Thomas Overton Moore

[Robert Gray]

Thomas Overton Moore (April 10, 1804– June 25, 1876) was an attorney and politician who was the 16th Governor of Louisiana from 1860 until 1864 during the American Civil War. He was elected Democratic governor in November 1859, defeating Thomas Jefferson Wells, and shortly thereafter had the occasion to meet W.T. Sherman, superintendent of the newly created Louisiana Military Academy. Despite Moore's appeals to the Confederate government for a strong defense of New Orleans, and brisk recruiting of troops in Louisiana, the state rapidly came under threat during the Civil War. The Union blockade disrupted commerce in New Orleans, and the naval forces assembling in the Gulf would advance up the Mississippi in early 1862. After a prolonged bombardment, the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip concluded with the destruction of the Confederate navy on the lower Mississippi and the passage of the forts by the Union fleet in the early morning of April 24, 1862. New Orleans surrendered on April 27. Two days earlier, Moore and the legislature had decided to abandon Baton Rouge as the state capital, relocating to Opelousas on May 1, 1862. In January 1864, Moore's term as governor ended, and he was succeeded by Henry Watkins Allen. He returned to his plantation, but was soon forced to flee upriver by the Red River Campaign, soldiers of which burned the plantation in May. After the Civil War, he fled into Mexico to escape arrest, and subsequently to Havana. From Havana, Moore applied for a pardon. Moore's application for pardon was delivered by hand to Andrew Johnson by William Tecumseh Sherman. He eventually returned to Louisiana after being pardoned by Andrew Johnson on January 15, 1867. His lands were restored to him, in part through the influence of Sherman, and he left politics, spending the rest of his life rebuilding his livelihood. He died in 1876 near Alexandria, Louisiana. (Wikipedia)

Moore appeared on this Louisiana banknote issued in 1863.

 

[JOHN42768]

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