Democrat • Kansas

Thomas Moonlight was born of Scottish farmer parentage, in Forfarshire, Scotland, on November 10, 1833. He came to America when he was thirteen years old. After Moonlight turned twenty, enlisted in the United States Army and remained in the Army through the Civil War with only a brief break. He enlisting in the 4th Artillery C.D. in 1853, ordered to Texas 1853-1856, served in Florida and mustered out at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 1858 as an orderly sergeant. Moonlight settled in Leavenworth County, Kansas around this time. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he raised a light battery and was mustered in as captain of artillery, made lieutenant colonel of the 11th Kansas Infantry in 1862, and colonel in 1864.

In the spring of 1865, when the 11th Kansas Cavalry was ordered to Fort Laramie, the regiment was distributed to various posts and stations throughout the northern sub-districts of the plains and Col. Moonlight was placed in command. Jim Bridger, the famed mountain scout, acted as guide to Moonlight on his expedition to Wind River during his command at Fort Laramie.

After the war, he returned to Kansas and entered into politics. In 1864, he was a presidential elector, appointed US Collector of Internal Revenue in 1867, elected Secretary of State for Kansas in 1868. Due to his views on prohibition, Moonlight severed his relations with the Republican Party and became a Democrat in 1870. He was elected Kansas State Senator for Leavenworth County in 1872.

On January 5, 1887, Moonlight was appointed Territorial Governor of Wyoming by President Grover Cleveland, taking his oath of office on January 24 and serving until April 9, 1889. He then served as minister to Bolivia from 1893 to 1897. Moonlight died in Leavenworth, Kansas on February 7, 1889.

He was married to Ellen Elizabeth Murry.

The Governor Thomas Moonlight Collection

Governor Thomas Moonlight’s correspondence reflects the issues one would expect a Wyoming Territorial Governor to monitor. Subject matter includes petitions for pardons, appointments, requisitions and extraditions, livestock, an addition to the penitentiary in Laramie, land laws and settlement, Indians, militia, game and fish matters, the university, post offices, and a Fourth of July celebration. Separate series include petitions and correspondence concerning the organization of Natrona County, and a petition for the organization of Sheridan County. Records dealing with the disposition of Fort Sanders military reservation land are also included.

The records from Governor Moonlight's term in office include:

• General Records
• Laramie Penitentiary Plans
• Circulars - Agriculture and Railroads
• Leasing of University Lands
• Natrona County Organization
• Office Inventories
• Administrative Records
• Correspondence
• General Correspondence
• Post Office Correspondence
• Hopkins Estate Correspondence
• Reports
• Appointment Records
• Proclamations
• Petitions And Affidavits
• Petitions for Pardons
• Petition for Respite
• Affidavit to Absence of A.H. Bright
• Petition for the Organization of Sheridan County
• Requisitions and Extraditions
• Request
• Rewards
• Indian and Military Affairs
• Disposition of Fort Sanders Land
• Legislative Affairs

Additional Resources

• Thomas Moonlight Papers, Manuscript Collection 449, Unit ID 40449, Kansas Historical Society. (accessed March 2018)
• "Thomas Moonlight" memorial, FindAGrave.com (accessed March 2018)
• "General Thomas Moonlight," Civil War Days & Those Surnames, by Dennis Segelquist. (accessed March 2018)
• "Thomas Moonlight", Office of the Historian, US Department of State. (accessed September 2015)
• "Thomas Moonlight," Angus Heritage.com (accessed through Internet Archive Wayback Machine March 2018)
• "Moonlight, Gen. Thomas U.S.A. Col. of 11th Kansas Cav. U.S.A. not in uniform," photograph from LC-BH832- 544 [P&P] LOT 4192 (corresponding print), Brady-Handy Photograph Collection, Library of Congress. (accessed September 2015)