re: Earliest degree from SEC school

LSU began as "Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy" in 1853 with the first superintendent being future Union General William Tecumseh Sherman. After Louisiana seceded, Sherman resigned to join the Union war effort. With so many students leaving to join the Confederacy, the school closed in 1861. It was re-opened in 1862 for a year before it was again closed; this time due to Union invasion. Despite the Union bombardment and burning of Baton Rouge, Sherman requested that the school be protected. After the war, the school was re-opened in 1865 and was named Louisiana State University in 1870.