Louisiana secession Orleans. Two days before the city surrendered in April 1862, Moore and the legislature abandoned Baton Rouge as the state capital, relocating to Opelousas in May 1, 1862. Governor Moore began to organize military resistance at the state level, ordered the burning of cotton, cessation of trade with the Union forces, and heavily recruited troops for the state militia. However, despite a brief check at Baton Rouge, Union forces continued to advance into Louisiana and up the Mississippi, and the capital was moved again to Shreveport. New Orleans, Louisiana, the largest city in the entire South, was strategically important as
Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy was the former name of the current university now known as Louisiana State University (LSU). The original legislation creating the Seminary of Learning of the State of Louisiana (l'Universite' de l'Etat de la Louisiane) was passed by the Louisiana General Assembly in 1853. This was to be a state institution of higher education. In November 1859, the institution's main building was completed near Pineville, Louisiana. The original location of the Old LSU Site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The institution's