“Pierre Le Moyne, better known by his title Sieur d’Iberville . . . dreamed of founding a great French city on the lower reaches of the Mississippi River. In late February [1699] he decided to organize a group of about fifty men to locate the mouth of the river, go upstream, and scout the area. . . .

Initially they saw few Indians, but eventually they arrived at a relatively large settlement marked by a red pole (used by the Indians for ceremonial purposes). Iberville accordingly named the spot Baton Rouge, or “Red Stick,” because of it.”

—Bennet H. Wall, editor, Louisiana: A History, third edition, 1997.