CIVIL WAR GENERAL LIBBY PRISON POW COLONEL 31st MISSOURI GOVERNOR LETTER SIGNED

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CIVIL WAR GENERAL LIBBY PRISON POW COLONEL 31st MISSOURI GOVERNOR LETTER SIGNED:
$138.50

THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER

(1827 - 1899)

CIVIL WAR UNIONBVT BRIGADIER GENERAL FOR GALLANTRY AT THE BATTLE OF PILOT KNOB, MO,

CIVILWAR COLONEL and COMMANDER of the 31st MISSOURI INFANTRY and 47thMO INFANTRY!

LAST CIVIL WAR GOVERNOR OF MISSOURI!

In1862, Fletcher was captured at the Battle ofChickasaw Bayou and taken to Libby Prison, and then exchanged in May 1863.He was present at the fall of Vicksburg,the Battle ofChattanooga, and commanded a brigade in the Atlanta Campaign, and at the Battle of PilotKnob, Missouri, where General Sterling Price\'s advance on St. Louis wasstalled.

HERE\'SA CIVIL WAR DATE AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED BY GOV. FLETCHER ON “EXECUTIVEDEPARTMENT” LETTERHEAD TO THE ADJUTANT GENERAL OF MISSOURI.

Theletter is 1p., and datelined at the City of Jefferson, Jan. 7, 1865, regardinga commission for Colonel Schuster and Colonel Miller – BOLDLY EXECUTED andSIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR!

THE DOCUMENT MEASURES 5½”x 9¼” & IS IN VERY GOOD CONDITION.

AWONDERFUL ADDITION TO YOUR STATE OF MISSOURI POLITICAL HISTORY AUTOGRAPH,MANUSCRIPT & EPHEMERA COLLECTION!!

BIOGRAPHY of theHONORABLE

THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER

Thomas Clement Fletcher (January 21,1827– March 25, 1899) was a Civil War Colonel, Brevet Brigadier General,and the 18th Governor of Missouri during the latter stages of the American Civil Warand the early part of Reconstruction. He was the first Missouri governor to be bornin the state. The Thomas C. FletcherHouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Early life and career

Fletcher was born in Herculaneum,Missouri. His parents had immigrated to Missouri from Maryland in 1818. He received a public schooleducation and was elected circuit clerk in Jefferson County,Missouri, from 1849 until 1856. He was admitted to the bar in 1857.

Fletcher became a land agent for the southwest branch of the Pacific Railroad (which later became the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway) whereupon he moved to St. Louis.Although he had been raised as a Democrat in a slave-owning family, he had been an ardent abolitionist since his boyhood and became a Republican after 1856.

Civil War

Fletcher was a delegate to the 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago, where he supported the nomination of Abraham Lincoln. During the Civil War, he was Colonelof the 31st Missouri Volunteer Infantry in the Union army from 1862 until 1864, when he becameColonel of the 47th Missouri Volunteer Infantry. In 1862 he was captured atthe Battle ofChickasaw Bayou and taken to Libby Prison, and then exchanged in May 1863.He was present at the fall of Vicksburgand the Battle ofChattanooga, and commanded a brigade in the Atlanta Campaign.

Returning home because of illness in the spring of 1864, Fletcherrecovered in time to organize the 47th and 50th Missouri infantry regiments and to command a regiment at the Battle of PilotKnob, Missouri, where General Sterling Price\'s advance on St. Louis wasstalled. For this service, he was brevettedbrigadier general of volunteers.

Political career

Fletcher was nominated for governor of Missouri by the National Union Party and elected in 1864. He served from 1865 to 1869, and on January11, 1865, issued a \"Proclamation of Freedom,\" adding his ownimprimatur to the ordinance passed the same day by the state constitutionalconvention, abolishing slaveryin Missouri. His administration was confronted with many problems, includingamnesty for former Confederate soldiers, the disposition of the railroadproperty the state had acquired through default by the railroad companiesfailure to pay interest on bonds guaranteed by the state, and thereorganization of public education. The railroad property was sold under aguarantee of early completion and the state debt materially reduced. Thepublic-school system was thoroughly reorganized and progress was made towardfree education for all children.

He was unsuccessful, however, in his repeated efforts to obtain aconstitutional amendment abolishing the test oath as a qualification for voting and forengaging in the professions. He supported normal schools for training teachers,greater funding for the state university, and special attention to agriculturaleducation.

After serving as governor, Fletcher returned to St. Louis and practicedlaw for a time. He then moved to Washington, D.C., where he continued topractice until his death on March 25, 1899. He wrote Life and Reminiscencesof General Wm. T. Sherman(1891).

He is buried in BellefontaineCemetery in St. Louis (Plot: Block 161, Lot 2772).

Fletcher, Missouri,is named after him, as was the U.S. Army\'s Fort Fletcher in Kansas.

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