Boats big enough to handle their weight cannot approach close enough, and those with a shallow-enough draft cannot handle them. As a result, 6 24-pounder guns (named because the cannon ball they fired weighed 24 pounds), are still on the walls. Because of this, Battery Bienvenue remains one of the very few forts in the nation that still has some of its original armament. Other, larger and better known forts such as Fort Jackson south of New Orleans, Fort Morgan on Mobile Bay, or Forts Pike and Macomb defending Lake Pontchartrain have long been de-clawed and remain impressive, but impotent, monuments to American castles.
Today, the small battery's only inhabitants are birds, alligators, and snakes. Yet through storm and neglect, Battery Bienvenue remains, it's brick-and-mortar walls still solid, its magazine still weathering the elements; a solitary sentinel miles down a lonely bayou, its silent guns trained against an enemy that never came.
