Brigadier General Lewis A. Grant

Brigadier General Lewis A. Grant was a Union Army officer and Medal of Honor recipient who commanded the 6th Vermont Volunteer Infantry Regiment and later a brigade in the VI Corps during the American Civil War. He participated in major engagements including Gettysburg, the Overland Campaign, and the Valley Campaigns of 1864, earning recognition for leadership at Cedar Creek and Petersburg. After the war he resumed legal practice and served in public roles in Vermont.

Early life and education

Born in Salisbury, Vermont, he was the son of local farmers and grew up in a New England environment influenced by Vermont Whig politics and regional institutions such as Middlebury College and University of Vermont. He attended common schools and studied law under established practitioners in Addison County, Vermont before gaining admission to the bar and establishing a practice in Montpelier, Vermont. His early civic connections included participation in Freemasonry lodges and involvement with local organizations that linked him to figures in Vermont Republican Party circles and legal networks centered on the Washington County, Vermont courthouse.

Civil War service

At the outbreak of the American Civil War, he raised and organized the 6th Vermont Infantry Regiment under authority of the Governor of Vermont and was commissioned as its colonel, joining the Army of the Potomac. He led the regiment during the Gettysburg Campaign and in defensive operations along the Rappahannock River. During the Overland Campaign he served in actions at Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House, where brigade-level command and regimental cohesion were critical amid leadership transitions in the VI Corps. His conduct during the Siege of Petersburg contributed to tactical successes in trench operations and assaults against Confederate lines defended by forces under commanders associated with Robert E. Lee and corps leaders such as A.P. Hill.

In October 1864, at the Battle of Cedar Creek, he performed an act of leadership and personal courage that later led to the award of the Medal of Honor; his brigade helped rout elements of the Army of the Shenandoah’s Confederate opponent during the counterattacks that followed the morning disaster caused by Jubal Early’s surprise offensive. He received promotion to brevet ranks for gallantry, was brevetted to brigadier general and later recognized with brevet promotions to higher ranks at war’s end, reflecting common postbellum breveting practices exemplified by officers like Joshua L. Chamberlain, Gouverneur K. Warren, and Winfield S. Hancock.

Postwar military and public career

Following mustering out, he returned to civilian life in Vermont and reestablished a legal practice in Montpelier, Vermont, engaging with institutions such as the Vermont Bar Association and municipal governance bodies in Washington County, Vermont. He participated in veterans’ organizations including the Grand Army of the Republic and attended reunions related to the Battle of Gettysburg and the Petersburg National Battlefield remembrance activities. He served in appointed and elected local positions, interfacing with state governors like Frederick Holbrook and later public figures in Vermont politics.

His postwar reputation connected him with commemorative and educational efforts involving institutions such as Middlebury College, University of Vermont, and regional historical societies that preserved records of the New England regimental histories and Civil War archives. He was involved in cemetery dedications and monument unveilings on battlefields where units of the VI Corps fought alongside formations like the II Corps and the XII Corps.

Personal life and legacy

He married and raised a family in Montpelier, Vermont, where his descendants participated in civic life and connections to Vermont Legislative Hall activities. His legacy was commemorated through regimental histories, veterans’ memoir collections, and inclusion in state military rolls kept by the Vermont Historical Society and cemetery records at sites like Green Mount Cemetery. Monuments and markers honoring the 6th Vermont Infantry Regiment and actions at Cedar Creek and Petersburg cite his leadership alongside fellow officers such as George J. Stannard and Lewis Addison Grant’s contemporaries in New England volunteer regiments.

His Medal of Honor citation and service record are preserved in military compilations used by scholars studying the American Civil War leadership, regimental organization, and postwar veterans’ culture. His career is referenced in works on infantry operations of the Army of the Potomac and in state histories that document Vermont in the Civil War.

Category:1828 births Category:1918 deaths Category:Union Army generals Category:People from Salisbury, Vermont