Lewis, Joseph Horace, 1824-1904

Confederate General, Kentucky Court of Appeals Justice, U.S. Congressman.

Lewis was born in Barren County, Ky. in 1824. He graduated from Centre College in 1843, studied law in a Glasgow attorney's office and was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1845. He served as a state legislator from 1850 to 1853, but lost two bids for a seat in Congress. At the beginning of the Civil War, Lewis recruited soldiers for the Confederacy. He later became a colonel of the Sixth Regiment of the Kentucky Infantry. After the battle of Chickamauga, where he distinguished himself on the field, Lewis was promoted to brigadier-general. He commanded the famous "Orphan Brigade" of Kentuckians for the remainder of the war. Lewis resumed his political career at the war's end, returning to the General Assembly in 1868. He won election to Congress in 1870 and served until 1873. Lewis became a circuit judge in 1880. From 1882 to 1899 Lewis was a justice of the Kentucky Court of Appeals.