Lewis
Addison Armistead was born February 18th 1817 in New Bern, North
Carolina the son of Walker Keith and Elizabeth (Stanly) Armistead. He received an appointment to the United
States Military Academy at West Point in 1834, but had to leave the school
after busting a plate over the head of fellow cadet Jubal Early. With the help of his father, Armistead
obtained a commission to Second Lieutenant in the 6th United States
Infantry on July 10th 1839.
He made First Lieutenant on March 30th 1844. He married his first wife Cecelia Lee Love a
cousin of Robert E Lee the same year. He
saw duty in Arkansas and along the Oklahoma border. Armistead received a Brevet to Captain for
actions during the Mexican American War.
Following the war he did duty in Kentucky, and at Fort Dodge. His first wife died in 1850 and he remarried
in 1853. Armistead continued doing
military duty at various post in the west and he lost his second wife as well
two children. He was in command of a
garrison in San Diego, California when the Civil War started along with his
friend Winfield Scott Hancock. Armistead
resigned his commission and began the trip back to Virginia to join the
Confederacy, he told his friend Hancock, "Goodbye; you can never know what
this has cost me."
Arriving in
Virginia Armistead was made Colonel of the 57th Virginia Infantry. He was a brigade commander at the Battle of
Seven Pines, Malvern Hill and Second Bull Run.
Armistead was the Provost Marshal during the Sharpsburg Campaign. He was back commanding a brigade at the
Battle of Fredericksburg. As a part of
confederate Lieutenant General James Longstreet’s Corps Armistead missed the
Battle of Chancellorsville.
Armistead
arrived at Gettysburg along with the rest of General George Pickett’s Division
on the evening of July 2nd 1863.
The next day Armistead led of his men, in what would become known as
Pickett’s Charge. He crossed the field
in front of his Brigade, reaching the stonewall at the “Angle”, getting farther
than any other brigade that day.
Crossing the wall, he was shot three times in the arm and below the
knee. Armistead’s wounds weren’t thought
to be mortal. He was taken the hospital
on the Spangler Farm for treatment where he died as chief surgeon Doctor Daniel
Brinton said, “not from his wounds directly, but from secondary fever and prostration,”
on July 5th 1863. His body
was removed to the Old Saint Paul’s Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland. General Lee wrote in his after action report,
"Brigadier-Generals Armistead, Barksdale, Garnett and Semmes died as they
had lived, discharging the highest duties of patriots with devotion that never
faltered and courage that shrank from no danger."
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