John Dimitry , A. M., Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 10.1, Louisiana
Clement Anselm Evans, Ed.

The convention, which was to decide whether Louisiana would go out of the Union or remain in it, was to meet in Baton Rouge on January 23, 1861. Secession was a burning question before it became the absorbing topic. Among those who addressed the senate, of which he was a distinguished member, was Hon. Randell Hunt. His text was the convention soon to meet, on which he spoke in able warning against precipitate action. After Mr. Hunt's address the senate, with the house of representatives, adjourned on December 12th sine die. The two houses had done the work for which the crisis needed them. Before the adjournment they had passed the convention bill, without amendment, appropriating for the purpose $500,000.

With the passage of the bill began the struggle for delegates. The city vote was clearly in favor of immediate secession. United action with other Southern States, however, had a large following among the more prominent citizens. A paper headed ‘The Platform of the Friends of United Southern Action,’ was numerously signed by representative citizens who loved Louisiana but dreaded discordant action. The executive committee of the ‘Friends’ comprised, among others, the names of such men as E. Salomon, T. W. Collens, B. F. Jonas, A. Sambola, Thos. E. Adams, John Laidlaw, Riviere Gardere and Adolphe Mazureau. Among the ‘Friends’ most respected in the city was Mr. Samuel Sumner, who for his courage in expressing his convictions was afterward sent to prison by General Butler. Opposed to these were the young men, whose voice clamored for the secession of Louisiana so soon as it could be legally effected. These youths held the reins with a firm, almost insolent grip in their confident hands. They left the trained and wary charioteers of the cause trailing far in the wake.