Template:NewOrleansFrench

The French did not provide significant defenses for New Orleans until the French & Indian War put the city at risk of capture by British forces coming down the Mississippi River. Significant defenses were built in 1754 and improved in 1760. An earthworks with a moat enclosed the area known today as the French Quarter. Nine bastions protected the earthworks Conde's Bastion, Kerlerec's Bastion, St. Louis Bastion, Choiseul's Bastion, Orleans Bastion, Redan of the Bayou, Berry's Bastion, D'Abbadie's Bastion, and Charles' Bastion. The city square known as the Place d'Armes fronted and was open to the river as it is today. This portion of the defenses mounted twenty-one guns and it was said the city was protected by some 100 mounted guns.