Andrew B. Moore

Who was Andrew B. Moore?

Andrew Barry Moore was the 16th Governor of the U.S. state of Alabama from 1857 to 1861, and served as Governor at the outbreak of the American Civil War.

Moore was born in Spartanburg District, South Carolina, to Jane and Charles Moore, a cotton planter and veteran of the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Moore's father purchased land in Perry County, Alabama, in 1823 and moved his family there, although the younger Moore remained in school in South Carolina before joining his family in 1826. After teaching school at Marion, in Perry County, for two years, Moore read law and was admitted to the bar in 1833. For eight years he served as Justice of the Peace for Perry County. In 1837 he married Mary Goree, the daughter of a local planter.

In 1839 Moore was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives as a Democrat, reelected in 1842, and thereafter served four consecutive terms. Elected Speaker of the House in 1843, 1844, and 1845, Moore worked closely with Governor Benjamin Fitzpatrick in the liquidation of the State Bank.