Thomas Overton Moore the governor of Louisiana.

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Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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I was giving some thought about the governors of Southern states and what they did to help bring on the Civil War. The first thing I realized is that I did not know the names of most of the governors. So let us start with one whose name I did not know. So what about Thomas Overton Moore the governor of Louisiana?

He supported John C. Breckenridge in the 1860 election and Breckenridge won the electoral votes of Louisiana. It appears that Moore then supported secession. As governor he ordered all U.S. military posts in Louisiana seized on January 10, 1861. It seems he worked hard to help raise soldiers in Louisiana for the Confedercy. After New Orleans falls he moved the capital from Baton Rouge to Opelousas. He ends his governorship in 1864 and returned to his plantation.

So some questions. He must have known that New Orleans would be a target of the Union Navy so supporting secession was a real risk. I do not know how hard he pushed the Confederate government to properly defend New Orleans. I do wonder if he felt that the Confederate government put enough effort in to the defense of New Orleans. He was known to order cotton burned so it would not fall in to Union hands and probably did the best he could to defend what was left of Louisiana after New Orleans fell.

At the end of the Civil War he fled to Mexico and then to Havana to await his presidential pardon. His residency was the oldest governor home for years but was intentionally set on fire on July 14, 2016.
 
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