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Moses M. Strong

Painted portrait of the Honorable Moses M. Strong. View the original source document: WHI 2952

b. 1810, Rutland, Vermont
d. July, 1894, Mineral Point, Wisconsin

Moses McCure Strong was a lawyer, politician, speculator, promoter and author. He attended Middlebury and Dartmouth colleges and the Litchfield Connecticut Law School. He was admitted to the bar in 1831. In 1836, Strong moved to the Wisconsin Territory, and settled in Mineral Point. He served there as land agent for eastern speculators.

Politics

A Democrat, he served President Martin Van Buren as U.S. District Attorney for the Territory of Wisconsin from 1838 to 1841. He was a prominent member of the upper house of Wisconsin's territorial legislature from 1841 to 1846. Strong was a delegate to the first state constitutional convention in 1846. He was an unsuccessful candidate for territorial delegate to Congress on the Democratic ticket in 1847. He was state assemblyman in 1850 and 1857. Strong was recognized as one of Wisconsin's most important Democratic politicians for several years.

Speculation

Strong was also a land speculator and promoter before the Civil War. But despite his ambition and intelligence, Strong never achieved the political power and fortune he sought. He often took short cuts and gambled in business and in politics. Strong often speculated in lead mining ventures in Iowa and Lafayette counties. He acted in many early railroad schemes, and promoted the La Crosse and Milwaukee R.R. with Byron Kilbourn. In 1856, he acted as Kilbourn's agent delivering bribes to state legislators on behalf of a land grant for the line. When the bribery charges were investigated in 1858, Strong's political career suffered a sharp decline. His political eclipse was augmented by the collapse of his financial ventures during the panic of 1857. His political career declined further after his severe criticism of the Lincoln administration during the Civil War.

Book

Strong returned to his law practice in Mineral Point and served as president of the state bar association from 1878 to 1893. He was a member of the state board of bar examiners from 1885 to 1894. From 1871 until his death, he was vice-president of the State Historical Society. He was the author of the 1885 "A History of the Territory of Wisconsin" as well as several other articles and memoirs on early Wisconsin history.

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Dict. Amer. Biog.; K. W. Duckett, Frontiersman of Fortune: M. M. Strong ... [Madison, 1955]; WPA MS; M. M. Strong Papers.