Oscar Fitzallen Moore

Oscar Fitzallen Moore (January 27, 1817 – June 24, 1885) was a U.S. Representative from Ohio and a Civil War officer who also served in both houses of the Ohio General Assembly. He was born in Lagrange, Ohio, on January 27, 1817. Moore attended local public schools in his youth and later pursued further studies at Wellsburg Academy in what is now West Virginia, reflecting the common practice of the period for ambitious young men from Ohio to seek preparatory education in neighboring states.

After completing his preparatory education, Moore enrolled at Washington College in Washington, Pennsylvania, an institution that later became Washington & Jefferson College. He was graduated from Washington College in 1836. Following his graduation, he studied law, preparing for a professional career in the legal field at a time when formal law schools were still relatively uncommon and legal training was often obtained through apprenticeship and independent study.

Moore was admitted to the bar in 1838 and commenced the practice of law in Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1839. Establishing himself in Portsmouth, an important commercial and river town in southern Ohio, he built a legal career that would serve as the foundation for his entry into public life. His professional standing and local prominence led to his election to the Ohio House of Representatives, where he served as a member in 1850 and 1851. He subsequently advanced to the Ohio State Senate, serving there in 1852 and 1853, thus gaining experience in both chambers of the state legislature during a period of growing sectional tension in the United States.

On the strength of his state legislative record and legal reputation, Moore was elected as an Opposition Party candidate to the Thirty-fourth Congress, serving as a U.S. Representative from Ohio from March 4, 1855, to March 3, 1857. The Opposition Party label reflected a loose coalition of anti-Democratic forces in the mid-1850s, including former Whigs and others opposed to the expansion of slavery. During his single term in Congress, Moore participated in national debates in the turbulent years preceding the Civil War. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1856 to the Thirty-fifth Congress and returned to private life after the close of his term.

With the outbreak of the American Civil War, Moore entered military service in the Union Army. He served initially as lieutenant colonel and later as colonel of the Thirty-third Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. In this capacity he was responsible for the organization, leadership, and discipline of his regiment, contributing to Ohio’s substantial role in the Union war effort. His service as a field officer placed him among the many mid-nineteenth-century American politicians who took up arms during the conflict, linking his public career to the preservation of the Union.

After the war, Moore resumed the practice of his profession in Portsmouth, Ohio, returning to the legal career that had first brought him prominence. He continued to be identified with the civic and professional life of southern Ohio in the postwar years. In his later life he relocated to Waverly, Ohio, where he spent his final years.

Oscar Fitzallen Moore died at Waverly, Ohio, on June 24, 1885. He was interred in Greenlawn Cemetery in Portsmouth, Ohio, reflecting his long association with that community. His career encompassed service in the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio State Senate, a term in the U.S. House of Representatives, and active military leadership during the Civil War, marking him as a representative figure of Ohio’s political and military leadership in the mid-nineteenth century.