Ascension Parish, Louisiana
| Ascension Parish, Louisiana | |
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Ascension Parish Courthouse
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 Location in the U.S. state of Louisiana |
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 Louisiana's location in the U.S. |
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| 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 (143/km²) |
| Congressional districts | 2nd, 6th |
| Time zone | Central: UTC-6/-5 |
| Website | www |
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 as well as the Baton Rouge–Pierre Part Combined 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).
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