Everything about Thomas Overton Moore totally explained
Thomas Overton Moore (
April 10 1804 –
June 25 1876) was an attorney and politician who was the
Governor of Louisiana from 1860 until 1864 during the
American Civil War.
Moore was born in
Sampson County, North Carolina, one of eleven children of James Moore and Jean Overton. The Moores were a Carolina planter family, and Jean Overton was the daughter of General
Thomas Overton, a Tennessean and friend of
Andrew Jackson. In 1829, Moore moved to
Rapides Parish,
Louisiana, to become a
cotton planter. The next year, he married Bethiah Johnston Leonard, with whom he'd five children.
Originally the manager of his uncle's
plantation, he bought his own and became highly prosperous. He was elected to the
State House of Representatives in 1848, and the
State Senate in 1856. In the Senate, Moore was chairman of the Education Committee and led the effort to establish the Louisiana State Seminary, now Louisiana State University and A&M College. Moore played a role in the selection of William Tecumseh Sherman as the first Superintendant of the La. State Seminary.
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. He took the oath of office on
January 23,
1860. A supporter of
John C. Breckinridge in the
1860 election, he ordered U.S. military posts in the state to be seized by state
militia on
January 10,
1861, as the state convention on
secession was sitting. The ordnance of secession passed the convention on
January 26,
1861. Moore placed Col.
Braxton Bragg in command of the state military, and Louisiana joined the
Confederate States of America on
March 21,
1861, the sixth state to do so.
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.
Moore visited the state militia at the eponymous
Camp Moore in
Tangipahoa Parish and began organizing military resistance at the state level, ordering the burning of cotton, cessation of trade with the Union forces, and calling for the enlistment of all free white males between ages 17 and 50 in the militia. However, despite a brief check at Baton Rouge, Union forces continued to advance into Louisiana and up the Mississippi, and the capital was moved again to
Shreveport.
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.
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