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 and through its admission into the U.S. as the state of Louisiana. The State Legislature passed a resolution declaring that the seat of government be moved to a "more convenient place" than New Orleans. No action was taken until 1829 when the Legislature voted to move to Donaldsonville. It convened for the first time in Donaldsonville in January 1831, became "dissatisfied with the quarters there", and adjourned shortly thereafter to return to New Orleans. Included in the Louisiana State Constitution of 1845 was a clause that required the state capital to be moved from New Orleans by 1849. A committee