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
State Library of Louisiana was negatively affected by the Civil War due to decreased funds. The lack of funding lasted long after the war had ended and greatly impaired development of the collection. The library remained in New Orleans until 1904. After years of neglect, the library was closed in 1911. The Law Library Society, which later became the Louisiana Law Library, added what remained of the collection to its own. In 1920, the Louisiana Legislature created the Louisiana Library Commission, a forerunner of the State Library of Louisiana. In 1925, the Commission joined with the philanthropic Carnegie Corporation to create a network of