Louisiana WFSI Sesquicentennial Underway

     BATON ROUGE, La. -- The Louisiana Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, began its series of War For Southern Independence Sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) events Saturday, January 15, with reenactments of the surrender of the U.S. Arsenal at the site of the Old Arsenal Powder Museum and the signing of the Ordinance of Secession at the Old State Capitol.

Gov. Thomas Overton Moore, portrayed by collaeral
descendant Edward Overton Cailleteau, is seen here
reviewing state militia troops before the surrender
of the U.S. Arsenal at Baton Rouge. The actual event
occurred Jan. 11, 1861. The 150th anniversary  reenactment
was Saturday, Jan. 15, 2011. (Photo by Mike Jones)

     The events were very well planned and reenacted by SCV members. The Old Arsenal, the state militia, under orders from Gov. Thomas Overton Moore, demanded and received the surrender of the U.S. troops. The commander of the arsenal, Brevet Major and Captain J.A. Haskins of the 1st U.S. Artillery formally surrendered to about 600 state militia and Gov. Moore. The surrender terms allowed Haskin and his some 80 to furl their colors and march away. Transportation was provided for them.
    Here is the demand from Gov. Moore:
   Sir: The Safety of the State of Louisiana demands that I take possession of all government property with her limits.
   You are therefore summond hereby to deliver up the barracks, aresenal, and public property now under your command.
   With the large force at my disposal this demand will be enforced.
   Any attempt at defence on your part will be a rash sacrifice of life.
   The highest consideration will be extended to yourself and command.
Thoms O. Moore,
Governor and Commander-in-chief of Militia of Louisiana.

Louis Ducros portrayed Gov. Alexandre Mouton, the president
of the Secession Convention, and read the Ordinance of
Secession in both French and English. (Photo by Mike Jones)

  The other reenactment held January 15, was the signing of the Louisiana Ordinance of Secession, which historically occurred January 26, 1861 at the Louisiana State Capitol. The reenactment was held in the Old State Capitol in same location as the original event. Highlights of the historic 4 day event were presented by  SCV members in 19th Century-style clothing.
   The Ordinance was read in both French and English by Louis Ducros, portraying Gov. Alexandre Mouton, who was the president of the Secession Convention. When it was passed by the delegates, the State Militia escorted Gov. Moore into the room to accept it and lead the gathering out to the front steps of the capitol to proclaim the dissolution of the Union between Louisiana and the United States.
   Following the secession reenactment, the gathering assembled around the tomb of Gov. Henry Watkins Allen, located on the grounds of the Old State Capitol. A moving memorial ceremony was held for the governor and a salute fired by the color guard carrying the Louisiana Secession flag.

The color guard for the event fired a salute in honor of
Gov. Henry Watkins Allen at his tomb on the grounds
of the Old State Capitol. The flag is the Louisiana Secession flag.
(Photo by Mike Jones)

Here is the Ordinance and the signers (from compilation on Young Sanders Center web site)

Ordinance of Secession of Louisiana
Passed in the State Capitol at Baton Rouge on 26 January 1861, By a Vote of 113-17

An Ordinance to dissolve the union between the State of Louisiana and other States, united with her under the compact entitled “The Constitution of the United States of America.”

We, the people of the State of Louisiana, in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is herby declared and ordained, That the ordinance passed by us in Convention on the 22nd day of November, in the year eighteen hundred and eleven, whereby the Constitution were adopted; and all laws and ordinance by which the State of Louisiana became a member of the Federal Union, be and the same are hereby repealed and abrogated; and that the union now subsisting between Louisiana and other States, under the name of “The United States of America” is hereby dissolved.

We do further declare and ordain, That the State of Louisiana hereby resumes all rights and powers heretofore delegated to the Government of the United States of America; that her citizens are absolved from all allegiance to said Government; and that she is in full possession and exercise of all those rights of sovereignty which appertain to a free and independent State.

We do further declare and ordain, That all rights acquired and vested under the Constitution of the United States, or any act of Congress, or treaty, or under any law of this State, and not incompatible with this ordinance, shall remain in force, and have the same effects as if this ordinance had not been passed.

Louisiana Secession Convention Officers

(Parish of Representation is in Parentheses.)
President
Alexandre Mouton (St. Landry, Calcasieu & Lafayette)
Secretary
John Tomas Wheat (Orleans)

Assistant Secretary
E. E. Kidd (Jackson)

Louisiana Secession Convention Delegates

(A ↓ Denotes A Delegate Who Voted In Opposition To The Ordinance of Secession.)

Bossier Bienville Pointe Coupée, Avoyelles & West Feliciana

- Robert Hodges - Abraham M. Gray

- Charles D. Stewart

Claiborne Rapides

- John L. Lewis - John Kingsberry Elgee

E. Feliciana, E. Baton Rouge Sabine, Natchitoches,

West Baton Rouge Desoto; Caddo

- James Overton Fuqua - Benjamin Lewis Hodge

- Andrew Stewart Herron - Henry Marshall

Franklin & Carroll St. Charles & Lafourche

- Mark Valentine - Louis Bush

Iberville St. Helena, Washington,

- Augustus Talbot Livingston, & St. Tammany

- Hardy Chessley Richardson

Jackson & Union St. James & St. John the Baptist

- Wilson M. Kidd - André Bienvenu Roman ↓

Madison, Tensas & Concordia St. Landry, Calcasieu & Lafayette

- Lemuel Parker Conner, Sr. - Lucius Jacques Dupré

- John Perkins, Jr. - Alexandre Mouton

Morehouse & Ouachita St. Martin & Vermillion

- Horace M. Polk - Alexandre Etienne DeClouet

Orleans (Left Bank) St. Mary

(Including the City of New Orleans) - Gabriel LeClaire Fuselier

- W. Rufus Adams

- Pierre Emile Bonford

- Thomas Hall Kennedy

- Felix Labatut

- J. J. Michel

Plaquemines, St. Bernard, Jefferson Terrebonne, Assumption; Ascension

Orleans (Right Bank) - Robert Campbell Martin, Sr.

- Charles Bienvenu ↓ -Adolphe Verret ↓

- Fergus Gardere ↓

Winn, Catahoula; Caldwell

-Wade H. Hough ↓

Representative Delegates

Ascension Natchitoches

- Thomas E. H. Cottman ↓ - Aaron Howell Pierson, Sr.

- Edward Duffel, Jr. - Jules Sompayrac

Assumption Orleans Right Bank

- Edmund O. Melancon ↓ - George Washington Lewis

- Walter Pugh

First Representative District Second Representative District

- Isaac Newton Marks, Sr. - Joseph A. Rozier ↓

- Thomas Jenkins Semmes - W. T. Stocker ↓

- Benjamin S. Tappan

Third Representative District Fourth Representative District

- Robert W. Estlin - M. O. H. Norton

- James McCloskey

- John Budd Slawson

Fifth Representative District Sixth Representative District

- Bernard Avegno - John Pemberton

- Joseph Hernandez

Seventh Representative District Eighth Representative District

- Edward Bermudez - Charles Octave LeBlanc

- George Clark

Ninth Representative District Tenth Representative District

- P. Sever Wiltz - William R. Miles

- William M. Perkins

- Alexander Walker

Avoyelles Ouachita

- Aristides Barbin - Isaiah Garrett ↓

- Fenelon Cannon

Bienville Plaquemines

- Felix Lewis - Effingham Lawrence

- Joseph Biddle Wilkinson, Jr.



Bossier Pointe Coupee

- Thomas Jefferson Caldwell - Samuel Washington McKneely

- Henderson McFarland, Jr. - Auguste Provosty

Caddo Rapides

- Leon Dawson Marks - Thomas Courtland Manning

- George McWillie Williamson, Sr. - William Washington Smart

- Lewis Emanuel Texada

Calcasieu Sabine


- William Ellison Gill -Edward C. Davidson

Caldwell St. Bernard

- Cicero Christopher Meredith ↓ - Antoine Marrero

Carroll St. Charles

- John H. Martin - Richard Taylor

- Edward Sparrow

Catahoula St. Helena

- James Govan Taliaferro ↓ - James Anderson Williams



Claiborne St. James

- Nelson Jackson Scott -Jerome Kleber Gaudet ↓

- James M. Thomasson - Louis S. LeBourgeois ↓

Concordia St. John the Baptist

- Joseph E. Miler - Samuel Hollingsworth

- Zebulon York

Desoto St. Landry

- Joseph Barton Elam - Walthall Burton

- Young W. Graves - Thomas Alfred Cooke

- Caleb L. Swayze

- John A. Taylor

East Baton Rouge St. Martin

- William S. Pike - Jean Maximilien Alcibiades DeBlanc

- Isaac Ambrose Williams - John Moore

East Feliciana St. Mary

- William Patterson - Jules G. Olivier

- Thomas W. Scott - Washington M. Smith

Franklin St. Tammany

- Allen Bonner - Sidney S. Conner

Iberville Tensas

- Edward George Washington Butler - William Dumont Anderson

- Theodore Johnson - Samuel Worthington Dorsey

Jackson Terrebonne

- William Benson Warren - Gilmore Franklin Connely

- Andrew McCollam

Jefferson Union

- Charles Theodule Lagroue - William Cleaton Carr

- Christian Roselius ↓ - Sidney Henry Griffin

Lafayette Vermilion

- Michel Eloi Girard - Daniel O’Bryan

Lafourche Washington

- James Scudday Perkins - Nehemiah Magee

- Caleb Jackson Tucker

Livingston West Baton Rouge

- William Alexander Davidson Nathaniel W. Pope

Madison West Feliciana

- Claiborne C. Briscoe - William Ruffin Barrow, Sr.

- William Raine Peck - John Turnbull Towles, Sr.

Morehouse Winn

Mike Jones, portraying Calcasieu Parish delegate William
Ellison Gill, is seated in the Old State Capitol for the
reenactment of 150th anniversary of the Louisiana
Secession Convention. (Photo by Susan Jones)

- Robert Barr Todd - David Pierson ↓