Henry C. Warmoth

Henry C. Warmoth

Henry Clay Warmoth (born May 9, 1842 in McLeansboro , Illinois , † September 30, 1931 in New Orleans , Louisiana ) was an American politician and governor of the state of Louisiana from 1868 to 1872 .

Early years and civil war

Henry Warmoth attended local schools in his home in Illinois. After studying law, he was admitted to the bar in 1860. He then became a district attorney in the 18th District of Illinois. During the Civil War he was a lieutenant colonel infantry unit from Missouri . Among other things, he was involved in the siege of the Vicksburg fortress . He was wounded in the process. After that, however, he was dishonorably discharged from the army because he publicly exaggerated the losses of the Union army. After he was rehabilitated by President Abraham Lincoln , he was appointed Judge in the Occupied Gulf Territory by General Nathaniel Banks in June 1864 ( Department of the Gulf Provost Court ).

Political rise

In November 1865, Warmoth resigned as a judge to run for Republican for the United States House of Representatives . Although he was elected, he was not allowed to take office in Washington, DC because no MPs from the former Confederate States were allowed in Congress at the time. Warmoth then worked as a lawyer in New Orleans. There he secured the support of the black population, as their spokesman he appeared. In April 1868 he was elected the new governor of Louisiana by only two votes. His lieutenant governor was Oscar Dunn , an African American painter who soon died and was replaced by the President of the Louisiana Senate , P. B. S. Pinchback .

Louisiana Governor

After Louisiana was re-admitted to the Union, Henry Warmoth took up his new office on July 13, 1868. His nearly four-year reign is still considered one of the most corrupt terms for a Louisiana governor. The national debt reached 100 million dollars, an unimaginable level. At the beginning of his tenure, that number was six million. Soon there were riots and uprisings across the state for and against the right to vote for blacks and over tax increases. After all, the black population was allowed to travel by train and to go to schools and restaurants, but they were strictly separated from the whites. Meanwhile, the governor got deeper and deeper into corruption. In the gubernatorial elections of 1872 he was even involved in an election fraud, which led to impeachment proceedings against him. However, this example should catch on in Louisiana. Up until 1900 there were repeated electoral fraud and unrest in connection with election challenges in this state.

Specifically, it was about the gubernatorial election in 1872. The Democrat John McEnery and the Republican William P. Kellogg faced each other. The election result was very close and Warmoth set up an election committee, which declared his favorite, McEnery, the winner. Another electoral committee put together by the Republicans declared Kellogg the election winner. The Republicans were all the more angry with Warmoth because he was a member of their party. The whole problem dragged on until September 1873, when President Ulysses S. Grant stepped in and declared Kellog the winner. The Louisiana Senate was no longer able to remove the governor during his tenure as it soon expired. Warmoth was suspended from duty during the last 35 days of his tenure. So that he actually left office on December 9, 1872.

Another résumé

In 1884 Warmoth was involved in building a sugar refinery. In 1888 he ran unsuccessfully for the office of governor. Between 1890 and 1893 he was the head of customs in the port of New Orleans. In 1912 he was a delegate at the Federal Republican Party Congress, a function he had already held in 1868. Then he withdrew into private life. He died in 1931. Henry Warmoth had three children with his wife, Sally Durand.

Web links

• Henry Warmoth in the National Governors Association (English)
• The governors of Louisiana (English)
• Henry C. Warmoth in the database of Find a Grave (English)