Washington Artillery Hall, St. Charles Avenue, 1890
Distribution of Christmas Gifts by the Times-Democrat Doll & Toy Fund,
December, 1907, Washington Artillery Hall, St. Charles Avenue
Washington Artillery Hall, St. Charles Avenue, 1910
Historic Washington Artillery Hall
The first of the one hundred forty-first "Battalion Washington Artillery" is the oldest
still active artillery unit in the National Guard.  It is based in historic Jackson Barracks,
New Orleans, and is part of the 256 BCT, LA National Guard.  The unit has served in the
Civil War, the Spanish American War, both World Wars and is now on duty in Iraq as
"Task Force Thunder."  It's the current incarnation of one of the oldest and most
storied units in American military history.

The Washington Artillery goes back far beyond the history above.  The roots of
Louisiana's Washington Artillery can be traced to within ten years of the founding of
New Orleans, when, in the 1720's, the French governor formed Louisiana's earliest
militia, the "Compagnie de Milice de la Louisiane."  Under Spain's rule, in 1770, the
Spanish governor organized the "El Regimento Infanateria de Luisiana."  French
members of the former Compagnie de Milice were accepted as the Second Battalion
of this militia.  In 1778, Governor Don Bernardo de Galvez sent the Second Battalion to
fight the British at Baton Rouge, Natchez, Mobile and Pensacola.  So it was that the
mostly French New Orleanian members of the Second Battalion, under a Spanish flag,
fought the British during the American Revolution!

After the Louisiana Purchase and the War of 1812, the first American militia was formed
and the already standing militia became a part of it.  It was sometime during this
period, probably before 1819, that the unit's name was changed to Washington
Artillery.  Two companies of the former battalion merged to become the fourth
company of the Washington Artillery in 1821.  This company used the arsenal on St.
Peter Street, behind the Cabildo, as its headquarters until the 1850's.  For a brief time,
the company used a building on Girod Street as their arsenal and, after that, a series
of temporary buildings.

Then, in 1878, the company purchased the building on St. Charles that had been used
as an exposition hall during the Grand Industrial Exposition held in New Orleans in
1872.  They named it Washington Artillery Hall and it was used, not only for the Artillery
company, but for many local events.  In 1922, the Washington Artillery, seeking more
modern quarters, moved its arsenal to Jackson Barracks.  The St. Charles Avenue
building was eventually sold.  It was used by a car dealership for several years, but, in
1952, having fallen into disrepair, it was demolished.  A sad ending to an historic site.
Above & below, Louisiana Arsenal, St. Peter Street, 1940s.  Constructed in 1839, it
stands on the site of the Spanish Arsenal, built in 1769.  This building became part of
the Louisiana State Museum in 1915; its exhibits are open to the public.