Levin Major Lewis
Levin Major Lewis | |
---|---|
Brigadier General | |
Commands held | 16th Missouri Infantry Regiment |
Battles/wars | American Civil War |
Levin Major Lewis (January 6, 1832 – May 28, 1886) was a
At about age 22, Lewis moved to Missouri and briefly practiced law before becoming a
Lewis was wounded and captured in an attack on the Union force at
After the war, Lewis returned to the ministry and at various times was president of Arcadia Female College, Arkansas Female College and Marvin College (
Early life
Levin Major Lewis was born in
Lewis attended school in Washington, D.C., in 1843, and then at the Maryland Military Academy and at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.[2][3] A member of the class of 1852, Lewis left Wesleyan in his sophomore year to study law.[4] In 1854 or 1855, he moved to Missouri and briefly practiced law before turning to the ministry.[2][3] He became a Methodist minister[3] in Liberty, Missouri, and Missouri City, Missouri.[2] Lewis was principal of Plattsburg College in Plattsburg, Missouri, from 1856 to 1859.[2][3]
Lewis's wife's maiden name was Margaret Barrow.[5]
American Civil War service
Levin Major Lewis was an early organizer and captain of a company in the pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard.
On June 18, 1862, Lewis was elected a captain of the Confederate 7th Missouri Infantry.
After the Battle of Lone Jack, Lewis's regiment was broken up and Lewis became a major of another 7th Missouri Infantry, later designated the 16th Missouri Infantry Regiment.[2][3][6] On December 4, 1862, Lewis was promoted to lieutenant colonel.[2][3] On December 7, 1862, the regiment fought at the Battle of Prairie Grove.[2] Lewis was promoted to colonel of the regiment on March 4, 1863,[3] or March 24, 1863.[2]
On July 4, 1863, Lewis led his regiment in the unsuccessful Confederate attack on the Union Army garrison at the Battle of Helena, Arkansas, where he was wounded and captured.[2][3] He was released from the prisoner of war camp at Johnson's Island, Ohio and exchanged in September 1864.[2][3][9] Lewis first went to the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, where he declined an appointment to the Confederate Senate from Confederate Missouri Governor Thomas Caute Reynolds and then returned to his regiment.[2]
Lewis was assigned to duty as a brigadier general on May 16, 1865, by General E. Kirby Smith so that he could command an infantry brigade with the appropriate rank, although the war was effectively ended by the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia a month earlier and the capture of Jefferson Davis by Union troops in Georgia six days earlier.[2][3][6][10] Smith also had no legal authority to promote officers to general officer rank.[11] While Lewis vigorously opposed surrender of the Trans-Mississippi Department, by mid-May 1865 Smith realized the Confederacy was defeated, further fighting was senseless and he surrendered his forces and department on May 26, 1865.[2]
Aftermath
After the war, Lewis returned to the Methodist ministry.
Lewis was president of Arcadia Female College in Missouri from 1870 through 1873, Arkansas Female College from 1874 to 1878 and Marvin College at Waxahachie, Texas in 1880.[2][3] He was also a professor of English and was the first Head of the English Department at Texas A&M University in the year 1878–1879.[2][3][12] In 1884, he left Waxahachie and was appointed pastor of the First Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas.[2]
Levin Major Lewis died on May 28, 1886, in Los Angeles, California where he had gone for health reasons.[2][3] He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Dallas, Texas.[2][3]
See also
Notes
- ISBN 978-0-8071-0823-9. p. 351.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8071-3148-0(pbk.). pp. 142–143.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8047-3641-1. p. 603.
- ^ Levin Major Lewis, Alumni Record of Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. Ebook. Page 80 of 111. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-8262-1809-4. p. 238.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8160-1055-4. p. 385.
- ISBN 978-1-891959-04-2. p. 92, Retrieved July 5, 2012.
- ^ Colonel Jackman later wrote: "I had hoped to convert him to Campbellism, but since Yankee bullets could not penetrate his head, there was no use in trying Campbellite argument, and I should have to give up. He is a Methodist to this day." Jackman, pub. 1997, p. 92.
- Red River Campaign in April 1864. This is inconsistent with other sources which state that Lewis was a prisoner of war at that time. The 16th Missouri Infantry Regiment fought at the Battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana on April 9, 1864, but it was commanded by its lieutenant colonel, Pleasant W. H. Cumming.
- ISBN 978-0-8129-1726-0. First published 1959 by McKay. First published New York, McKay, 1959. p. 481.
- ^ Warner, 1959, pp. xvi, 351
- ^ 'Texas A&M University English Department web site'. Retrieved July 4, 2012.
References
- Allardice, Bruce S. Confederate Colonels: A Biographical Register. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8262-1809-4.
- Allardice, Bruce S. More Generals in Gray. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1995. ISBN 978-0-8071-3148-0.
- ISBN 978-0-8129-1726-0. First published 1959 by McKay.
- Eicher, John H., and ISBN 978-0-8047-3641-1.
- Jackman, Sidney Drake. Norton, Richard L., ed. 'Behind Enemy Lines: The Memoirs and Writings of Brigadier General Sidney Drake Jackman, CSA'. Springfield, MO: Oak Hills Pub., 1997. ISBN 978-1-891959-04-2.
- Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File, 1988. ISBN 978-0-8160-1055-4.
- 'Texas A&M University English Department web site'. Retrieved July 4, 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-8071-0823-9.