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
President of the Louisiana State Senate President of the Louisiana State Senate The President of the Louisiana State Senate is the highest-ranking member of the Louisiana State Senate. As presiding officer, he or she convenes session and calls members to order, but can designate another state senator to preside in his or her place. The Louisiana state senate president is fifth in gubernatorial line of succession in Louisiana. The president's counterpart in the lower house of the Louisiana Legislature is the Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives. The Louisiana Constitution of 1812 did not provide for a lieutenant governor to preside over the state senate