Thomas Caute Reynolds
| Thomas Caute Reynolds | |
|---|---|
Thomas C. Reynolds from official Missouri Governor portrait gallery in Missouri State Capitol
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| Lieutenant Governor of Missouri | |
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In office 1860–1861 |
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| Governor | Claiborne Jackson |
| Preceded by | Hancock Lee Jackson |
| Succeeded by | Willard Preble Hall |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
October 11, 1821 Charleston, South Carolina |
| Died | March 30, 1887 (aged 65) St. Louis, Missouri |
| Political party | Democrat |
| Alma mater | University of Virginia, University of Heidelberg |
| Profession | lawyer |
Thomas Caute Reynolds (October 11, 1821 – March 30, 1887) was Confederate Governor of the divided border-state of Missouri in the American Civil War, following the death of Claiborne Jackson.
He had been appointed as Jackson’s Lieutenant Governor, both of them running as Union Democrats (anti-secession) in order to get elected, but privately supporting Southern Rights. When the Confederacy began to take shape, early in 1861, Jefferson Davis viewed the leaders of neutral Missouri with suspicion and initially refused to send military aid, so enabling the Union to dominate the state. Jackson fled to Arkansas, and Reynolds became demoralised and went to work in Richmond.
On Jackson’s death from cancer in December 1862, Reynolds automatically became governor-in-exile, and started planning the liberation of Missouri with Sterling Price, the top Confederate general in the northwest, with whom he maintained an uneasy relationship. The raid finally took place in October 1864, but achieved nothing, Reynolds and Price blaming each other for its failure.
After the war, Reynolds fled to Mexico, but returned to practice law in St. Louis, and served as a trade commissioner to South America, before committing suicide when he feared he was losing his sanity.
Reynolds was born in Charleston, South Carolina, and graduated from the University of Virginia in 1838 and received a doctor of laws degree, graduating summa cum laude, from the University of Heidelberg in 1842. He was admitted to the Virginia Bar in 1844 and served as a chargé d'affaires in Madrid before moving to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1850. There he opened a law practice, served as United States Attorney, and rose in the Democratic Party, joining the anti-Benton wing when the party split over Senator Thomas Hart Benton’s failure to support the Southern side of the national debate in the late 1840s and early 1850s.
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