The Red Stick City

The Red Stick city or Baton Rouge dates from 1699, when French explorer Sieur d'Iberville leading an exploration party up the Mississippi River saw a reddish cypress pole festooned with bloody animals and fish that marked the boundary between the Houma indians and the Bayou Goula indian's tribal hunting grounds. They called the pole and its location "le bâton rouge", or red stick in the present day area of Southern University on the bluff of the Mississippi River. There is a monument commemorating the spot.