Horace L. Moore
Horace L. Moore was a Kansas banker, soldier, and member of Congress.
Moore was born in Mantua, Ohio, on February 25, 1837. He received his education in the district schools and the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute at Hiram, Ohio. He then taught school at Yankeebush, near Warren, Pennsylvania, when he was only 17 years old.
In 1858, he moved to Kansas with his brother Francis, who died a month after their arrival in Atchison County. Moore taught a six-month term of school at Barry, Clay County, Missouri, during the winter of 1859-60. In 1860, he entered the law office of Christian & Lane, where he studied until he enlisted in the army on May 14, 1861, as a private in Company D, Second Kansas Infantry, a three-month regiment.
In the organization of his company, he was made a corporal and served until October 31, participating in all the actions of the regiment. The day he was mustered out, he re-enlisted. On December 11, 1861, he was made the second lieutenant on the reorganization of Company D. On May 1, 1862, he received his commission as a first lieutenant. He was promoted to the captaincy of his company in 1863 but never mustered, as he was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the Fourth Arkansas Cavalry by the Secretary of War and mustered into that regiment on February 18, 1864.
In the meantime, he married Esther Amelia at Ravena, Ohio, on September 16, 1864, while continuing to hold his command until he mustered out of the service on June 30, 1865.
U.S. Cavalry pursuing American Indians.
In 1867, with the rank of major, he commanded a battalion of cavalry called the Eighteenth Kansas during its service on the plains against hostile Indians. On October 30, 1868, he was mustered in as lieutenant colonel of the Nineteenth Kansas Cavalry and, on March 23, 1869, was promoted to colonel. With this regiment, he took part in the campaign conducted by General Philip Sheridan, which resulted in forcing the hostile Indians back upon their reservations. At the close of the war, Moore engaged in the grocery business at Lawrence, Kansas, in Trinidad, Colorado; Las Vegas and Albuquerque, New Mexico, under the firm name of Moore, Bennett & Co., but in 1882 he sold his interest in the business and returned to Lawrence.
Subsequently, he was treasurer of Douglas County for two years. In 1892, he was nominated and elected to Congress by the Democrats and Populists. Still, he was not seated until August 2, 1894, as Edward H. Funston had been given the certificate of election and was not unseated until that time.
After retiring from Congress, Moore resided in Lawrence, was the president of the Lawrence National Bank and took a deep interest in all historical matters, was a long-time member of the Kansas State Historical Society, and was its president in 1906. He also spent much time compiling a record of the Moore family. He died on May 1, 1914.
Compiled and edited by Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, updated November 2023.
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