First Superintendent, First Cannon

The Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy, now known as the Louisiana State University, opened January 2nd 1860 with its first superintendent Colonel William Tecumseh Sherman.


The Louisiana State General Assembly passed legislation creating the Seminary of Learning of the State of Louisiana in 1853. The schools main building was completed near Pineville, Louisiana in November 1859. The school opened with five professors and nineteen cadets including its first superintendent Colonel William Tecumseh Sherman. In March 1860 the school’s name was changed to the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy.

After Louisiana seceded from the Union January 1861, Sherman resigned. Most of the students and faculty enlisted in the Confederate military in April 1861. The school closed June 30th 1861. It re-opened April 1st 1862, until April 23rd 1863 when the Union invaded the area as part of the Red River Campaign. The library and most other items were destroyed by Union General T Kilby Smith. The school was re-opened after the war in April 1865. Sherman donated two cannon to the school which had been used by the Confederates to fire on Fort Sumter starting the Civil War.