Ascension Parish, LA

Ascension Parish, Louisiana
Ascension Parish Courthouse
Location in the U.S. state of Louisiana
Louisiana's location in the U.S.
Founded	1807
Named for	Ascension of Our Lord Church in Donaldsonville
Seat	Donaldsonville
Largest city	Gonzales
Area
• Total	303 sq mi (785 km2)
• Land	290 sq mi (751 km2)
• Water	13 sq mi (34 km2), 3.75
Population (est.)
• (2015)	119,455
• Density	370/sq mi (140/km2)
Congressional districts	2nd, 6th
Time zone	Central: UTC−6/−5
Website	www.ascensionparish.net

Ascension Parish (French: Paroisse de l'Ascension) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 107,215. Its parish seat is Donaldsonville. The parish was created in 1807.

Ascension Parish is part of the Baton Rouge, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is one of the fastest growing parishes in the state.

During the American Civil War, desertions had been of major concern to the Confederate States Army. Henry Watkins Allen, before he was governor, reported more than eight thousand deserters and draft-dodgers about Bayou Teche. There were some 1,200 deserters in Livingston, St. Tammany, and Ascension parishes.

Planters in Ascension Parish later complained of raids by guerrillas. In 1864, planter W.R. Hodges requested soldiers to protect the planted fields from such attacks. Union soldiers were accused of "wandering about at will, and helping themselves . . . to whatever could be found," explains the historian John D. Winters in his The Civil War in Louisiana (1963).

Long a Democratic bastion, since the late 20th century, like much of the rest of the South, Ascension Parish has registered more Republicans and election results have shifted. Since 2000, nearly 14,000 new voters have registered in Ascension Parish, and fewer than 1,000 of those are Democrats.