After the Battle

After the Battle. Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve. , The destruction of their plantation during the Battle of New Orleans left the de Chalmet family in financial trouble. In 1817 brothers Hilaire and Louis St. Amand bought the land. The St. Amands were prominent free people of color who already owned several plantations. In the early 1800s, it was not unusual for free people of color to own plantations and slaves in Louisiana. The brothers rebuilt the property, repairing the damage caused by the Battle of New Orleans and returning the land to sugar production at a time when the industry was growing rapidly in south Louisiana., Sugarcane juice was boiled to evaporate the liquid and leave the crystalized sugar, a hazardous task for the slaves who used long-handled ladles to transfer boiling cane juice between kettles and pans. Norbert Rillieux, a free man of color, changed the industry forever in 1843 when he developed the multi-stage evaporator, which used condensers rather than open kettles., (captions) , Rillieux's multi-stage evaporator was recognized by the American Chemical Society in 2002 as one of the greatest innovations in chemical engineering., Benson Lossing's Pictorial Field Book of the War of 18 12 portrays Chalmet's plantation and the battlefield as a tourist destination in 1861., Before the Civil War, vast fortunes were made by producing sugar from sugar cane; slaves did most of the work, which was difficult and dangerous.