BATON

See also:

• ROUGE (" red," from Lat. rubeus)

ROUGE  , the capital of Louisiana, U.S.A., 'and of East Baton Rouge parish, on the E. bank of the Mississippi river, about 70 M . N.W. of New Orleans . Pop . (189o) 10,478; (1900) 11,269, of whom 6J96 were of negro descent; (1910 census) 14,897 . It is served by the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley railway and by the Louisiana Railway & Navigation Company; and the Texas & Pacific enters Port Allen, just across the river . The city lies on the river bluff, secure against the highest floods . Old houses in the Spanish style give quaintness to its appearance . The state capitol was built in 188o-1882, replacing another burned in 1862 . At Baton Rouge is the State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College (186o), of which the Audubon Sugar School, " for the highest scientific training in the growing of sugar cane and in the technology of sugar manufacture," is an important and 'distinctive feature . The university grew out of the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy, founded in 1855 near Alexandria and opened in 186o under the charge of W . T . Sherman .

In 1869 the institution was removed to Baton Rouge, and in 1877 it was

united with the Agricultural and Mechanical College, established in 1873 and in 1874 opened at New Orleans . The campus of the university is the former barracks of the Baton Rouge garrison, occupied by the college since 1886 and transferred to it by the Federal government in 1902 . The enrolment of the university in 19o7-19o8 was 636 . Other important institutions at Baton Rouge are a State Agricultural Experiment Station, asylums and schools for the deaf and dumb, for the blind, and for orphans, and the state penitentiary . The surrounding bluff and alluvial country is very rich . Sugar and cotton plantations and sub-tropic fruit orchards occupy the front-lands on the river . The manufactures include lumber and cotton seed products, and sugar . The value of the city's factory products increased from $1:17,368 in 19oo to $1,383,061 in 19o5 or 92.8% . The city is, governed under a charter granted by the legislature in 1898 .. This charter is peculiar in that it gives to the city council the power to elect various administrative boards—of police, finance, &c.—from which the legislative council of most cities is separated, Baton Rouge was one of the earliest French settlements, in the state . As a part of West Florida, it passed into the hands of the British in 1763, and in 1779 was captured by Bernardo Galvez, the Spanish governor of Louisiana . The town was incorporated in 1817 .

In 1849 it was made the state capital, remaining so until 1862, when

Shreveport became the Con-federate state capital . In 1864 the Unionists made New Orleans the seat of government . The Secession Ordinance of Louisiana was passed on the 26th of January 1861 by a convention that met at Baton Rouge . On the 2nd of May 1862 the city was captured by the forces of the United States under Col . Benjamin H . Grierson (b . 1826), who had led raiders thither from Tennessee; on the 12th of May it was formally occupied by troops from New Orleans, and was successfully defended by Brig.-Gen . Thomas Williams (1815-1862) against an. attack by Confederate forces under General John C . Breckinridge on the 5th of August 1862; Gen . Williams, however, was killed during the attack . Baton Rouge was soon abandoned for a month, was then reoccupied, and was held throughout the rest of the war . It became the state capital again in 1882, in accordance with the state constitution of 1879 .

For several years after 184o Zachary

Taylor made his home on a plantation near Baton Rouge .