Obit of Gov Henry Clay Warmoth colyer55 (View posts) Posted: 11 Mar 2001 12:00PM GMT Classification: Obituary Surnames: Warmoth, Warmouth The Times - Picayune, Thursday Oct 1, 1931 Obituary Former Republican Party State Leader Succumbs HENRY WARMOTH, EX-GOVERNOR OF LOUSIANA, DIES "Reconstruction" Executive Ill Several Days With Pneumonia Henry Clay Warmoth, "Reconstruction" Governor of Louisiana from 1868 to 1872, died Wednesday night at his residence, 1800 Marengo St. He had been ill for serveral days with bronchial pneumonia. Former Governor Warmoth was 89 years old. He was a native of Illinois and came to New Orleans after serving in the federal army during the War Between the States. For many years he was a powerful member of the Republican party. Was Governor at 26 Aside from political activities, former Governor Warmoth's reminscences were innumerable, not the least of which was his ride on the steamer Robert E Lee when the Lee raced and beat the Natchez up the Mississippi from New Orleans to St Louis. Before becoming civil governor of the state, he served as military governor by appointment of President U S Grant. He entered the gubernatorial politics when 26 years old and was said to be the youngest man ever to hold that office. The former governor is survived by his widow, two sons Frank Sheridan Warmoth of Santo Domingo and Carroll Kennon Warmoth of New Orleans, and a daughter Miss Reinette L Warmoth of New Orleans. Funeral Rites Today Funeral services will be conducted from the family residence at 4 pm today, with the Rev Robert J Coupland, rector of the Trinity Episcopalian Church in charge, and the Rev Sherwood Clayton, assistant rector of the church assisting. Interment will be in Metarie cemetery. Active pallbearers will be Dr John Smyth, Crawford H Ellis, Dr J P O'Kelley, Max Levine, Warren Kearney, W P O'Neal, Lynn H Dinkins and Alfred J Krower. Honorary pallbearers are John Goodrum Miller, Thomas Sully, Captain James Dinkins, Senator W E Borah, Judge Wayne G Borah, Ernest Lee Jahneke, the assistant Secretary of the Navy: Algernon Badger, Fred W Ellsworth, Walter Davis, C C Doskey, David Davis, Joseph Vaccaro, Felix Vaccaro, H N Rufo, Dr George E Pratt Jr., Howard W McCaleb Jr., Dr S Chaille Jamison, George Hastings, Ralph E Clark, Leon Irwin Sr, Malcolm McFarland, L E Bentley, William Garic, Henry H Vetter, FD Gardner, Ralph Wilson, William H Todd, George Dawe, Charles Godchaux, Frederick D Healey, Ronald J Vanderwende, Rueben H Tipton, Benjamin Mattes, Harry Ponif, Arthur Stout, William Harvey and Nat W Bond. Born in a log cabin Born in a log cabin at McLeansboro ILL May 9, 1842, he was the son of Isaac Sanders Warmoth and Eleanor Lane. His ancestors had trekked from Virginia thru Kentucky and settled in Illinois. The only formal education he received was at the village school. He learned spelling while an apprentice in a printing shop, and he obtained a little knowledge of law from books of his father, who was a justice of the peace. When 17 years old, he left Illinois and went West to settle. The outbreak of the War Between the States found him establishing himself as a lawyer in Lebanon MO. In the conflict between the two political elements of Missouri at the opening of hostilities, Warmoth aligned himself with a group of Unionists and after the fight within the state, he enlisted in the federal Army. Rank of Lieutenant Colonel He served with the rank of Lt Colonel during the early part of the invasion of the South. Near Vicksburg he was wounded and sent home on leave. During his absence, he was dishonorably discharged from the army, but was reinstated after going to Washington and interviewing Lincoln. He later rejoined the army and after Lee's surrender he decided to make his home in New Orleans. Here he opened a law office, practicing principally in the federal courts and the military courts. On one of his trips to Washington, he witnessed the second inaugeration of Lincoln - and was in the city at the time of the assasination. With the former federal soldiers who has settled in Louisiana, he took an active part in the politics during the rule of General Butler. For Negro Suffrage He campaigned in several sections of the North in an effort to elect a Congress which would pass the Negro Suffrage Amendment, place General US Grant in charge of the South and enact more stringent measures for dealing with this section than had been sponsored by Lincoln. In this he was successful. In 1868 he was elected governor of Louisiana on the Republican ticket after a heated party convention in which he defeated a Negro candidate for the nomination by two votes. An element of the negro division of the party withdrew its support in the election and made an unsuccessful attempt to elect the negro defeated in the convention. Takes Over Reins Only 26 years old, he took over the reins of government. During his administration there was a large number of Negroes in the legislature. It was his signature which was affixed to the state acts opening all restuarants, railroad cars and schools to both negroes and whites without discrimination. Yet he later vetoed a bill making it a criminal offense to discriminate between patrons because of color. In national politics, he actively supported Grant during the former general's first presidential campaign, but later repudiated the leader and opposed his nomination in two party conventions. Attacked from Two Quarters During the latter part of his administration Warmoth was attacked from two quarters. The power of the Southern white men was growing increasingly formidable, and the most radical negro element of the Republican Party renounced him as a traitor. Besides this, the president for whose first candidacy he had campaigned, sent to Louisiana appointees with whom he was continously at war. In 1872 the state had five political units and none of them nominated him. He attempted to bring about a coalition between elements for the Republican and Democratic parties but failed. In the national Republican convention which nominated Garfield, he fought his former friend Grant and supported the successful candidate. Moves to Plantation In 1877 Warmoth married Miss Sallie Durand of Newark NJ and shortly after that time moved from New Orleans to Magnolia Plantation in Plaquemines Parish, where he planted sugar cane for many years. With friends, he founded the Magnolia Sugar Refining Company, which operated several large plantations. From 1890 to 1893 he served as collector of customs at the port of New Orleans. About 14 years ago, he retired from active life and spent part of his time writing his memoirs of the Reconstruction era. His memoirs were published in May 1931 under the title "War, Politics & Reconstruction". In closing his book, former Governor Warmoth denied he ever was a " Louisiana Carpetbagger ", pointing out that "not a drop of any other than southern blood" flowed in his veins. He wrote that he had fought all of his battles "incident to public life openly and squarely, in the most spirited state in the Union and through a most turbulent era " and had "experienced about all the triumphs and defeats incident to such a life". The Times - Picayune, Thursday Oct 1, 1931