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 Capitol of Memorial Hall, is a bronze plaque in diameter and weighing . The plaque depicts a relief map of Louisiana showing parish boundaries and seats, industries and exports, and the flora and fauna of Louisiana. Mounted on the balcony over the elevator banks are the flags of the entities that have held dominion over Louisiana. The chambers for the Louisiana House of Representatives and State Senate, along with Memorial Hall, make up the majority of the capitol's broad base. The 1975 television film "The Deadly Tower", depicting the shootings at the University of Texas at Austin in 1966 by Charles