Horace Ladd Moore

Horace Ladd Moore (February 25, 1837 – May 1, 1914) was a lawyer, Civil War officer, businessman, local official, and U.S. Representative from Kansas. He was born in Mantua, Portage County, Ohio, where he attended the local common schools before pursuing further study at the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute in Hiram, Ohio, an institution later known as Hiram College. His early education in Ohio provided the foundation for his subsequent legal and public career on the western frontier.

In 1858 Moore moved to Lawrence, Kansas, a growing center of political and social activity in the Kansas Territory. There he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and began the practice of law shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War. One month after his admission to the bar he enlisted in the Union Army, entering service on May 14, 1861, as a member of the Second Regiment, Kansas Volunteer Infantry. Moore served continuously in the Union forces throughout the Civil War until June 30, 1865, when he was mustered out of the service with the rank of lieutenant colonel of the Fourth Regiment, Arkansas Volunteer Cavalry, reflecting a steady rise in responsibility and command during the conflict.

Following the Civil War, Moore continued his military involvement on the western frontier. As major of the Eighteenth Kansas Cavalry and later as colonel of the Nineteenth Kansas Cavalry, he took part in campaigns against Native American tribes on the Plains in 1867 and 1868, operations that were part of the broader postwar military efforts to secure routes and settlements in the region. After these campaigns he returned to civilian life and resumed the practice of law, maintaining his professional and civic ties to Kansas while building a reputation as both a veteran and attorney.

Moore expanded his activities beyond the legal profession in the 1880s. From 1886 to 1892 he engaged in the wholesale grocery business in Trinidad, Colorado, reflecting the broader economic development of the American West during that period. At the same time, he remained closely connected to Kansas public affairs. He served as treasurer of Douglas County, Kansas, in 1886 and 1887, overseeing county finances and adding administrative experience to his record of military and professional service.

Moore’s political career reached the national level in the 1890s. A Democrat, he successfully contested the election of Republican Edward H. Funston to the Fifty-third Congress, securing the seat after a formal challenge to the initial result. He served as a U.S. Representative from Kansas from August 2, 1894, until March 3, 1895. During this brief tenure in Congress he represented his Kansas constituency at a time of economic and political tension in the aftermath of the Panic of 1893. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1894 to the Fifty-fourth Congress, and his service in the House concluded at the end of his contested term.

After leaving Congress, Moore returned to Lawrence, Kansas, where he remained active in business and civic life. He served as vice president of a national bank in Lawrence, a position that reflected his standing in the community and his experience in both public service and private enterprise. He continued to reside in Lawrence until his death on May 1, 1914. Horace Ladd Moore was interred in Oak Hill Cemetery in Lawrence, closing a life that spanned the antebellum era, the Civil War, western expansion, and the early twentieth century.