Henry C. Warmoth

Henry C. Warmoth
23rdGovernor of Louisiana
In office June 27, 1868 – December 9, 1872
Lieutenant	Oscar Dunn P. B. S. Pinchback
Preceded by	Joshua Baker
Succeeded by	P. B. S. Pinchback
Personal details
Born	Henry Clay Warmoth (1842-05-09)May 9, 1842 McLeansboro, Illinois,U.S.
Died	September 30, 1931(1931-09-30)(aged 89) New Orleans,Louisiana,U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Sally Durand

Henry Clay Warmoth(May 9, 1842 – September 30, 1931) was an American attorney and veteran Civil War officer in the Union Army who was elected governor and state representative of Louisiana. A Republican, he was 26 years old when elected as23rdGovernor of Louisiana,one of the youngest governors elected in United States history. He served during the earlyReconstruction Era,from 1868 to 1872.

Facing strong criticism from some Republican leaders for weakening civil rights legislation and for endorsing a Democratic/Fusionistticket in the 1872 election, Warmoth ended his term under state legislature'simpeachmentproceedings and was suspended from office. Lieutenant GovernorP.B.S. Pinchbackassumed office during Warmoth's absence, becoming the first African-American governor in the history of the United States. The legislature dropped the impeachment charges against Warmoth after his term of office ended.

Warmoth was the first elected Reconstruction Governor of Louisiana. He stayed in the state and was elected in 1876 as a Louisiana State Representative, serving one term from 1876 to 1878. He also managed hissugar caneplantation. The Reconstruction Era ended in 1877 as presidentRutherford B. Hayesand the federal government withdrew its troops from the state.In 1888, Warmoth challenged former governorFrancis T. Nichollsin a gubernatorial contest and narrowly lost to the Democrat; the election was noted for widespread voter fraud as Democrats suppressed black Republicans voting. In 1890, Warmoth was appointed as US Collector of Customs in New Orleans and served for several years.

Early life

Henry Clay Warmoth was born in 1842, inMcLeansboro, Illinois,to parents ofDutchdescent, the eldest child of Isaac Sanders & Eleanor (Lane) Warmoth, and named for statesmanHenry Clay.He studied in the public school system ofIllinois.He studied law, and was admitted to theMissouribar in 1860. He established his legal career in that state, being appointed as thedistrict attorneyof the Eighteenth Judicial District.

Civil War

During theAmerican Civil War,Warmoth served aslieutenant colonelof the32nd Missouri Volunteer Infantry.He was at the capture ofArkansas Postand was wounded in theBattle of Vicksburg.He wasdishonorably dischargedfor alleged exaggerations of Union losses. After his personal appeal to the Commander-in-Chief, PresidentAbraham Lincolnreinstated Warmoth's military status.

After reinstatement, Warmoth was reunited with his regiment. He commanded at theBattle of Lookout MountainnearChattanooga,took part in Sherman's Atlanta campaign, and reinforcedGeneralNathaniel Banksat the Red Cedar retreat. He was later commissioned as judge of theDepartment of the GulfProvost Court.

In early 1865, Warmoth resigned from the military to resume a legal practice.

Political career

Warmoth went to New Orleans, which was still occupied byUnion Armytroops. He specialized in the kind oflaw practicefor which his military experience had qualified him: cotton claims and courts-martial decisions. At the same time, he became an active Republican, gaining support amongfreedmen.

In November 1865, Warmoth ran for territorial delegate as a Republican in an unauthorized election, in whichblackLouisianians cast over 19,000 votes, nearly as many as were won among whites by the victorious Democratic candidate for governor. Louisiana restricted the suffrage towhitemales, so theblacks' votes were not counted. Republicans hoped to show that full suffrage could result in competitive elections. By electing a territorial delegate, they were making the statement that nolegal stateof Louisiana existed while it was occupied by the Union Army, andCongressshould remand it to the status of a territory. Congress did not do so.

Because of continuing violence in the South, especially theMemphis Riots of 1866and theNew Orleans Massacreof 1866, Congress passed theReconstruction Actto create five military districts to oversee changes in the former Confederate states. It also passed theFourteenth Amendmentto extend full citizenship tofreedmen.Louisiana and Texas were put under theFifth Military District,and theUS Armywas assigned to oversee the process by which a new constitutional convention could be called, with delegates to be voted for by both blacks and whites alike.

When the convention had finished its work, a ratification election was called and theRepublican Partychose a state ticket. Warmoth was selected as the nominee for governor over MajorFrancis E. Dumas.He faced a Democrat andLouisiana Supreme CourtJusticeJames G. Taliaferro,a planter and wartime Unionist backed by the True Radical faction, which was composed mostly of black Republicans. Taliaferro found some support fromDemocrats.

Governor

Warmoth carried the state by some 26,000 votes, and the Reconstruction constitution was ratified.Warmoth was sworn into office on July 13, 1868. Elected at 26, he was one of the youngest governors in United States history. (Stevens T. Mason,the first governor of Michigan, was the youngest state governor, elected at 24.)

Elected with Warmoth wasOscar Dunnaslieutenant governor,an African-American leader in thePrince Hall Freemasons.He had a wide network in New Orleans, where he was a painting contractor. When Dunn died suddenly in office in 1871, he was succeeded byP.B.S. Pinchback,aperson of colorwho was President of theState Senate.

Turbulence and some violence marred the April 1868 election. The rise of theKu Klux Klanover the summer worsened the disorder. By fall, night-riding, murder, and intimidation were common. The number of Republicans killed for political reasons may have approached 800. Large riots in outlying parishes and Democratic whiteparamilitaryforces in New Orleans kept thousands of blacks from voting in the fall1868 presidential election.As a result, Democratic candidate forPresidentHoratio Seymourcarried Louisiana, although his Republican opponentUlysses S. Grantcarried the country.

Because of the reported fraud and coercion, Warmoth created a State Returning Board, to certify future elections. All election returns were reported to the State Returning Board for validity and approval. At the same time, the governor augmented the military forces at his command: a 5000-man statemilitiaand a Metropolitan Police force, with authority over the greater New Orleans area where the state government was then based.

Warmoth also sought to broaden the Republican Party to include a larger share of the propertied white class. He supported government aid forrailroadconstruction andleveerepair, called for and got a constitutional amendment limiting the state's ability to go into debt, and vetoedpork barrelbills. At his recommendation, the voters removed the provisions in the Reconstruction constitution that had temporarily disenfranchised a portion of the former Confederates. Warmoth appointed some former Confederates to office, notably GeneralJames Longstreet.When he had a choice, Warmoth chose white applicants over black ones.

Warmoth's 1868 inaugural address expressed his support for the recently passed Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, pledging "equality before the law and the enjoyment of every political right of all the citizens of the state, regardless of race, color, or previous condition." He argued for the amendments to be supported by legislation that had popular as well as legislative support:

only when this grand distinctive feature of the new constitution shall be stamped on every act of legislation, and when such legislation shall find approval and support in that general public sentiment which gives to law its vitality, will our State fairly enter upon that career of greatness and prosperity which the almighty designed for her.

Warmoth signed a weak bill to integrate access to public facilities, but he vetoed a more extensive one that would penalize owners of public places and vehicles who failed to provide equal service to blacks and whites.HistorianFrancis Byers Harristhought his veto of the public accommodations bill was crucial in eroding his political base. Harris wrote in 1947, "Negroes had their hearts set on this law, and Warmoth sowed a seed of distrust which grew into enmity for the man they had helped elect."

In consequence, Republicans developed severe internal conflicts. A division arose between the Warmoth-Pinchback faction, supported by manyCreoles of colorwho had beenfreebefore the war, and what was called theCustom House faction,led byStephen B. Packard,a US Marshal, and James F. Casey, Collector of the Port of New Orleans and brother-in-law to President Grant. Although Warmoth had helpedWilliam Pitt Kellogggain legislative election as a US Senator, he became allied with Packard, as didOscar Dunn,lieutenant governor and African-American leader of many Republicanwardclubs in New Orleans.

By 1871, every localconventionturned into a fracas. The Custom House wing of the Republican Party took control of the state convention, enforced by state militia. Warmoth's supporters had to assemble in a convention of their own. That winter, the governor seized control of the statehouse from his opponents by using the state militia forces outfitted with bayonets for protection.Warmoth's leadership was strained.

Believing that President Grant supported his enemies, Warmoth joined theLiberal Republican Partythat was seeking a reform candidate for president. When it endorsedHorace Greeleyand the Democrats adopted Greeley as their presidential candidate, the governor carried his influence to Greeley's side. In state politics, that meant endorsing theFusionist-Democratic ticket ofJohn McEneryin the 1872 gubernatorial election. Such a step alienated Warmoth from any black Republican support that he still had, including that of Pinchback. None of them trusted Democrats to protect equal rights, whatever the politicians professed. Fraud and violence accompanied the election, and its results were contested.

Both McEnery andWilliam Pitt Kellogg,the official Republican candidate, declared victory and held inaugurations. The Warmoth-appointed Returning Board declared McEnery as victor. Republicans established a separate Returning Board, which certified Kellogg.

Ultimately, Grant supported Kellogg's Republican candidacy. The Republican-controlled legislature filedimpeachmentcharges against Warmoth for his actions during the 1872 election. Only 35 days before the end of his term, he was suspended from office, as called for by Louisiana law for impeached officials, pending the outcome of a state senate trial.Pinchback was sworn in as thefirst governor of African descentin the United States.With the end of Warmoth's term soon reached, Warmoth was allowed to leave office and noimpeachment trialwas held.

After Reconstruction

Henry Clay Warmoth, later in life

In 1877, at age 35, Warmoth married heiress Sally Durand ofNewark, New Jersey.They had two sons and a daughter, and resided at Magnolia Plantation inPlaquemines Parish.Warmoth had bought the sugar cane plantation in 1873. Warmoth helped establish a sugar refinery and get a railroad constructed along the west bank of the Mississippi, which contributed to the development of the area.

He represented the Sugar Planters Association in seeking a tariff against foreign competition, which they gained from Congress.Louisiana planters could not compete against outside sugar. In 1884, Warmoth traveled to France and Germany to study their sugar industries, and he developed an experimental station at his plantation afterward.Unable to compete with foreign sugar, Warmoth sold his plantation and moved with his wife and family to New Orleans.

Warmoth with family and servants at the Magnolia Plantation inPlaquemines Parish

In 1888, Warmoth ran for and narrowly lost a race for Governor toFrancis T. Nicholls,a Democrat and former governor, in an election accompanied by extensive voter fraud.In 1890, Warmoth was appointed US Collector of Customs in New Orleans by PresidentBenjamin Harrison.In turn he used his patronage appointments to select many men from among the Afro-Creole community, who had supported him politically.During his service, Warmoth lived in the St. Charles Hotel.

In 1889, the white Democrat-dominated legislature passed a constitutional amendment incorporating a "grandfather clause",which effectivelydisenfranchisedmost blacks in the state. Not being able to vote also excluded them from juries and local office. The Democrats essentially maintained this exclusion until after passage by Congress of theVoting Rights Act of 1965,which authorized the federal government to oversee and enforce the constitutional right of all citizens to vote.

Warmoth published his memoir,War, Politics and Reconstruction,in 1930. It is well regarded and considered a classic of the genre.Warmoth died in New Orleans in 1931, at 89.

In popular culture

A New Orleans service industry writer andQuarter Ratcolumnist took the name "Henry Warmoth" as a pseudonym.

Bibliography

• Binning, F. Wayne, "Carpetbaggers' Triumph: The Louisiana State Elections of 1868,"Louisiana History14 (Winter 1973): 21-39
• Current, Richard Nelson,Those Terrible Carpetbaggers(New York: Oxford University Press, 1988)
• Tunnell, Ted,Crucible of Reconstruction:War, Radicalism and Race in Louisiana, 1862-1877(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1984.

External links

• Henry Clay Warmoth,War, Politics and Reconstruction: Stormy Days in Louisiana,Introduction by John C. Rodrigue, Univ of South Carolina Press, 1930/2006, googlebooks
• Inventory of the Henry Clay Warmoth Papers, 1798-1953,Southern Historical Collection,UNC-Chapel Hill.
• "Henry Clay Warmoth",KnowLa - Encyclopedia of Louisiana
• National Governors Association
• Cemetery Memorial,Louisiana Cemeteries