Baton Rogue

The flags of seven countries have flown over Baton Rogue - those of France, England, Spain, West Florida, the Sovereign State of Louisiana, the Confederacy and the United States. Despite this, the original name bestowed by a French explorer in 1699 has endured. Meaning "red stick" or "red staff," the name referred to the tall cypress tree, stripped of its bark and draped with freshly killed animals, that marked the boundary between the hunting grounds of two Indian tribes.

In 1849 Baton Rougue became the state capital. As the battlefront moved north through Louisiana during the Civil War, the capital shifted to Opelousas, then Alexandria, and finally Shrevesport. federal troops occupied Baton Rougue during most of the war.

Baton Rougue is the second largest city in Louisiana and one of the largest ports in the nation. It is at the northern end of the "Petrochemical Gold Coast" - the industrial belt that flanks the Mississippi for 100 miles downriver to New Orleans.