Old Confederate Soldiers' Home

Just outside the fencing around the old Police Station at 1700 Moss Street there is embedded in the grass some blue-and-white lettered tiles which say "SOLDIERS' HOME."
'On this site at 1700 Moss St. there was a Confederate soldiers' home named "Camp Nicholls" in honor of Gov. Francis T. Nicholls, a Civil War hero.

In March 1866, the Louisiana Legislature established a Confederate Soldiers' Home for Louisiana. The home operated at Mandeville until 1868 when the Reconstruction government halted the appropriation. Then under an 1882 amendment of the 1866 Act, a reorganized Board of Commissioners bought the tract of land on Bayou St. John for the purpose of building a soldiers' home.

The new home was dedicated with great ceremony on May 16, 1884. Mrs. T.J. (Stonewall) Jackson had herself made a flag of Louisiana, and this flag was raised to the top of a 70-foot flagpole by her daughter, Miss Julia Jackson; the daughters of Gen. Robert E. Lee, Mildred and Mary; Gen. D. H. Hill's daughter, Nanny; and Mary May, daughter of Col. A.H. May, veteran officer of the Washington Artillery. The large brass howitzer "Redemption" of the Washington Artillery fired a salute of 13 rounds.

The camp was home for many years to Confederate veterans, and on the grounds a visitor could see several old cannons taken from Spanish Fort and a submarine torpedo boat constructed during the Civil War.

Then in 1949, it became the State Headquarters for the 39th Infantry Division of the National Guard; and in April 1951, a new $120,000 armory was constructed, and the site became the home of the 135th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron of the Louisiana Air National Guard.

After a period of vacancy, the building was renovated in 1983, and the Police Department took up residence.'

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"Camp Nicholls, 1700 Moss Street, is a Confederate soldiers' home established in 1883 during the Administration of Governor Nicholls. Only a few veterans remain in the institution. On the grounds may be seen several old cannon taken from Spanish Fort and a submarine torpedo boat, said to be the first of its kind, constructed by a Captain Hunley during the Civil War. The boat sank in the bayou on its first trial, and lay submerged many years before being salvaged."

The New Orleans City Guide, 1938 Federal Writers Project, WPA

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Travel & Events

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• nola
• new orleans
• 1700 Moss
• squandered heritage
• progress
• faubourg st. john
• fsjna

[HISTORYBUFFPA]

Thanks for posting this.