John Creed Moore was born February 28, 1824 in Redbridge, Hawkins County, Tennessee to Cleon Moore and Margaret Peggy (Creed) Moore.
Moore first went to Emory & Henry College in Virginia and was later appointed to the U.S. Military Academy in July of 1845.
John graduated 17th out of 43 in his class in 1849 with a promotion to brevet Second Lieutenant of the 4th Artillery. Before
going to Florida during the Seminole Wars, John married Augusta Etheridge Clark. After the Seminole Wars, he was on frontier
duty from 1852 through 1854, first in Sante Fe, New Mexico and later at Fort Union in Nebraska. In 1855 he resigned his commission
to become a civil engineer in Tennessee and later became a professor at Shelby College in Kentucky.
Shortly after the birth of his first child, William Cleon Moore, he was commissioned a Captain in the Confederate army and sent to
Galveston, Texas to construct defensive fortifications there. While in Galveston, he assisted in organizing and training of the
2nd Texas Infantry and in September, 1861 he was promoted to Colonel in placed in Command of that regiment. The regiment was moved to Camp Bee near Houston by December 1861 to complete training. The unit was composed of ten companies of volunteer militia. Other staff officers were Lt. Col. William P. Rogers and Major Hall G. Runnels. By March 1862 the regiment had been moved from Houston to Corinth, Mississippi, to become a part of the newly formed Army of the Mississippi.
After arriving in Mississippi, Moore's 2nd Texas Infantry
was joined with the 17th, 18th, and 19th Alabama Infantry and Captain Isadore P. Girardey's Georgia Light Artillery Battery, to
become the Third Brigade (Brig. Gen. John K. Jackson) of the Second Division (Brig. Gen. Jones M. Withers),
Second Corps (Major General Braxton Bragg), Army of The Mississippi
General Albert Sidney Johnston Commanding.
Due to his leadership at the battle of Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862, Moore was commended for his bravery by Brig. Gen. Jones Withers
and General G.T. Beauregard and was promoted to Brigadier General May of 1862. His new command "Moore's Brigade" consisted of
the 42nd Alabama, 15th & 23rd Arkansas, 25th Mississippi and
2nd Texas Infantry regiments and Bledsoe's (Missouri) Artillery Battery served in Price's Corps at the second battle of Corinth.
In defense of the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, in the Summer of 1863, Moore's Brigade was part of Major General John H. Forney's
Division and had grown to 7 regiments, 37th Alabama: Colonel J. F. Dowdell, 40th Alabama: Colonel John H. Higley, 42nd Alabama:
Colonel John W. Portis, 35th Mississippi: Lt. Colonel C. R. Jordan, 40th Mississippi: Col W. B. Colbert,
2nd Texas Infantry: Colonel
Ashbel Smith plus the artillery batteries of the 1st Mississippi Light Artillery: Col William T. Withers,
Alabama battery: Cpt H. H. Sengstak, Pointe Coupee (Louisiana) Artillery, Company B: Cpt William A. Davidson.
the
2nd Texas Infantry was distinguished for its defense of a crescent-shaped fortification, which came to be known as the
Second Texas Lunette. The fortification was located in the center of the Vicksburg line of defense. Under the command of
Colonel
Ashbel Smith, the regiment withstood two Union assaults of brigade strength directed against the lunette on May 22, 1863.
After the fall of Vicksburg, Moore's Brigade was among the troups surrendered July 4, 1863 and was later exchanged.
After leaveing Vicksburg, the Second Texas returned immediately to Texas but the other regiments marched to Demopolis, Alabama.
After the exchange was finalized, the brigade still known as "Moore's Brigade" was re-assembled in Alabama. Now a part of
Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Cheatham's Division, Lt. General William J. Hardee's Corps, Moore's Brigade moved to Chattanooga,
Tennessee in November 1863 and participated in the battle of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. A dispute between Moore
and Lt. General Hardee that originated at the battle of Shiloh prompted Moore to seek a transfer from Hardee's division.
President Jefferson Davis denied the transfer, and Moore resigned his command in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States
on February 3, 1864. He retained the rank of lieutenant colonel in the regular service and was reassigned as director of the
Savannah arsenal in Savannah, Georgia. In September 1864 he was reassigned as director of the Selma arsenal in Selma, Alabama,
where he served until the end of the war.
After the war Moore returned to Texas and taught mathematics at Coronal Institute in 1869-70. He was afterward superintendent
of schools at Mexia and at East Dallas, and he taught school at Galveston, Kerrville, Osage, and Coryell City. He and his wife
Augusta E. Clark of Orange County, New York, had four children. He died of natural causes on New Year's Eve, December 31, 1910,
and is buried in Osage Cemetery, Coryell County, Texas.
