"[1] Opposing secession in the Southern state of Tennessee and also staunchly supporting Republican President Abraham Lincoln, a historian noted: ...he was publicly abused, vilified, and held in contempt.

The attack was so severe the Presbyterian congregation of which he was a member threw him out.During the American Civil War, Moore maintained a low profile and made clever business decisions.

[1] Following the war, when the Union emerged victorious, Moore became a wealthy landowner while rival businessmen faced bankruptcy.

During the yellow fever epidemic of 1879, Moore was among the first to promote a committee on sanitation in Memphis that would improve the city's drinking water system.

During his two years in Congress, Moore held a mostly conservative voting record, with the DW-NOMINATE system giving him a score of 0.456 on the first dimension.

Little substantial information is known about Moore's short congressional tenure, though he notably was one of seven House Republicans (along with Benjamin F. Marsh, George W. Steele, John R. Thomas, Orlando Hubbs, James S. Robinson, and Robert Smalls) to vote against the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act in the lame duck session preceding the 48th Congress.

[8] Civil service reform was opposed during the late 1870s by conservative Stalwarts, most of whom ultimately caved into voting for the Pendleton Act following the assassination of James A. Garfield by the mentally ill Charles J. Guiteau.

A group of trustees invested the money until there was over a million dollars, and on April 11, 1939, the brand-new William R. Moore School of Technology opened.