Levin Major Lewis

Levin Major Lewis (January 6, 1832 – May 28, 1886) was a Confederate States Army colonel during the American Civil War. On May 16, 1865, he was assigned to duty as a brigadier general by General E. Kirby Smith when the war in the Trans-Mississippi Department was almost over, but he was not officially appointed by Confederate President Jefferson Davis and confirmed by the Confederate Senate to that grade.

At about age 22, Lewis moved to Missouri and briefly practiced law before becoming a Methodist minister. He was the principal of Plattsburg College from 1856 to 1859. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he organized a company of the pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard and was elected captain. In April 1861, he was elected colonel of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment of the 5th Division of the Missouri State Guard, a one-year regiment. After the end of the regiment's term, he was briefly an aide-de-camp for Major General Earl Van Dorn and then was elected a captain of the Confederate 7th Missouri Infantry. He was wounded four times at the Battle of Lone Jack, Missouri on August 16, 1862. The regiment soon broke up and Lewis became a major of another 7th Missouri Infantry, later designated the 16th Missouri Infantry. He became colonel of that regiment on March 24, 1863.

Lewis was wounded and captured in an attack on the Union force at Helena, Arkansas, on July 4, 1863. He was released from the prisoner of war camp at Johnson's Island, Ohio and exchanged in September 1864. Lewis declined an appointment from Confederate Missouri Governor Thomas Caute Reynolds to the Confederate Senate and returned to the army. Lewis was assigned to duty 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 and the promotion could not be made through a legal appointment by Jefferson Davis or confirmation by the Confederate Senate.

After the war, Lewis returned to the ministry and at various times was president of Arcadia Female College, Arkansas Female College and Marvin College (Waxahachie, Texas). He also was a professor of English for a time at Texas A&M University. In 1884, he was appointed pastor of the First Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas.

Early life Levin Major Lewis was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on January 6, 1832. His parents were John Kendall and Mary (Jones) Lewis, a family of wealthy planters in Dorchester County, Maryland. In 1854 or 1855, he moved to Missouri and briefly practiced law before turning to the ministry.

American Civil War service Levin Major Lewis was an early organizer and captain of a company in the pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard. In March 1862, he became a volunteer aide-de-camp for Major General Earl Van Dorn.

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. 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. Smith also had no legal authority to promote officers to general officer rank. 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. In 1884, he left Waxahachie and was appointed pastor of the First Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas.

Levin Major Lewis died on May 28, 1886, in Los Angeles, California where he had gone for health reasons. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Dallas, Texas.