Background
Edwin Ward Moore was born on July 15, 1810, in Alexandria, Virginia.
Edwin Ward Moore was born on July 15, 1810, in Alexandria, Virginia.
Moore attended school at the Alexandria Academy.
On January 1, 1825, Moore entered the navy as a midshipman, in which rank he served first on board the Hornet of the West India Squadron and later on board the Fairfield of the Mediterranean Squadron. On reaching the rank of passed midshipman in 1831, he was again attached to the Fairfield, at this time stationed in the West Indies. Promoted lieutenant from March 3, 1835, he on July 16, 1839, resigned from the service, as it offered little opportunity for advancement. On April 21, 1839, he had been offered by the Republic of Texas command of its navy, then consisting of the recently acquired armed steamer Zavala and a worthless brig. Between May and December 1839 the navy was increased by the addition of the flagship Austin, 20 guns, together with a brig and three schooners.
Moore's commission, which was not issued until July 20, 1842, gave him the rank of "post captain commanding. " His courtesy title was a Commodore. Before the last of the new fleet had left Schott & Whitney's Baltimore yard he visited New York, where, in attempting to enlist seamen, he came into conflict with the United States authorities and was compelled to leave the city. In 1840-41, he cruised off the Mexican coast with a fleet of five vessels to expedite the peace negotiations of the Texan diplomat James Treat. When these negotiations collapsed Moore not only swept Mexican commerce from the Gulf but also entered into a de facto alliance with Yucatecan rebels and captured the town of Tabasco, upon which he levied a contribution of $25, 000. After refitting his ships he surveyed the Texan coast and made a chart of it, which was published in New York and also by the British Admiralty.
In the winter of 1841-42, he again cruised with three vessels of his fleet off the coast of Yucatan, thereby saving the federalist Yucatecans from a hasty peace with centralist Santa Anna and continuing an advantageous alliance with the Texans. After capturing several small vessels, he returned to Galveston in May. Thence he proceeded to New Orleans to refit his fleet for the enforcement of a blockade of Mexico, proclaimed by President Sam Houston in retaliation for Mexico's invasion of March 1842. Finances delayed the refitting, by which time a favorable turn in Texan relations with the United States caused Houston to delay further the proposed naval offensive by withholding funds, but without taking Moore or the Yucatecan allies into his confidence. In February 1843, there arrived at New Orleans two commissioners appointed to carry out a secret act of the Texas Congress providing for the sale of the navy.
Previous to their arrival Moore had agreed with the authorities of Yucatan, in consideration of the payment of a sum of money sufficient to finish refitting the fleet, to attack the Mexican squadron blockading the Yucatan coast. In accordance with this agreement he attacked the squadron on April 30 and again on May 16, 1843, and in both engagements defeated it. In the second engagement, both sides suffered considerable loss and two Mexican ships, Guadalupe and Montezuma, were badly damaged.
On June 1, Moore received a proclamation of Houston declaring that he was guilty of "disobedience, contumacy, and mutiny" and suspending him from his command. He proceeded at once to Galveston and asked for a trial. After a joint committee of the Texas House and Senate had completely vindicated him, he was tried by a court-martial and found not guilty on eighteen counts and guilty in respect to matter and form on four counts. The decision, which was a victory for him, was disapproved by Houston. In 1843, he published To the People of Texas, which, in addition to being a personal vindication, is today the best collection of source materials on the Texan navy.
No small part of Moore's later years was spent in prosecuting his claims, in the course of which he published a number of other pamphlets, against the governments of Texas and the United States. From Texas, he received more than $20, 000 in settlement of claims and payment for relief. A claim in behalf of himself and his fellow officers to incorporation into the federal navy was bitterly opposed by the federal naval officers. Finally, in 1857, Congress voted the Texan officers five years' pay.
The last years of Moore's life were passed in New York City, where he was engaged in devising a machine which he believed would revolutionize marine engineering. He died suddenly of apoplexy.
Edwin Ward Moore is most commonly known as Commander-in-chief of the Navy of the Republic of Texas. In 1857, Congress awarded him five years' pay. He was in New York for a time attempting to perfect a machine to revolutionize marine engineering. Moore built the Galveston Customhouse. Moore County in the Panhandle is named for him.
Moore has been described by those who knew him as a man of science and undoubted gallantry but having no head for details.
In 1849, Moore was married to Emma M. (Stockton) Cox of Philadelphia. So far as known, he had no children.
