"M" is for Moore, James, Sr. (ca. 1650-1706)

"M" is for Moore, James, Sr. (ca. 1650-1706). Governor. Moore arrived in South Carolina from Barbados around 1675. He became a successful Indian trader and a member of a political faction, the Goose Creek Men. By 1690 Moore had become the faction’s acknowledged leader. In 1700, Moore and the Goose Creek Men staged a coup against the opposing faction the Dissenters. As a result, Moore was named governor on a temporary basis. The Proprietors supported the move because they wished to establish the Anglican Church; Moore was an Anglican, the other contender for the governorship was not. In 1702, the governor led an attack on St. Augustine and captured the town, but failed to take the fort. Over the next two years James Moore, Sr., led a series of devastating raids against other Spanish settlements in Florida.