West Atchafalaya Floodway and west by the Atchafalaya Basin protection levees, and on the south by the Gulf of Mexico. Farther downstream, floodwaters enter the Gulf of Mexico through the Atchafalaya River below Morgan City, Louisiana and the Wax Lake Outlet. West Atchafalaya Floodway The West Atchafalaya Floodway is a flood control structure of the Mississippi River and Tributaries Project located in the Lower Atchafalaya Basin in south-central Louisiana. It has a project design flood flow capacity of . The Atchafalaya Basin system comprises three floodways. Two of these, the West Atchafalaya Floodway and the Morganza Floodway, are at the northern end. Together
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