MORTON, OLIVER PERRY (1823-1877), American political leader, "war governor" of Indiana, was born in Salis bury, Ind., on August 4, 1823. After studying for two years (1843-45) at Miami university, he practised law at Centerville, Ind., and in 1852 became circuit judge. In Feb. 1856 he was a member of the Pittsburgh convention which led to the organiza tion of the national Republican party, and in the same year he was a candidate for governor of Indiana but was defeated. He was elected lieUtenant-governor in 186o, and when Henry S. Lane, the governor, resigned, on January 16, 1861, Morton became governor. In 1864 he was re-elected. In meeting all the extraor dinary demands resulting from the Civil War he displayed great energy and resourcefulness, and was active in thwarting the schemes of the secessionists in the neighbouring State of Kentucky, and of the secret societies of Southern sympathizers and other opponents of the war in Indiana. In 1863 a hostile legislature sought to deprive him of all control over the militia, and, failing in this, adjourned without making the appropriations necessary for carrying on the State government. In this predicament Mor
ton appealed for financial aid to private individuals, bankers, the counties, and even the Federal government. The response was so prompt that he was able to conduct affairs practically single handed until 1865, when a legislature more favourable to his policies assembled. Morton resigned as governor in Jan. 1867 to accept a seat in the U.S. Senate, in which he served during the rest of his life. He was recognized as one of the leaders of the Radical wing of his party, voting in favour of Johnson's impeach ment, and being especially active on behalf of negro suffrage. He was a prominent but unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for the presidency in 1876. He died at Indianapolis on Nov. 1, 1877.
See William D. Foulke, Life of Oliver P. Morton (Indianapolis, 1899).