Edwin Ward Moore

Edwin Ward Moore (July 15, 1810-October 5, 1865), was the head of the Navy of Texas during the Republic of Texas.

He was born in Alexandria, Virginia and entered the United States Navy as a midshipman in 1825. Ten years later he was promoted to lieutenant. and in July 1839 he resigned from the U. S. Navy to become commander of the Texas Navy. The winter of 1839-40 Moore spent in New York City enlisting seamen for Texas, and in 1840-41 he sailed off the Mexican coast to hasten peace negotiations between the Republic of Texas and Mexico. On collapse of the negotiations, he swept the Mexican ships off the Gulf of Mexico, made a de facto alliance with the Yucatán rebels, and captured the town of Tabasco. He then surveyed the Texas coast and made a chart that was later published by the British Admiralty.

On September 18, 1841, Moore received orders to guard the Yucatán coast in conformity with the Texas-Yucatán Treaty and on December 13 left Galveston, Texas with three ships to join the Yucatán fleet at Sisal, Mexico . He captured several Mexican vessels before returning to Galveston and being commissioned by President Sam Houston to blockade the Mexican coast. When funds for the blockade were withheld, Moore joined to break the Mexican blockade of Yucatán, thereby saving Federalist Yucatecans from hasty peace with Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna.

By June 25, 1843, the Texas Navy controlled the Gulf. On June 1, 1843, Moore had received Houston's proclamation accusing him of disobedience and suspending him from the Texas Navy; so Moore returned to Galveston on July 14 and demanded a trial. A joint report of navy committees in the Texas Congress recommended a court-martial to try him for disobedience, contumacy, mutiny, piracy, and murder. In response, Moore published To the People of Texas (1843), a personal vindication and account of the navy. The court found Moore not guilty except on four minor charges, and the Republican Congress gave him the right to continue in the navy.

After the dissolution of the Texas Navy, Moore spent many years in prosecuting financial claims against Texas. He was in New York for a time attempting to perfect a machine to revolutionize marine engineering. His quarrel with Sam Houston over the justness of his suspension from the navy continued during Houston's senatorship. In 1860 Moore returned to Galveston, where he built the Galveston Customhouse. He died in New York City.

Moore County, Texas is named for him.

Source

Edwin Ward Moore in the Handbook of Texas