Louisiana Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Secession and the Civil War=== {{Main|Ordinance of Secession|Confederate States of America|Louisiana in the American Civil War}} [[File:'Signing the Ordinance of Secession of Louisiana, January 26, 1861', oil on canvas painting by Enoch Wood Perry, Jr., 1861.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|'Signing the Ordinance of Secession of Louisiana, January 26, 1861', oil on canvas painting, 1861]] [[File:New Orleans h76369k.jpg|right|thumb|[[Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip|''Capture of New Orleans'']], April 1862, colored lithograph of engraving]] According to the 1860 census, 331,726 people were enslaved, nearly 47% of the state's total population of 708,002.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20041019003356/http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus/php/state.php Historical Census Browser, 1860 US Census, University of Virginia], accessed October 31, 2007</ref> The strong economic interest of elite whites in maintaining the slave society contributed to Louisiana's decision to secede from the Union on January 26, 1861.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.knowlouisiana.org/entry/louisianas-secession-from-the-union|title=Louisiana's Secession from the Union|work=64 Parishes|access-date=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115015107/http://www.knowlouisiana.org/entry/louisianas-secession-from-the-union|archive-date=November 15, 2017|url-status=live|last = Sacher|first = John M.|date = July 27, 2011 }}</ref> It followed other U.S. states in seceding after the election of [[Abraham Lincoln]] as president of the United States. Louisiana's secession was announced on January 26, 1861, and it became part of the [[Confederate States of America]]. The state was quickly defeated in the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], a result of Union strategy to cut the Confederacy in two by controlling the [[Mississippi River]]. Federal troops captured New Orleans on April 25, 1862. Because a large part of the population had Union sympathies (or compatible commercial interests), the federal government took the unusual step of designating the areas of Louisiana under federal control as a state within the Union, with its own elected representatives to the U.S. Congress.<ref>{{cite web|title=Munson, Underwood, Horn, Fairfield and Allied Families β Louisiana|url=http://www.brazoriaroots.com/pi715.htm|access-date=December 23, 2020|website=Brazoriaroots.com|archive-date=February 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210220154000/http://www.brazoriaroots.com/pi715.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=About Louisiana|url=https://myhammond.com/louisiana/|access-date=December 23, 2020|website=My Hammond {{!}} My Ponchatoula|archive-date=September 24, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924123340/http://myhammond.com/louisiana/|url-status=live}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page