b. 17/01/1828 Winhall, Vermont. d. 20/03/1918 Minneapolis, Minnesota.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 03/05/1863 Salem Heights, Virginia.
Lewis A Grant MOH
Lewis Addison Grant was the youngest of ten children born to James and Elizabeth Wyman Grant. The boyhood of Lewis was spent in the usual strict ways of the old New Englanders. He attended the district school of Townsend, Vermont until he was 16 years old. The following year he taught in the same school. Later he attended the academy at Chester, Vermont. After academy days he taught school for 5 years meanwhile reading law. He was
admitted to the bar in 1855 and began the practice of law in Bellows Falls, Vermont.
Lewis Addison Grant was commissioned Major of the 5th Vermont on August 15, 1861. Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, he participated in the 1862 campaigns in the East. At Savage’s Station in June the 5th Vermont suffered grievous causalities. He was promoted to Colonel on September 15, assumed command of the famed Old Vermont Brigade, and led it at Fredericksburg, where he fell wounded. Given permanent command of the
brigade, he gallantly performed during the battles of 1863 to 1864. In the Chancellorsville Campaign in May 1863, the Vermonters captured 3 Confederate flags in the action at Salem Church, earning the Medal of Honor.
He participated in the Gettysburg Campaign and, with the rank of Brigadier General, fought at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor. At the
Wilderness his brigade lost nearly half its members. During the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864, he commanded his division at Cedar Creek, on October 19. In this battle the Confederates launched a surprised attack at dawn, crushing the Union lines. The routed Federals reformed on his line, from which they counterattacked in the afternoon, defeating the Southern troops. For his distinguished conduct, he received the rank of brevet Major General. Wounded during the war’s final week, he mustered in August 1865. Declining a commission in the Regular Army, he journeyed westward after the war.
Lewis married S. Agasta Hartwell March 11, 1857. They had one daughter, Grant Stone. Mrs. Grant died January 27, 1859. Four years later Grant married Mary Helen Pierce. They had two sons: Captain James Colfax Grant and Dr. Ulysses Sherman Grant. General Grant lived in Illinois and Iowa before permanently moving to Minneapolis, Minnesota. From 1890 to 1893 he served as assistant Secretary of War.
BURIAL LOCATION: LAKEWOOD CEMETERY, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.
SECTION 8, LOT 416, GRAVE 2
LOCATION OF MEDAL: FAMILY.
