February 18, 1817 - - July 5, 1863
Below is a general history of Brig. General Lewis A. Armistead. To learn more about Lewis Addison Armistead, his life and his service to both the United States and Confederate Armies, please read some of the following books:
"Trust in God and Fear Nothing" by Wayne E. Motts
"Nothing But Glory, Pickett's Division at Gettysburg" by Kathy Georg Harrison and John W. Busey
"The Third Day at Gettysburg and Beyond" edited by Gary W. Gallagher
"Pickett's Men" by Walter Harrison
"The Virginia Regimental Histories Series" by Various Authors
A wide variety of other books are available on the Battles and Campaigns in which General Armistead served.
These pages and photographs may not be copied or reprinted without permission.
Lewis Addison Armistead was born on February 18, 1817 in New Bern, North Carolina to Walker Keith Armistead and Elizabeth Stanly.
Lewis grew up near the mountains of Virginia on the family farm, Ben Lomond, near the town of Upperville, Virginia. He was accepted to West Point on March 21, 1833 but tendered his resignation to the school (for the second time, the first time, because of an illness that left him behind in his studies his first year at West Point and he was certain to fail his annual exam) on January 29, 1836 for the incident of "cracking a mess hall plate over the head of fellow classmate, Jubal Early."
Lewis still was able to serve his country and was appointed to the 6th U.S. Infantry Regiment as a Second Lieutenant in 1839. This was due in part because of the Seminole Indian uprisings in Florida, and largely because of the influence of both his father, General Walker Keith Armistead and also that of Edward Stanly, his uncle who was a Congressman from North Carolina. He served three years in Florida and was transferred to Jefferson Barracks, just south of St. Louis, Missouri in 1842.
Lewis married for the first time in 1844 to Cecilia Lee Love. It was also in this year that Lewis met someone who would be a life-long friend, fellow Army officer Winfield Scott Hancock. To Lewis and Cecilia, a son was born, Walker Keith Armistead, on December 11, 1844 at Saint David's Parish, Alabama. Their second child, a daughter, Flora Lee, was born on June 26, 1846.
Lewis served in the Mexican War, and was brevetted to the honorary rank of Captain for his actions in battle. After the Mexican War in 1849, Armistead was assigned to recruiting duty in Kentucky, where he was diagnosed with a severe case of Erysipelas, a degenerative skin disease that destroys tissue. The diseased tissue was removed and he later recovered. This was the first of many misfortunes that would befall the Captain.
In April, 1850, Lewis and Cecilia, lost their little girl, Flora Lee. She is buried at Jefferson Barracks. Later that same year, Cecilia also passed away, on December 12, 1850 from an unknown cause. Also during this period of time, the Armistead family home in Virginia, Ben Lomond, burned, destroying practically everything. Armistead took leave in October of 1852 to go home and help his family.
While home on leave, he married for the second time. His bride was Cornelia L.T. Jamesson, the widow of a naval midshipman who had died in 1845. Lewis and Cornelia were married in Christ Church in Alexandria, Va., on March 17, 1853. They both went west when Armistead returned to duty shortly thereafter.
The newlyweds apparently had, and lost a child. Also buried at Jefferson Barracks is another grave, that of an infant, Lewis B. Armistead, who died on Dec 6, 1854. The infant is buried next to Flora Lee Armistead. Tragedy again struck Armistead, the next year, his second wife, Cornelia, passed away during a cholera epidemic, on August 2, 1855 at Fort Riley, Kansas.
Tragedy seems to have followed Lewis; he had lost two children, his two wives, his family's home, and suffered a severe illness, all in a period of about 6 years.
But more turmoil was not far away. There was soon the hint of secession by the Southern States, bringing with it the threat of War. With the attack on Fort Sumter, South Carolina in April of 1861, many Southern men were faced with the difficult decision of remaining with the Army they had served loyally for most of their lives, or leaving to fight for their home states. Most would resign their commissions, for to fight against their respective states would mean fighting their own families; this was something that many could and would not do. So, like many of his Southern comrades, Lewis A. Armistead resigned from the U.S. Army on May 26, 1861 to serve his beloved Virginia.
Bvt. Major Lewis A. Armistead's resignation papers from the U.S. Army
It was shortly after this, in an incident popularized in Michael Shaara's "Killer Angels," that Armistead attended a tearful farewell party. Held for the departing Southerners by their brother officers and wives at the home of Winfield and Almira Hancock in Los Angeles, California. Lewis gave to Hancock's wife, Almira, his prayer book, inscribed with "Trust in God and Fear Nothing." Other possessions he also gave the Hancock's, to be forwarded to his family in the event of his death. To his friend Winfield, he gave a new Major's uniform and goodbyes were said, in what was to be a final farewell between dear and trusted friends.
Traveling east, Lewis arrived in Richmond, Va., around mid September of 1861, and was appointed to the rank of Major in the Confederate Army on September 14, 1861. Within less than two weeks, he was appointed full Colonel and given command of the 57th Virginia Infantry Regiment which was in training just north of Richmond, VA.
On April 1, 1862 he was promoted to Brigadier General and was given the command of a brigade of Infantry. The brigade was made up of five Virginia regiments, the 9th, 14th, 38th, 53rd, and his old regiment, the 57th.
His service is document in accounts of the battles in which he fought. Armistead served in the battles of Seven Pines, the Seven Days (including a significant, but tragic, attack at Malvern Hill), Sharpsburg, and the Suffolk Campaign. But his most famous service came at his last fight, the Battle of Gettysburg, in July, 1863. In the lead when the remnants of Pickett's Division and other units pierced the Union Line on July 3, he crossed the wall at the Angle, his hat upon his sword, and he was then shot down. The badly wounded Armistead, by then captured by Federal soldiers, was immediately attended by Union Captain Henry H. Bingham, a Masonic Brother and member of Major General Winfield Hancock's staff. To Captain Bingham, Armistead pleaded "Tell General Hancock from me, that I have done him and you all a grave injustice." Later it was learned that General Hancock, his long time friend, was wounded almost at the same time as had Armistead.
Both General's Armistead and Hancock, as well as Captain Bingham were members of the Masonic Order. General Armistead was a member of the Alexandria-Washington Lodge, No. 22 in Alexandria, Virginia. The "Friend to Friend" Masonic Statue by Artist Ron Tunison, located in Gettysburg, PA depicts the wounded General Armistead being attended by Captain Bingham. The Statue was commissioned by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.
The Friend to Friend Monument at Gettysburg
There is no evidence that the two saw each other in the two days of life left to Armistead. His wounds had not been considered life-threatening, (he was wounded in the upper right arm and above the left knee) but he was exhausted both mentally and physically, and died at the nearby Spangler farm, a temporary Union field hospital, about 9 a.m. July 5, 1863.
He was buried at the Spangler Farm and later re-buried alongside his uncle, George Armistead (the defender of the original "Star Spangled Banner" at Fort McHenry during the War of 1812), at St. Paul's Cemetery in Baltimore.
The plaque marking the gravesite of General Lewis Addison Armistead
United Daughter's of the Confederacy Plaque
The Plaque that was dedicated by the United Daughters of the Confederacy reads:
Within This Cemetery Is Buried
Brig. General
Lewis A. Armistead
Born, Newbern, NC
February 18, 1817
Died at Gettysburg, PA
July 3, 1863
Where Men Under His Command
Made The Farthest Northern
Advance By Any Southern Troops
Captain, U.S. Army
Before Joining Confederacy
This Tablet Dedicated
October 11, 1949 By
Gen. Lewis A. Armistead
Chapter # 2136
United Daughters of
the Confederacy
Brig. General Lewis A. Armistead's sword is on display at the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia.
ARMISTEAD'S BRIGADE
Lewis Addison Armistead
Lewis A. Armistead was appointed Brig. General on April 1, 1862.
Richard H. Carter
Major and Quartermaster of Armistead's Brigade. Carter was appointed to the Staff on October 4, 1862.
William W. Herbert
Herbert was appointed Captain and Assistant Commissary of Subsistence of the 57th VA on October 4, 1861. He was appointed as Major and Commissary of Subsistence on Armistead's staff on May 8, 1862.
James D. Darden
Darden was appointed as Captain and Assistant Adjutant General on Armistead's staff on July 31, 1862.
Peyton Randolph
Randolph was assigned to Armistead's staff as Assistant Provost Marshal on Sept 7, 1862. He held several different position on Armistead's Staff. He was appointed to the rank of temporary Captain on the Staff on May 26, 1863.
Benjamin J. Hawthorne
Captain Hawthorne was temporarily serving on Armistead's Staff prior to the Battle of Gettysburg.
Walker Keith Armistead
This was Armistead's son. He was a 1st Lt. and Aide-de-Camp to his father. Walker Keith was appointed to the Staff on April 30, 1863.
William L. Randolph
Randolph was appointed to Armistead's Staff on May 9, 1862 as 1st Lt. and Ordnance Officer.
James N. McAlpine
Was appointed as Staff Surgeon on June 3, 1861.
James E. Joyner, Chaplain
Appointed in July 1862 from the 57th VA.
Regiments
9th Virginia
Major John Crowder Owens
John Owens enlisted in the Confederate Army on April 20, 1861 at Portsmouth, Virginia. He was wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg and died at Pickett's Division Hospital on July 4th, 1863. He is buried in the Oakwood Cemetery in Portsmouth, Virginia.
14th Virginia
Colonel James Gregory Hodges
James Hodges was from Portsmouth, VA. He was commissioned as a Colonel on May 17, 1861. He was killed at Gettysburg, coming within feet of the enemy line at the Angle.
38th Virginia
Colonel Edward Claxton Edmonds
Edward Edmonds was commissioned as a Colonel on June 12, 1861. He was killed during the battle of Gettysburg.
53rd Virginia
Colonel William Roane Aylett
William Aylett enlisted in the Confederate Army on May 13, 1861. He was wounded during the cannonade at Gettysburg.
57th Virginia
Colonel John Bowie Magruder
John Magruder enlisted on June 22, 1861. He was wounded in the chest and right arm steps away from Cushing's Cannon's. He was captured and died on July 5th at U.S. XII Corps Hospital. He is now buried in Richmond, Va.
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© Cynthia M. Buck-Thompson 1997 - 2010