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Thomas Moonlight
| Name: Thomas
Moonlight |
| Aliases: None |
| Date of Birth:
November 10, 1833 |
| Location of
Birth: Forfarshire, Scotland |
| Occupation: Governor
of Wyoming, Minister to Bolivia |
| Spouse:
Unknown |
| Affiliations: U.S.
Army |
| Date of Death:
February 7, 1899 |
| Cause of Death:
Natural Causes |
| Location of
Death: Leavenworth, Kansas |
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Former Wyoming governor
Thomas Moonlight was born in Forashire, Scotland on November 10, 1833.
Thirteen years later Moonlight left the rural farming community for the United States.
Shortly after his
twentieth birthday, Moonlight enlisted in the Fourth Artillery. Passing
through the ranks from Orderly Sergeant to Captain of Artillery, Moonlight
eventually became a Lieutenant-Colonel before achieving the rank of
Colonel on April 25, 1864. During his military career, Moonlight fought on
behalf of the Union during the Civil War.
Grover Cleveland
appointed Moonlight as the ninth governor of the Wyoming Territory,
serving from January 24, 1887 to April 9, 1899. One year later, on July
10, 1890, Wyoming was officially admitted into the union as the 44th
state.
While governor of
Wyoming, Moonlight took the opportunity to pardon a small-time horse thief
serving out his sentence in the Sundance County Jail. On February 4, 1889,
one day before his scheduled release, Governor Moonlight pardoned young
Harry A. Longabaugh, soon to be known as the Sundance Kid.
Ironically,
Governor Moonlight beat Butch Cassidy and the Sundance
Kid to South America, serving as
Minister to Bolivia under President Cleveland from 1893 to 1897. After his
time as minister concluded, Moonlight moved on to Leavenworth, Kansas
where he died February 7, 1899.
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