Thomas Overton Moore
In his inaugural address, Moore told the legislators and visitors at the Capitol that a powerful party in the North threatened the existence of the slave-holding states: So bitter is this hostility felt toward slavery, which these fifteen states regard as a great social and political blessing, that it exhibits itself in legislation for the avowed purpose of destroying the rights of slaveholders guaranteed by the Constitution and protected by the Acts of Congress.In the North, widespread sympathy for felons has deepened the distrust in the permanent federal government and awakened sentiments favorable to a separation of states.Despite Moore's appeals to the Confederate government for a strong defense of New Orleans and the brisk recruiting of troops in Louisiana, the state rapidly came under threat during the Civil War.In May 1861, shortly after the onset of the Civil War, 1500 free black New Orleanians formed the 1st Louisiana Native Guard (CSA) as a response to Governor Moore's call for troops.Moore's Civil War-era residence from 1862 through 1863 — the oldest Louisiana governor's mansion still in existence at the time — was destroyed by an intentionally set fire on July 14, 2016.