The Battle of Cherbourg off the French coast, during the American Civil War, 19th June 1864. From left to right, the Federal steam-sloop ‘USS Kearsarge’, the British yacht ‘Deerhound’ and the Confederate war steamer ‘CSS Alabama’. The inset portraits are of US naval officer John Ancrum Winslow (1811 – 1873, left) and Confederate naval officer Raphael Semmes (1809 – 1877). (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
BATON ROUGE – A road named after a Confederate soldier is among more than two dozen roadways on and around LSU’s campus that will soon be renamed.
Raphael Semmes Road, which runs in part between the Student Union and Parade Ground on LSU’s main campus, will soon be known as Veterans Drive.
The change comes as part of the school’s Roadway Naming Modernization Plan, which is part of the larger Comprehensive and Strategic Master Plan, which was recently approved by the LSU Board of Supervisors.
The roadway plan establishes criteria for naming and renaming roadways, according to a press release from LSU.
“In the past, the nomenclature used for names, such as street, drive, lane, etc., hasn’t followed any set criteria,� according to the release. “As part of the review process, best practices and guidelines in transportation and mobility were utilized to determine the most appropriate nomenclature to apply to campus going forward.�
The plan will allow buildings along the affected roadways to only have to change their addresses once, as well as ensuring the new names will have significance to LSU.
“During the review process, research was conducted on those who have campus roadways named for them and their contribution to the university,� according to LSU. “The majority had little to no significant connection to LSU and were named without a formal process. The one exception is Skip Bertman Drive, as this being the most recent roadway to be named after an individual with appropriate consideration and adoption.�
Many of the roadways receiving new names are currently unnamed. Among other changes Etienne de Bore will become Field House Road, Issac Cline Drive will become Cubs Circle, and Infirmary Road will become Infirmary Lane.
Semmes, who was known as “Old Beeswax,� was a Confederate soldier who was born in Charles County, Maryland, in 1809, and who died in Mobile, Alabama, in 1877 at the age of 67.
After the Civil War, Semmes briefly taught at the Louisiana State Seminary, which later became Louisiana State University, according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama.
