Let's take a walk at the cemetery

Since Halloween is approaching, let's put ourselves in the mood... I don't know about you, but for me, walking around in an old american cemetery brings back a lot of memories about american series or movies I watched during my teenage years. It just doesn't look like the ones in France. I must have watched Buffy a little too much. The old tombstones are not straight, a lot of them don't have a base, grass grows on nameless empty plots, as a result alleys look very unorganized, it gives it a spooky feeling, but I find it all rather pretty. 

Here is one of the oldest cemetery in Baton Rouge: Magnolia Cemetery. 

It is a national historic site, where a lot of local personalities are buried. It was  the site of intense fights during the Battle of Baton Rouge on August 5, 1862. Union soldiers were camped on the west side of the cemetery, and the Confederates to the East. 

When the battle started, the northern forces were directed towards the Mississippi levee (to the west), because the Confederate army was waiting for relief from a battleship gunboat coming from Vicksburg (located further up the river in the State of Mississippi). Unfortunately for the South, the boat's engine broke down several time between Vicksburg and Baton Rouge, and eventually had to be destroyed by its own crew, in order to not be taken by the Union. It was blown up close to where Huey Long's bridge now crosses the Mississippi, just north of Baton Rouge. On the ground, the Union soldiers were then able to block the Confederates and push them to retreat. 

 

 

During the battle, tumbstones served as cover from bullets and bombs. One can still see traces of it on some stones or trees. The cemetery has a common grave filled with Confederate soldiers who fell during the battle. They were all buried on site. Union soldiers who died during the battle were transported out of the battle field and buried individually in what is now a federal cemetery, right accross the street. That cemetery looks much cleaner by the way: rows of neat white little stones typical of a military cemetery. 

Baton Rouge has grown a lot since then and now the cemetery is in the center of the urbanized area, between Florida Boulevard and Main Street. It's all ugly around, but the cemetery makes almost for a pretty public park, with big oaks, and old stones.