Oliver H. P. T. Morton

Oliver H. P. T. Morton (born Aug. 4, 1823, Salisbury, Ind., U.S.—died Nov. 1, 1877, Indianapolis, Ind.) was an American political leader and governor of Indiana during the American Civil War. After a brief attendance at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Morton set up a law practice in Centerville, Ind., in 1845 and involved himself in Democratic politics. Breaking with the party over the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854, he participated in the formation of the...