FLETCHER, Thomas Clement, governor of Missouri, born in Jefferson County, Missouri, 21 January 1827. He received a common school education, was clerk of the circuit and County courts from 1849 till 1856, and was admitted to the bar in 1857. He was colonel of the 31st Missouri regiment in the National army from 1862 till 1864, when he became colonel of the 47th Missouri, and in that year was brevetted brigadier general of volunteers. In 1863 he was captured and taken to Libby prison. In 1865'9 he was governor of Missouri, and issued the proclamation abolishing slavery in that state. Governor Fletcher was a delegate to the National Republican convention of 1860 and 1864. He was the first speaker in the first Republican convention held in a slave state, and although his parents were slave owners, he had been an ardent abolitionist since his boyhood. He has made many political speeches, most of which were published, but they have never been collected in book form.