Louisiana Maneuvers Led by General Patton

The 1941 Louisiana Maneuvers drew about 400,000 troops in 19 divisions across roughly 3,400 square miles. In the second phase the Blue Army, twice the size of Red, aimed to seize Shreveport, and Blue won largely through Patton's 2nd Armored Division. The exercise tested the tank destroyer idea, gave the C ration its first wide trial, led to the creation of Fort Polk and killed 26 men, mostly by drowning or vehicle accidents. Omar Bradley recalled that Louisianans mostly welcomed the soldiers, though some troops damaged crops.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Louisiana State Oil and Gas Museum — 8.3 mi
  The state's first public petroleum museum in Oil City, on the 1905 Caddo Parish strike and the 1911 over-water well on Caddo Lake, with a derrick and a log-jam exhibit.
• Shreveport Water Works Museum — 16 mi
  An 1887 brick pumping station on McNeill Street where Worthington steam pumps ran until 1980, now a free museum and a National Historic Landmark.
• Spring Street Museum — 17 mi
  An 1866 bank building downtown that also held a Freedman's Savings and Trust branch in 1870, now a free LSUS-run museum with a Victorian parlor and the original vault.
• Shreveport Municipal Auditorium — 17 mi
  The Art Deco hall of 1929 where the Louisiana Hayride went out over KWKH from 1948 to 1960 and where Elvis Presley first played Shreveport on October 16, 1954.

More markers nearby

• Belcher Mound — 0.3 mi
• Mounds Plantation — 5.9 mi
• Trees City Office & Bank — 8.0 mi
• Oil City — 8.0 mi