Bonnet Carré Spillway flood of 1937, and ten times thereafter through 2016 to lower river stages at New Orleans. The most recent opening began March 8, 2018, when river levels in New Orleans were predicted to approach the flood stage of at the Carrollton Gauge which is located just upriver from Downtown New Orleans. The floodgate inlet is offset into the Mississippi River bank, at a location that had seen natural flooding for at least two centuries. The concrete structure has been designed to reduce settling into the riverbank. The opening and closing of the spillway is done by lifting out up to
Morganza, Louisiana on December 10, 2008: Morganza was the site of a Union Army encampment during the American Civil War. The largest battle in Pointe Coupee Parish was fought at nearby Stirling Plantation, on September 29, 1863. Sixteen Federal troops were killed, 45 were wounded, and 462 were taken prisoner. The Confederate losses included 26 dead, 85 wounded, and 10 missing. Although the Battle of Sterling Plantation was a Confederate victory, the Union troops burned the town of Morganza to the ground on October 1, 1863. Historian John D. Winters in "The Civil War in Louisiana" (1963) documents the arrival in May