In 1821 an artist Jean Jacques Audubon set up a studio in New Orleans and in 1837 Shreveport was founded.   In 1838 the first Mardi Gras parade took place in New Orleans on Shrove Tuesday.
        The capitol was moved to Baton Rouge from New Orleans where a statehouse was waiting in 1850.  It was built at the expense of $100,000.  It was of American gothic design.  This is what Mark Twain thought of the building, "...this little sham castle...the architectural falsehood...this white washed castle with turrets and things would never been built for the medieval romances of Sir Walter Scott".
        For two months after seceding from the Union and before joining the Confederacy in 1861, Louisiana flew the flag of an independent nation and in 1864, General Henry W. Allen was named governor of the Confederate Louisiana.  He earned a reputations the best administrator in the Confederacy.
        Louisiana was left undisturbed for a year after the Civil War broke out, but in 1862 New Orleans was captured.  The longest siege in American military history took place at Port Hudson in 1863.  Black Lieutenant Governor P.B.S. Pinchback served briefly as Louisiana's Chief Executive in 1873.
        "The Reconstruction Period" ended for Louisiana in 1877 when President Rutherford B. Hayes pulled the U.S. Army unit out of the state.  This was the longest occupation of any other southern states.
        The first oil well in Louisiana was drilled in Jennings.  The year was 1901.  This marked the start of the state's very important oil industry.  In 1992 Louisiana ranked second in natural gas, third in crude oil, and second overall with regard to energy, including coal.