Robert Morehouse was an American businessman who lived in New York City during the 1860s.
Biography[]
Robert Morehouse was born in Manhattan, New York City, the son of businessman Norbert Morehouse. He attended Harvard before joining the Union Army's 71st New York Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War. Morehouse served alongside Kevin Corcoran, who saved his life at the Battle of Chancellorsville; the Black physician Matthew Freeman successfully amputated his injured leg. He returned to his 23rd Street residence and, in 1864, participated in his father's abortive plan to buy up much of the Five Points. That same year, he supported Radical Democracy Party presidential candidate John C. Fremont over the Republican Abraham Lincoln, only to ultimately support Lincoln after Fremont backed out. In 1865, he married his late business associate Winfred Haverford's widow Elizabeth Haverford, whose interest in politics he admired, and hosted Frederick Douglass at a dinner where Douglass spoke out for the rights of ex-slaves. Morehouse would lose much of his fortune in a failed railroad deal, and he also experienced marital struggles that resulted in his wife becoming a drug addict.
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