Loe, Moses

Born: 1830-XX-XX Tennessee

Died: 1864-07-23 Georgia

Flourished: Schuyler County, Illinois

Alternate name: Low

Moses Loe was a farmer, cooper, army soldier, and law client of Abraham Lincoln. Moses moved with his father to Illinois in 1840. The pair settled in Schuyler County, where they engaged in farming. Moses was indicted in 1852 in Sangamon County for the stabbing murder of James Gray. At the time of the incident, Loe was described as have a "light complexion, brown hair, and gray eyes." Following his indictment, Loe retained Lincoln as an attorney and requested a change of venue; the move was granted and the case moved to DeWitt County Circuit Court. Although Loe pleaded innocence and claimed self-defense, he was found guilty in 1853 and sentenced to eight years in prison. In 1857, some of the grand jurors of Loe's case petitioned to pardon Loe. Lincoln helped secure a pardon from Governor William H. Bissell, and Loe left prison on August 31,1857. He returned to Schuyler County, where he became a cooper. In October 1862, Loe answered the call for volunteers to fight for the Union in the Civil War, enlisting as a private in the 103rd Illinois Infantry. Loe died from wounds suffered in battle near Atlanta, Georgia.

Moses Loe married Charlotte Jane Wardell in October 1859. The couple had two daughters, one born in 1861 and one born in 1863.

Illinois Department of Corrections & Predecessor Agencies, Register of Illinois Prison Records, Illinois State Prison (Joliet), 3:332, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; People v. Loe, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=135583; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Schuyler County, IL, 322; Illinois Civil War Muster and Descriptive Rolls, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2009); Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Schuyler County, 30 October 1859, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Daniel W. Stowell et al., eds., The Papers of Abraham Lincoln: Legal Documents and Cases (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008), 2:321, n1; 338, n58; Gravestone, Marietta National Cemetery, Marietta, GA.