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1864 - 1865 (CSA)

Henry Watkins Allen was the 2nd Confederate Governor of Louisiana.

He was in the Mississippi State Legislature and then the Louisiana State Legislature.  He became a Brigadier General in the Confederate Army and served as the military governor of Jackson, Mississippi before being elected Confederate Governor of Louisiana in 1864. 

He served as Governor of Confederate Louisiana while Michael Hahn was military Governor of Union held territories of Louisiana.  Allen urged continued fighting even after General Lee surrendered.  He escaped to Mexico to avoid arrest.  He died in exile in Mexico City on April 22, 1866. 

His body was returned from Mexico City to New Orleans in 1867, where it was temporarily entombed while a suitable monument was erected for his remains in Lafayette Cemetery on Washington Avenue in New Orleans.  Remembrances and celebration were held to a minimum by Gov. Wells administration.  This New Orleans Daily Crescent article puts the time into perspective.

By 1885, the legislature appropriated money to remove the remains of Governor Allen and his large monument from New Orleans to the State House grounds in Baton Rouge.  On July 4, 1885 remains of the governor were taken from the Washington Artillery Hall in New Orleans, where they had spent the night under military protection, to Baton Rouge for final interment in the large monument which had also been relocated.  The relocated remains and monument were presented to the State by the Allen Monumental Association.

Engraving on the base of the monument:

To The Memory Of
Governor Allen
This Last Memorial of Love and Respect Is Erected By An
Association of His Friends

Jno. M. Sandidge,
W. I. Hodgson,
Harry T. Hays,
Al H. Isaacson,
W. S. Pike,
W. C. Black,
Horace Carpenter,
J. S. Copes,
A. W. Roberts,
J. H. Wingfield

HENRY WATKINS ALLEN

Brig. General
In the Confederate Army and Last Governor
of Louisiana Under the Old Regime
BORN
In Prince Edward County, Virginia  29 April 1820
DIED
In the City of Mexico  22 April, 1866

GOV. ALLEN In a letter from the City of Mexico 25th Dec. 1865 to a friend In Louisiana -
When It Shall Please God To Consign This Mutilated Body To It's Last Resting Place,
Be It Among Strangers In Mexico Or Friends In LA, I Should Desire No Better Epitaph
Inscribed On My Tomb Than The Sentiment In The Closing Part Of Your Letter.

"Your Friends Are Proud To Know That Louisiana Had A
Governor Who With An Opportunity of Securing Millions of Dollars in Gold,
Preferred Being Honest In A Foreign Land Without One Cent."

An finally, on the outside of the new State Capitol building is this Allen image:

• Favorite Biographies & News

• Allen's Friends Try to Quell Post War Candidacy for Governor

• Annual Message of Governor (1864-1865 : Allen)

• Death Notice

• Eulogy

• Funeral Service Notification in New Orleans - 1867

• Funeral Service in New Orleans - 1867

• Governor Allen's Remains - 1885

• La. Secretary of State

• National Governors Association

• Preparations for Transferring the Remains - 1885

• Rebel Flag Attempt for His Coffin

• Removal of Remains of Gov. Allen - 1885

• Wikipedia

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