Henry C. Warmoth

Henry Clay Warmoth (May 9, 1842 – September 30, 1931) was an American attorney and veteran Civil War officer in the Union Army who was elected governor and state representative of Louisiana. A Republican, he was 26 years old when elected as 23rd Governor of Louisiana, one of the youngest governors elected in United States history. He served during the early Reconstruction Era, from 1868 to 1872.

In 1871, Lieutenant Governor Oscar Dunn assumed the office of acting governor from May 5, 1871, to July 18, 1871, after Warmoth sustained an injury to his foot that required an extended absence from the state, thus making Dunn the first African-American governor in the history of the United States. As acting governor, Dunn weighed in on a number of serious matters, including a petition from four European consuls to commute the sentences of two Spanish nationals scheduled for execution. Nearing the end of his recovery in Pass Christian, Mississippi, Warmoth sent his secretary to New Orleans to lock Dunn out of the governor's office after disagreement over executive actions. Warmoth soon thereafter return to the city and his office.

Facing strong criticism from some Republican leaders for weakening civil rights legislation and for endorsing a Democratic/Fusionist ticket in the 1872 election, Warmoth ended his term under state legislature's impeachment proceedings and was suspended from office. Lieutenant Governor P.B.S. Pinchback, who had replaced Dunn as Lieutenant Governor after his sudden death in office, assumed office during Warmoth's absence, becoming the second African-American governor in the history of the United States, after Dunn. The legislature dropped the impeachment charges against Warmoth after his term of office ended.

Warmoth was the first elected Reconstruction Governor of Louisiana. He stayed in the state and was elected in 1876 as a Louisiana State Representative, serving one term from 1876 to 1878. He also managed his sugar cane plantation. The Reconstruction Era ended in 1877 as president Rutherford B. Hayes and the federal government withdrew its troops from the state. In 1888, Warmoth challenged former governor Francis T. Nicholls in a gubernatorial contest and lost to the Democrat; the election was noted for widespread voter fraud as Democrats suppressed black Republicans voting. In 1890, Warmoth was appointed as US Collector of Customs in New Orleans and served for several years.