Thomas Clement Fletcher Thomas Clement Fletcher ( January 21 , 1827March 25 , 1899 ) was the 18th Governor of Missouri during the latter stages of the American Civil War and the early part of Reconstruction . He was the first Missouri governor to be born in the state . Early life and career . Fletcher was born in Herculaneum , Missouri . His parents had immigrated to Missouri from Maryland in 1818 . He received a public school education and was elected circuit clerk in Jefferson County , Missouri , from 1849 until 1856 . He was admitted to the bar in 1857 . Fletcher became a land agent for the southwest branch of the Pacific Railroad ( which later became the St . Louis and San Francisco Railway ) whereupon he moved to St . Louis . Although he had been raised as a Democrat in a slave - owning family , he had been an ardent abolitionist since his boyhood and became a Republican after 1856 . Civil War . Fletcher was a delegate to the 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago , where he supported the nomination of Abraham Lincoln . During the Civil War , he was Colonel of the 31st Missouri Volunteer Infantry in the Union army from 1862 until 1864 , when he became Colonel of the 47th Missouri Volunteer Infantry . In 1862 he was captured at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou and taken to Libby Prison , and then exchanged in May 1863 . He was present at the fall of Vicksburg and the Battle of Chattanooga , and commanded a brigade in the Atlanta Campaign . Returning home because of illness in the spring of 1864 , Fletcher recovered in time to organize the 47th and 50th Missouri infantry regiment s and to command a regiment at the Battle of Pilot Knob , Missouri , where General Sterling Price ' s advance on St . Louis was stalled . For this service , he was brevetted brigadier general of volunteers . Political career . Fletcher was nominated for governor of Missouri by the National Union Party and elected in 1864 . He served from 1865 to 1869 , and issued the proclamation abolishing slavery in the state . His administration was confronted with many problems , including amnesty for former Confederate soldiers , the disposition of the railroad property the state had acquired through default by the railroad companies failure to pay interest on bonds guaranteed by the state , and the reorganization of public education . The railroad property was sold under a guarantee of early completion and the state debt materially reduced . The public - school system was thoroughly reorganized and progress was made toward free education for all children . He was unsuccessful , however , in his repeated efforts to obtain a constitutional amendment abolishing the test oath as a qualification for voting and for engaging in the professions . He supported normal schools for training teachers , greater funding for the state university , and special attention to agricultural education . After serving as governor , Fletcher returned to St . Louis and practiced law for a time . He then moved to Washington , D . C . , where he continued to practice until his death . He wrote " Life and Reminiscences of General Wm . T . Sherman " ( 1891 ) . He was buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St . Louis . Fletcher , Missouri , is named after him , as was the U . S . Army ' s Fort Fletcher in Kansas . See also . History of slavery in Missouri