NOLA.com: A Place That Embodies What America Is About

“In 1776, when Great Britain’s 13 American colonies declared independence, planning got underway in New Orleans that proved critical to the success of the American Revolution . . . Moves by the Spanish against the British, plotted in the Cabildo [in the French Quarter], were part of a larger strategy to support the American Revolution by using the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River to funnel money and supplies to the Continental Army. The Irish-born merchant Oliver Pollock acted as an American agent in New Orleans. From his French Quarter residence, in what today is the 500 block of Chartres Street, he served as one of the most important financiers of the war effort.”