Martin L. Moore was born on July 16, 1845, in Lancashire, England, to Elisha and Hellen Moore. His father was a mule spinner who owned $1,000 of real estate and $600 of personal property by 1860. The family eventually immigrated to America and settled in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. By 1862, he was working as a file cutter.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on August 21, 1862, and he mustered in as a musician in Company K of the 13^th New Hampshire Infantry on September 20. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 3 inches tall, with light hair and blue eyes. He lied about his age, claiming that he was 18 years old. He served as a drummer boy throughout the war, and his regiment took part in the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Bermuda Hundred campaign, the Battle of Cold Harbor, and the siege of Petersburg. Although he was too young to vote, he supported President Abraham Lincoln in the election of 1864. He mustered out on June 21, 1865.

 

He moved to Andover, Massachusetts, after the war, and he married Abbie F. Holding on March 25, 1867. They had at least three children: Gertrude, born around 1872; Edward, born around 1875; and Florence, born around 1879. They moved to Boston, Massachusetts, in the late 1860s, and he earned a living as a file cutter. By 1870, he owned $1,700 of real estate, and he employed one white domestic servant. They moved to Derry, New Hampshire, in the 1880s. He applied for a federal pension in March 1901 and eventually secured one. He eventually returned to East Boston, and he died there on May 24, 1913.

 

Image: Martin L. Moore (The Boston Globe, 26 May 1913)

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