A row of artillery emplacements, or casemates, extends into the distance at old Fort Pike, a Third System fortress erected to protect the Rigolets Pass between Lakes Ponchratrain and Bourne, just north of New Orleans. Fort Pike was initially occupied by a Confederate garrison at the outset of the Civil War, but when Admiral David Farragut's successful incursions up the Mississippi River drove Southern forces from New Orleans, Union troops replaced the Confederate garrison. It is said that Fort Pike was also used as a holding facility for Seminole indian prisoners.
