Representative Barbour Lewis

Barbour Lewis (January 5, 1818 – July 15, 1893) was an American politician, attorney, Civil War officer, and a member of the United States House of Representatives for Tennessee’s 9th congressional district. A Republican representing Tennessee during the Reconstruction era, he served one term in Congress and participated in the legislative process at a significant moment in American history, representing the interests of his constituents during the complex post–Civil War period.

Lewis was born in Alburgh, Vermont, on January 5, 1818. He attended the local common schools before pursuing higher education in the growing Midwest. He enrolled at Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois, an institution noted for its early commitment to liberal arts education on the frontier, and graduated in 1846. While a student there, he was a founder of the Sigma Pi Literary Society, reflecting an early interest in debate, public speaking, and intellectual life that would later inform his legal and political career.

After completing his undergraduate studies, Lewis taught school in Mobile, Alabama, gaining experience in education and the culture of the antebellum South. He then pursued legal training at the law department of Harvard University, one of the leading law schools in the United States. Upon graduation from Harvard, he was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law, establishing himself as an attorney at a time when the nation was increasingly divided over issues of slavery and sectional conflict.

By 1860, Lewis had aligned himself with the emerging Republican Party. That year he served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention, participating in the party’s national deliberations on the eve of the Civil War. Following the outbreak of the conflict, he enlisted in the Union Army on August 1, 1861. He served as captain of Company G, First Missouri Volunteers, contributing to the Union war effort in a border state of strategic importance. In 1863, military authorities appointed him judge of the civil commission court at Memphis, Tennessee, a position that placed him at the intersection of military authority and civil governance in an occupied Southern city. He was discharged from military service on November 15, 1864.

In the immediate postwar years, Lewis remained in Tennessee and became involved in local government during Reconstruction. From 1867 to 1869, he served as president of the commissioners of Shelby County, Tennessee, a role that gave him significant responsibility for county administration and public affairs in and around Memphis. His work in this capacity helped establish his reputation as a Republican leader in the region and laid the groundwork for his subsequent election to national office.

Lewis was elected as a Republican to the Forty-third Congress, representing Tennessee’s 9th congressional district. He served in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1873, to March 3, 1875. During his single term in Congress, he contributed to the legislative process at a time when federal policy toward the former Confederate states, civil rights, and economic reconstruction were central issues. Although he sought to continue his service, he was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election in 1874 to the Forty-fourth Congress, as political power in the South shifted away from Reconstruction-era Republicans.

After leaving Congress, Lewis resumed the practice of law in Memphis. In 1878 he moved to St. Louis, Missouri, continuing his legal and public service career in another major Mississippi River city. He subsequently received a federal appointment in the United States General Land Office in Salt Lake City, Utah, reflecting continued confidence in his administrative abilities. He served in that position until his resignation in 1879.

In his later years, Lewis moved farther west, settling in Whitman County in the Territory of Washington. There he turned to agricultural pursuits and stock raising, participating in the development of the Pacific Northwest during a period of rapid settlement and economic change. Barbour Lewis died in Colfax, Washington, on July 15, 1893, at the age of 75. He was interred at Colfax Cemetery, closing a life that had spanned the early republic, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the nation’s westward expansion.