John Slidell

In 1883, Baron Erlanger named the city in honor of his father-in-law, John Slidell. Slidell had been a confidant of two American presidents and a powerful member of the U.S. Senate, from which he resigned in 1861 when Louisiana seceded from the Union. Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed him commissioner to France, and he nearly succeeded in bringing France and England to the assistance of the Confederate States of America. Had he been successful, the war between the States would have taken a different course. After the collapse of the C.S.A., Slidell never returned to Louisiana, and he and his family are buried in Villijuif, France.

Slidell, Louisiana · United States