1. Thomas Moonlight was an American politician and soldier.
22 Facts About Thomas Moonlight
1. 2.
Thomas Moonlight is thought to have worked farms in the East until he enlisted in the army at the age of twenty.
3.
Just as Thomas achieved fame in the US, his cousin George eventually left America and achieved fame as a Pioneer and Prospector in New Zealand where the township of Moonlight is named after him.
4.
In 1853, at the age of twenty, Thomas Moonlight enlisted in the 4th US Artillery Regiment.
5.
Thomas Moonlight served in Texas from 1853 to 1856, and was promoted to the rank of orderly sergeant.
6.
The recruits to the company were reassigned to the 1st Kansas Battery; Thomas Moonlight briefly served as its captain.
7.
Thomas Moonlight later joined the 11th Kansas Infantry as its lieutenant colonel.
8.
Thomas Moonlight briefly commanded the 14th Kansas Cavalry as lieutenant colonel but was later ordered to return to the 11th Kansas Cavalry.
9.
Thomas Moonlight pursued William C Quantrill's raiders following the Lawrence Massacre.
10.
Toward the end of the war, Thomas Moonlight was in command of the District of Colorado and campaigned against Indians on the plains.
11.
Thomas Moonlight ordered the two Oglala hanged, apparently over the opposition of Mrs Ewbanks and although warned by civilians at the fort of repercussions.
12.
Thomas Moonlight said the two Oglala ransomed the woman from the Cheyenne and brought her into the fort as a peace gesture.
13.
Thomas Moonlight arrested and hanged them, an action which Mrs Ewbanks protested.
14.
Thomas Moonlight traveled so fast that many of his men had to turn back because their horses were spent.
15.
Thomas Moonlight was severely criticized by his soldiers for being drunk and not guarding the horse herd.
16.
Thomas Moonlight returned to his farm and became involved in Kansas politics.
17.
Thomas Moonlight was a Republican until 1870, when he switched to Democrat.
18.
Thomas Moonlight served as the Kansas Secretary of State, and as State Senator.
19.
In 1864 Thomas Moonlight was a presidential elector, casting a ballot for the re-election of the incumbent President Abraham Lincoln.
20.
Thomas Moonlight was appointed governor of the Wyoming Territory by President Grover Cleveland on January 5,1887.
21.
Thomas Moonlight was unsuccessful in his run for governor of Kansas in 1886.
22.
Thomas Moonlight died on February 7,1899, and is buried in Mount Muncie Cemetery in Lansing, Kansas.