community of Fazendeville was demolished in order to expand the battlefield in preparation for the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans, which took place in 1965. The town, which had been established sometime around 1870 by Jean-Pierre Fazende, had been "founded as a home for newly freed slaves," according to news reports. Local, state and federal elected officials had been engaged in efforts to acquire the community's lands since at least the early 1930s. Another major restoration took place from March 7 to April 1, 2016 when volunteers from HOPE Crew (Hands-on Preservation Experience) participated, in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the National Park Service and the National Center of Preservation Technology and Training, in the cleaning and re-setting of 671 headstones in the oldest part of the national cemetery, which is "the final resting place for US Colored Troops, servicemen who consisted of 'free men of color' formerly known as the Louisiana Native Guard; free, mixed-race 'creoles' who the Confederacy barred from joining their forces, and refugees, or 'contraband' from nearby plantations who served the Union Army in exchange for food, clothing and housing for their families," according to a spokesperson for the trust. The headstones that were restored had been misaligned or damaged by air pollution and mold growth, and were cleaned with products donated by D/2 Biological Solution, Inc. Restoration experts from Pierre Masonry, Texas Cemetery Restoration, Oak and Laurel Cemetery Preservation and Monument Conservation Collaborative were recruited to oversee the volunteers' work. Located adjacent to the Chalmette National Cemetery, and within the boundaries of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, is the site of the defunct Freedmen's Cemetery, a four-acre African American burial ground that had been established by the federal government in 1867 to inter the remains of formerly enslaved men, women and children who had been receiving assistance from the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (also known as the Freedmen's Bureau) in making the transition from slavery to freedom after the Civil War. Initially well maintained, the cemetery fell into disrepair during the 1870s as various Freedmen's Bureau services were curtailed and then eliminated due to budget cuts and "the politics of race and Reconstruction." U.S. Quartermaster's Office records document the debates by federal government officials regarding the creation and management of this cemetery, as well as their decision to ultimately