Moses Lamb was born around 1850 in North Carolina. Lamb worked as a laborer and resided in Camden County, North Carolina. Lamb was charged with larceny on January 25, 1875, and sentenced to two years in the North Carolina State Penitentiary. Lamb was recorded in the North Carolina State Penitentiary's Descriptive Register for the Years 1869-1884 as prisoner number 1083. In the descriptive register, Lamb's race is noted as “colored."  Lamb was twenty-five years old when he was arrested. Lamb was noted as possessing no formal education, meaning he could not read or write at that time. During his incarceration, Lamb was leased to the Western North Carolina Railroad Company to work on railroad construction. He was discharged from the railroad on December 15, 1876.