jurist military politician Soldier statesman
Joseph Horace Lewis was the son of John and Eliza Martz (Reed) Lewis. His father was a prominent and prosperous citizen of southern Barren County, Kentucky, United States and it was there, near Glasgow on October 29, 1824, that the younger Lewis was born.
His early education was sufficient to secure him admission to Centre College which in the days before the Civil War was one of the leading educational institutions in the West. He was graduated from Centre in 1843.
Upon graduation Lewis began the study of law in the office of Judge C. C. Tompkins of Glasgow. He was admitted to the bar in 1845 and began the practice of law at Glasgow. His later career as a jurist and the high preferment he attained in that field would indicate, even if other testimony were lacking, that his law training was not insufficient nor his legal ability of a low order. For the time being, however, his law practice was subordinated to politics.
In 1850 he was elected to the state House of Representatives. He was reelected in 1851 and in 1853. The Journals of the House for these years do not indicate that he was active as a legislator. Lewis found it necessary in the troubled years before the war to reconstruct his principles. He was the Democratic candidate for Congress in 1857 and again in 1861 but was defeated on both occasions.
Upon the establishment of Camp Dick Robinson he began recruiting in Kentucky for the Confederate army, and in September 1861 he was commissioned colonel of the 6th Regiment of Kentucky Infantry. In September 1863, as a result of his part in the battle of Chickamauga, he was made brigadier-general. With that rank he commanded the famous "Orphan Brigade" for the remainder of the war. He opposed Sherman in his march across Georgia and the Carolinas and surrendered with the Confederate forces at Washington Court House.
At the close of the war Lewis returned to Kentucky and resumed the practice of law at Glasgow. In the general reaction toward the Confederates in Kentucky he was elected to the state legislature in 1868. In 1870 he was elected to Congress to fill a vacancy and the next year was elected for a full term. After a few years spent in the practice of law he was elected circuit judge in 1880 but resigned in 1881 to seek election to a vacancy on the court of appeals. In 1882 he was reelected for a term of eight years and in 1890 again elected for eight years.
Upon the expiration of his term in 1899 Lewis retired to his farm in Scott County and engaged in no further public activity beyond serving as chairman of the Goebel Reward Commission after 1900.
Lewis served with distinction as a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He fought throughout the war and was frequently cited for his bravery in action, notably at Shiloh, Murfreesboro, and Chickamauga. Seventeen years of continuous service on the court of appeals constituted the most valuable contribution made by Lewis to the state. His probity gave authority to his decisions and contributed no little to the high respect accorded to the court.
Lewis had been elected to the legislature as a Whig but upon the collapse of that party he transferred his loyalty to the Democratic party to which he afterward steadily adhered. He was ardent in his Southern sympathies and in 1860 was active in his support of Breckinridge for the presidency.
Lewis had married, on November 29, 1845, Sarah H. Rogers of Glasgow, who died in 1858 leaving two children. After the war he was married to Cassandra (Flournoy) Johnson, widow of Jilson P. Johnson of Louisville.
