John Courtney Moore was born in Tennessee on August 18, 1834. When Moore was six years old, his parents moved to St. Louis, Missouri. Moore attended the State University in Columbia, Missouri and then returned to St. Louis to practice law. In 1859, Moore moved his law practice to Colorado. He was elected to the territorial legislature and was elected the first mayor of Denver. While in Denver, Moore founded the Denver Mountaineer newspaper.
At the start of the Civil War, Moore returned to Missouri and enlisted in Capt. Emmett MacDonald’s St. Louis Battery in the Missouri State Guard. During this time, Moore fought at the Battle of Pea Ridge. In 1863, Moore joined the staff of his old friend, Brig. Gen. John S. Marmaduke. Marmaduke appointed Moore as his chief of staff. Moore served as Marmaduke’s second when Marmaduke fought a duel with fellow Confederate general Lucius M. Walker.
Moore continued to serve as Marmaduke’s chief of staff during Price’s 1864 invasion of Missouri. It was Moore who reported to Maj. Gen. Sterling Price Marmaduke’s capture on October 25, 1864, during the Battle of Mine Creek. After returning to Arkansas, Maj. Gen. John S. Magruder appointed Moore judge advocate general for the Confederate District of Arkansas.
At the end of the war, Moore refused to surrender and went into exile in Mexico with Brig. Gen. Jo Shelby. Moore eventually returned to St. Louis and worked at the St. Louis Dispatch newspaper. In 1867, Moore moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and founded the Kansas City Times newspaper with fellow former Confederate John N. Edwards. Moore wrote the “Missouri” section of Confederate Military History, a 12-volume series of books edited by former Confederate Brigadier General Clement A. Evans and published in 1899.
Rolle, Andrew F. The Lost Cause: The Confederate Exodus to Mexico. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992.
Wikipedia. “John C. Moore (Denver Mayor),” December 23, 2021. Link.
Wikipedia. “Kansas City Times,” December 10, 2021. Link.
Webb, William L. “Colonel John C. Moore.” In Battles and Biographies of Missourians, or, the Civil War Period of Our State, 362–63. Kansas City: Hudson-Kimberly Pub. Co., 1900.