John Lewis Peyton

John Lewis Peyton (September 15, 1824 – May 21, 1896) was an American lawyer, diplomat, state agent for the Confederate States Army, and an author from Virginia. During the beginning of the American Civil War he moved to Europe, and in 1861 became a state agent for North Carolina for the southern Confederate States Army cause.

Early life, family, and education He was born on September 15, 1824, near Staunton, Virginia. His mother was Anne Montgomery Lewis, and his father was John Howe Peyton, a Virginia lawyer, politician, and planter. His great-grandfather was Colonel William Preston, a colonel in the Virginia militia during the American Revolutionary War.

Peyton studied at Virginia Military Institute (class of 1843); and University of Virginia (bachelor of laws degree 1844). He served as a lieutenant colonel in the Virginia militia. the daughter of Colonel John C. Washington of Lenoir County, North Carolina. He had a son, Lawrence Washington Howe Peyton; and a daughter, Simone Marie Peyton. They lived on an estate named Steephill in Staunton.

Career Peyton practiced law until 1851, when he was sent by the U.S. Secretary of State Daniel Weber on special mission to England, France and Austria for the Millard Fillmore administration. He was a fellow of the British Royal Geographical Society. Peyton also propagated misconceptions about the pre-Columbian culture of mound builders.