Warmoth, Henry Clay, 1842-1931

Governor of Louisiana and army officer.

Henry Clay Warmoth, Louisiana governor, 1868-1872, and later owner of Magnolia Plantation, was born in Illinois in 1842. During the Civil War, he was lieutenant colonel of the 32nd Missouri Volunteers, assigned to the staff of General John A. McClernand. He was wounded in 1863 near Vicksburg, but returned to his command after being cleared of spreading false rumors about the strength of the Union Army. Post-war, Warmoth was judge of Provost Court in New Orleans, and, in 1868 at age 26, was elected Republican governor of Louisiana. His governorship was dominated by issues such as civil rights, suffrage, election fraud, party factionalism, and corruption. In 1872, Warmoth faced impeachment charges for official misconduct, but his trial ended when his term as governor expired. He served in the Louisiana legislature, 1876-1877, and ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1888. Warmoth was Collector of Customs for the Port of New Orleans, 1889-1893. Beginning in 1874, Warmoth owned Magnolia, a Plaquemines Parish sugar plantation where he modernized sugar refining. Warmoth published "War, Politics, and Reconstruction: Stormy Days in Louisiana" in 1930 and died in New Orleans in 1931.

Henry C. Warmoth was a Reconstruction governor of Louisiana, a sugar planter, and a businessman. Born in McLeansboro, Illinois, to Isaac Sanders Warmoth and Eleanor Lane Warmoth, Henry C. Warmoth studied law and was admitted into the Missouri bar in 1860. He served in the United States Army during the Civil War, was dishonorably discharged by Ulysses S. Grant, and reinstated by President Lincoln. He served as governor of Louisiana 1868-1872. He invested in the Magnolia Plantation in the 1870s, becomming sole owner of the plantation after Reconstruction. He organized the Magnolia Sugar Refining Company, a consortium of 8 sugar beet plantations, and was a lobbyist for the sugar manufacturing industry.

Henry Clay Warmoth (H. C. Warmoth), governor of Louisiana, 1868-1872, and later owner of Magnolia Plantation, was born in McLeansboro, Ill., on 9 May 1842. He was admitted to the bar in Lebanon, Miss., in 1860, and in 1861 he was appointed district attorney in the eighteenth judicial district. In late 1861 after the outbreak of the Civil War, Warmoth was assigned to raise a regiment of Union volunteers, which in 1862 merged with another regiment to form the 32nd Missouri Volunteers. Warmoth served as lieutenant colonel of the regiment, but in 1863 he was assigned to the staff of General John A. McClernand of the 13th Army Corps. Warmoth was wounded in May 1863 near Vicksburg and returned to Illinois to recover. On returning to his command, Warmoth was charged with absence without leave and with spreading false rumors about the strength and weaknesses of the Union Army. After making a personal appeal to President Lincoln, Warmoth's rank was restored, and he returned to his position on McClernand's staff. After the Civil War, Warmoth served as judge of the Provost Court for the Department of the Gulf at New Orleans. In 1865, he opened a law office in New Orleans and was elected a delegate to represent the territory of Louisiana in Congress. In 1868, at age 26, Warmoth was elected as the Republican governor of Louisiana, the youngest governor in the state's history. His four-year tenure as governor was marked by political, civil, and social unrest throughout the state. Issues such as civil rights, suffrage, election fraud, party factionalism, and corruption dominated Warmoth's administration. In 1872, Warmoth faced impeachment charges for official misconduct, but his trial was discontinued shortly after his term as governor expired.

H. C. Warmoth, circa 1875

Warmoth continued his involvement in politics in his later years despite an altercation with Daniel C. Byerly in 1874 that resulted in Byerly's death. From 1876 to 1877, Warmoth served in the Louisiana legislature, and he ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1888. The following year, Warmoth was appointed Collector of Customs for the Port of New Orleans, a position he held until 1893. From 1874 until his death in 1931, Warmoth owned and oversaw the operations of Magnolia Plantation, a sugar plantation he purchased from Effingham Lawrence located in Plaquemines Parish, La., some 45 miles below New Orleans along the Mississippi River. Warmoth invested heavily in the plantation, modernizing sugar refining operations and establishing an experimental station to study the refining process. Warmoth also invested considerably in railroad and levee construction in Louisiana. Warmoth married Sallie Durand, of Newark, N.J., in 1877, and the couple had two sons, Frank and Carroll, and a daughter, Reinette. Warmoth's memoir, War, Politics, and Reconstruction: Stormy Days in Louisiana, was published in 1930. He died at his home in New Orleans on 30 September 1931 at age 89.