On March 15, 1861, New Orleans was consumed with the mechanics of secession. The official journal of Louisiana's Convention dominates the front page, documenting the state's formal separation from the Union and transfer of power to the Confederate States of America. Convention chairman Hon. A. Mouton presided over seventy-nine delegates debating resolutions about public lands, state property rights, and the transfer of funds and troops to the new Confederacy. The page reveals the bureaucratic backbone of revolution: authorizing payments of warrants, transferring state deposits, and asserting Louisiana's sovereignty over federal property within her borders. Interspersed among these weighty political matters are advertisements for coal oil lamps, fine sherries imported from Cadiz, ready-made clothing, and plantation supplies—the utterly mundane commerce of a city about to be engulfed in civil war. One ad prominently features military hardware: Brufs Brothers of New York advertising rifles, derringer pistols, sugar skimmers, and plantation tools for sale in New Orleans. The contrast is striking and surreal—merchants hawking everyday luxuries and farm equipment while the state's political leadership votes to dissolve the Union.

This newspaper captures Louisiana at a pivot point in American history. Just six weeks earlier, Abraham Lincoln had been inaugurated; just five days before this edition, Jefferson Davis had been sworn in as Confederate President. Louisiana had seceded on January 26, 1861, making it the sixth state to leave the Union. The Convention's proceedings shown here detail how a sovereign state was literally transferring its assets, troops, and authority to a new nation that would last only four years. The careful accounting of warrants and postal funds may seem tedious, but it was the legal machinery of revolution—the moment when federal authority was formally rejected and replaced. Within weeks, Fort Sumter would be fired upon, and New Orleans would become a crucial Confederate port and the ultimate prize of Union military strategy.

• Brufs Brothers of New York—a major hardware supplier—was actively selling rifles, derringer pistols, and "Cast Steel Oval-Eye COTTON HOES" in New Orleans on the eve of civil war, operating as if business were normal. The firm advertised it was manufacturer of rifles and derringers, suggesting arms production for the South was already underway.
• A bottle of 'Trefelio' beauty treatment sold for 10 cents and claimed to cure eruptions, soften skin, eradicate humor, and was "immensely popular among the Ladies"—a trivial luxury being marketed in a city preparing for siege and occupation.
• The Convention debated whether to formally notify the Montgomery Convention (Confederate government) that Louisiana would not surrender control of federal public lands within its borders. The Committee on Public Lands recommended AGAINST sending the resolution, arguing it would show 'distrust and want of confidence' in the new Confederacy—revealing internal tensions and political caution even in the moment of secession.
• Merchants' Hotel advertised lodging at $1.50 per day or $10 per week, located at the corner of St. Charles and Canal Streets—one of the city's prime intersections, soon to be occupied by Union forces.
• The page authorized payment of a $5,000 warrant to S. W. Dalton, Army Pension Agent—presumably for pensions to soldiers of previous wars—with the condition that the Governor confirm a 'satisfactory bond for faithful disbursement,' showing even in revolution the concern for proper financial controls.

• The Convention formally transferred 'all the unappropriated public domain' to Louisiana's control on this date, asserting state sovereignty over federal lands. This echoed debates from the founding—but this time, the state was leaving the Union entirely rather than negotiating within it. Within four years, Union troops would occupy and control this very territory.
• Sewell T. Taylor, the wine importer advertised multiple times on this page, was hawking sherries from Cadiz, Spain, and champagnes from France—luxuries that would become scarce once the Union blockade of Southern ports began in earnest. By 1862, importing foreign wine to New Orleans would be nearly impossible.
• The Brufs Brothers hardware catalog offered 'Rifles and Derringer Pistols' manufactured by the firm itself—at this precise moment, Northern and Southern manufacturers were ramping up weapons production simultaneously, creating an arms race that would define the coming conflict.
• Louisiana's Convention voted to pay warrants originally issued by the U.S. government (pre-secession federal authorities) using state funds—a symbolic moment of settling accounts with the old regime. The detailed ledger lists dozens of individuals owed money for mail transportation, government service, and military pensions under the old system.
• The Merchants' Hotel at St. Charles and Canal Streets was advertising $22 per month board—a premium location that would later serve as Union military headquarters during the occupation of New Orleans beginning in May 1862, just seven weeks after this newspaper was printed.