Thomas Clement Fletcher | |
---|---|
18th Governor of Missouri | |
In office January 2, 1865 – January 12, 1869 |
|
Preceded by | Willard Preble Hall |
Succeeded by | Joseph W. McClurg |
Personal details | |
Born |
Thomas Clement Fletche January 21, 1827 Herculaneum Missouri, U.S. |
Died | March 25, 1899 | (aged 72)
Political party | Republican |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States |
Service/branch |
United States Army Union Army |
Years of service | 1862–64 |
Rank |
Colonel Bvt. Brigadier General |
Commands |
31st Missouri Infantry 47th Missouri Infantry 50th Missouri infantry |
Battles/wars |
Thomas Clement Fletcher (January 21, 1827 – March 25, 1899) was the 18th Governor of Missouri during the latter stages of the American Civil War and the early part of Reconstruction. He was the first Missouri governor to be born in the state. The Thomas C. Fletcher House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
Fletcher was born in Herculaneum, Missouri. His parents had immigrated to Missouri from Maryland in 1818. He received a public school education 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.
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 Colonel of the 31st Missouri Volunteer Infantry in the Union army from 1862 until 1864, when he became Colonel of the 47th Missouri Volunteer Infantry. In 1862 he was captured at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou and taken to Libby Prison, and then exchanged in May 1863. He was present at the fall of Vicksburg and the Battle of Chattanooga, and commanded a brigade in the Atlanta Campaign.