A History of Baton Rouge, 1699-1812

On March 17, 1699, a group of French explorers under Pierre le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville, were making their way up the Mississippi River from New Orleans when they spotted a red pole on a high bluff overlooking the river. The pole marked the boundary between the hunting grounds of the Houma and the Bayagoula Indians, and the Frenchmen christened it le baton rouge.The name Baton Rouge has survived, despite several attempts to change it, and today it designates the capital of a state whose peo...