New Orleans

In Orleans parish, La.; principal city and commercial port of the Gulf States, on the Mi i ippi, 107 m. from the Gulf. The site is very flat, but slightly above the mean level of the river, and several feet below its surface in time of flood; it is protected on all sides from inundation by A New Orleans Cotton Wharf. rate is double that of northern cities. It was founded by the French under Bienville in 1718. After pa ing to Spain and back to France, it was acquired with the Province of Louisiana by the U. S. 1803. It was the scene of Jackson's crushing defeat of the British under Packenham, Jan. 8, 1815, and in the Civil War it was taken by Farragut, April 25, 1862. Pop., 1890, 242,039.