Moore, James (Governor of South Carolina)

Little is known about the origin of James Moore. He was probably the son of Roger Moore (Rory O'Moor) (c. 1600–1655), the leader of the Irish uprising in 1641 . James Moore was first mentioned for the first time in Carolina in 1675 , when he represented Margaret Berringer Yemen, widow of Sir John Yemen , in the colonial council. Around the same time, he married Margaret, the daughter of the latter from her first marriage.

In 1677 , 1682 and 1683, James Moore served on the colonial council. In 1690, he played a leading role on an expedition from Carolina to the Appalachian Mountains to explore trade opportunities with the local Native American population. In 1698, he was elected to the colonial assembly and is referred to as the right hand of Sir John Colleton. The following 1699 he was named the chief judge of the colony. In 1700, James Moore was appointed governor of the Carolina colony, replacing the deceased Joseph Blake .

In 1683, James Moore received 2,400 hectare (970 ha) from the lords of the province of Carolina .

Since 1691, James Moore has been the recognized leader of France Goose Creek, the main political opposition of the ruling France dissidents. The election of James Moore as governor in 1700 marked a major shift in the politics of the colony. Dissenters protested Moore's “unfair election”. But the lords of the property made sure that James Moore remained governor, and made it clear that the dissidents are now not in favor.

In the years 1700 - 1703, James Moore was the British governor of the province of Carolina , which was later divided into North and South Carolina. During this period, the new governor undertook a series of campaigns from Carolina to Spanish Florida . He relied on allied Native American tribes, mainly Yamashi . In 1702, after the outbreak of the war by Queen Anne, James Moore, led by 500 colonists and 300 Allied Indians in 14 small vessels, invaded Spanish Florida. He moved along, destroying the remaining Spanish missions in the provinces of Guale and Mocama. The British and their Native American allies devastated the neighborhood of St. Augustine . James Moore destroyed the city itself, but the Spanish garrison and Allied Indians took refuge in the city fortress of Castillo de San Marcos. The siege of the fortress began on November 10, 1702 and ended on December 30 of that year. The Spaniards were able to defend the fortress. In 1703, due to an unsuccessful campaign in Spanish Florida, James Moore was forced to resign as governor of Carolina .

In 1704, James Moore led a new military expedition to West Florida . He led a combined detachment of 50 English and 1,000 warriors from the Creek , Yamashi and other Native American allies. The British and their allies staged the so-called carved tribe of the Apalachians. The Apalachians were the last Native American tribe, allies of the Spaniards in this region. Their defeat in 1704 led to the fact that many of the Apalachians were defeated and taken out of Charleston to the West Indies. Other apalachians were resettled (some voluntarily, others by force) on the Savannah River. In subsequent years, English colonists from Carolina and their allies virtually wiped out the Indian population of Florida all the way to the Florida Keys .

The defeat of the Apalachian tribe by James Moore in Spanish Florida was regarded as a major victory for the Carolina colonists, who had fought with the Spaniards for decades to control the region. He also helped strengthen ties between various Southeast Indian tribes and Carolina . The tribes of screams and Cherokee became much more closely associated with Carolina . With these two powerful Native American tribes as allies, the British gained dominance over the French and Spaniards in southeast North America.

James Moore passed away in 1706 from a tropical illness, possibly yellow fever . He left behind significant debts. His son James Moore served as governor of Carolina from 1719 to 1721 .

James Moore married Margaret Berringer, daughter of Lady Margaret Yehmans from her first marriage. Their daughter, Mary Moore, became the wife of Job Howe of France's Goose Creek. James and Margaret had ten children, many of whom moved to the Cape Fear area, where they and their descendants became known as the most powerful family in the region. James Moore was the grandfather of the brigadier general and participant in the War of Independence James Moore (c. 1737-1777) and great-grandfather of Major General Robert Howe (1732-1786).

The Moore family brought in more than four thousand slaves to North and South Carolina, mainly to their own vast plantations and farms in the area of ​​Cape Fear. James Moore had a house in Charleston , and the other in Goose Creek, not far from Charleston .

The representative of the Moore family is also Alfred Moore (1755-1810), who became a judge of the US Supreme Court .

• The South Carolina Encyclopedia. ISBN 978-1-57003-598-2
• Webber, Mabel (January 1936). "The First Governor Moore and his Children." The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine (Volume 37, No. 1). JSTOR 27571450.