Lunsford Lindsay Lomax
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Lunsford Lindsay Lomax (November 4, 1835 – May 28, 1913) was the fourth president of
Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...
and an officer in the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
who resigned his commission to join the
Confederate Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...
at the outbreak of the American Civil War. He had maintained a close friendship with his West Point classmate Fitzhugh Lee, and served under him as a brigadier in the Overland Campaign. He was then given command of the Valley District, where he supervised intelligence-gathering operations by
Mosby's Rangers The 43rd Virginia Cavalry Battalion, also known as Mosby's Rangers, Mosby's Raiders, or Mosby's Men, was a battalion of partisan cavalry in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. Noted for their lightning strike raids on Union tar ...
.


Early and family life

Born in
Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay Europe Ireland *Newport, County Mayo, a town on the ...
, Rhode Island on November 4, 1835 to the former Elizabeth Virginia Lindsay (1800-after 1860) and her husband, Major Mann Page Lomax (1787-1842), Lunsford Lomax was descended from the First Families of Virginia. His father was a career U.S. Army officer, specializing in artillery, who had served in New Orleans during the War of 1812, and married in 1820 during his leave in
Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...
. He was named for his great grandfather, Lunsford Lomax (1705-1772) of "Portabago" plantation in Caroline County, who also served part-time in the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1742 until 1756 representing that county before the American Revolutionary War. His grandfather Thomas Lomax (1750-1835) served on the Caroline County Committee of Safety during the Revolutionary War and later in the Virginia House of Delegates. His father died of tuberculosis in Cambridge, Massachusetts when Lomax was seven. His mother raised him and his five sisters in Norfolk, but by 1860 the Lomax womenfolk (his sisters remaining unmarried) had moved to Washington, D.C. After a private education, Lomax received an "at-large" appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He graduated in 1856 with fellow Virginia classmate and friend Fitzhugh Lee. Lunsford Lomax married Elizabeth Winter Payne (1850-1932), like him descended from the First Families of Virginia, on February 20, 1873 in Fauquier County, Virginia, and they would have daughters Elizabeth Lindsay Lomax Wood (1874–1951) and Anne Tayloe Lomax (1887–1961).


U.S. Army career

Assigned to the prestigious 2nd Cavalry regiment, Lomax fought on the frontier and served in Bleeding Kansas during the years immediately preceding the conflict.


American Civil War

Lomax resigned from the army in April 1861, and shortly thereafter accepted a captain's commission in Virginia state militia. Initially assigned to Joseph E. Johnston's staff as assistant adjutant general, Lomax later served as
inspector general An inspector general is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is "inspectors general". Australia The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (Australia) (IGIS) is an independent statutory off ...
for
Benjamin McCulloch Brigadier-General Benjamin McCulloch (November 11, 1811 – March 7, 1862) was a soldier in the Texas Revolution, a Texas Ranger, a major-general in the Texas militia and thereafter a major in the United States Army (United States Volunteers) ...
. Promoted to
lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...
, he was transferred back to the Eastern Theater. Appointed colonel of the
11th Virginia Cavalry The 11th Virginia Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment raised in Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fought mostly with the Army of Northern Virginia. The men were primarily recruited from Hard ...
in time for the Gettysburg campaign, Lomax was promoted to brigadier general after the battle. Lomax fought his brigade under the division command of his old classmate Fitzhugh Lee from Culpeper Courthouse through
the Wilderness The Wilderness may refer to wilderness, a natural environment. The Wilderness may also refer to: Film and television * Badland Hunters, ''The Wilderness'' (2024 film), a South Korean Netflix film Places *The Wilderness (Virginia), a dense fores ...
and around
Petersburg Petersburg, or Petersburgh, may refer to: Places Australia *Petersburg, former name of Peterborough, South Australia Canada * Petersburg, Ontario Russia *Saint Petersburg, sometimes referred to as Petersburg United States *Peterborg, U.S. Virg ...
. He was promoted to major general in August 1864 and was assigned to assist General Jubal Early in the
Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge- ...
. After escaping capture at the
Battle of Woodstock The Battle of Tom's Brook was fought on October 9, 1864, in Shenandoah County, Virginia, during Philip Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley Campaign of the American Civil War. It resulted in a significant Union victory, one that was mockingly dubbed Th ...
, Lomax was given command of the Valley District. When
Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...
was evacuated, Lomax tried to join forces with John Echols's men at
Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner John Lynch (1740–1820), John Lynch, the city's populati ...
, but unable to do so, Lomax finally surrendered with Joe Johnston in North Carolina. Lesser known is Lomax's role in the formation of the partisan units that fought in Northern Virginia during the latter part of the War. In a statement made to Caroline Harper Long shortly before his death, published in the Baltimore Sun in 1920 by Beth Rhoades, entitled "Gray Ghost of the Confederacy," John Mosby writes:
General Lomax was with McCulloch in West Tennessee and after McCulloch was killed he was with Van Dorn. In the Fall of 1862 he was ordered to Richmond on a special mission. He was then detailed back to Van Dorn just before Christmas. He was a Lt. Colonel and placed in command of the 11th Virginia Cavalry. When Lomax was in Richmond he learned of his future transfer to Virginia. He had a scout sent up from Tennessee to assess the military information situation and to set up
partisan Partisan may refer to: Military * Partisan (weapon), a pole weapon * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line Films * ''Partisan'' (film), a 2015 Australian film * ''Hell River'', a 1974 Yugoslavian film also know ...
scouts in the Shenandoah Valley. Up to that time everything in this area had been disorganized and difussed icand relatively ineffective. Lomax wanted a scouting system identical with the very excellent system which existed in West Tennessee. He picked his men from amongst the scouts in West Tennessee and selected a man by the name of Boyd. He had been a railroad detective and he was among the best they had. He arrived in Richmond several days before Lomax left and Boyd proceeded on to Staunton where he was met by one of Winder's detectives by the name of Turner. Boyd recruited and trained some 35 to 40 men in Rockingham, Shenandoah and Augusta counties and formed them into the Linville Partisan Rangers. He taught them the fine points of scouting, telegraph line tapping, use of blasting powder, and all the other things a good scout needs to know. Boyd was one of Van Dorn's best scouts and did a fine job of setting up the partisans in the Valley.

Lomax had also arranged for me to begin independent operations in Loudoun County to the North. I got started about the first of the year. At that time I only had a few men, less than a dozen but we soon expanded and trained the men we had. We never were a large group nor were we designed to be a large fighting force. We had to form up and dissolve into the countryside in a few minutes. Secrecy was our greatest ally. We didn't drill like regulars and we had no permanent camps to provide that camp drudgery so disliked by regulars. We used dinner bells and whistles to signal with and to cause assembly. ...

In June of that year my outfit was designated the 43rd Battalion Partisan Rangers. But on his way back to Tennessee Boyd was captured and in fact did not get back to Tennessee before Lomax was transferred to Virginia. In February, after the capture of Boyd became known, the Linville Rangers were put under the command of Jake Cook but they were never officially recognized by the Confederate government and they were never paid. But they were active throughout the valley and they provided good information to Lomax.

Part of the opacity that surrounds Lomax's military career rests with him being the commanding officer of Mosby and the other partisan units in the Valley that brought information to General
Lee Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese ...
and others. In fact, Mosby told Caroline Harper, an acquaintance who had been raised in the same aristocratic circles of Old Virginia, the illegitimate daughter of a prominent politician, that he had not felt he could even give the interview until Lomax's death, in order to protect him, for they were the closest of friends, both during and after the war.


Postwar years

After Appomattox, Lomax farmed in
Caroline Caroline may refer to: People * Caroline (given name), a feminine given name * J. C. Caroline (born 1933), American college and National Football League player * Jordan Caroline (born 1996), American (men's) basketball player Places Antarctica * ...
and Fauquier counties for over 20 years. He was appointed president of the Virginia Agriculture and Mechanical College in 1886, serving until resigning in 1891. He continued contact with Jubal Early, and months after the death of former Confederate President
Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...
, vehemently objected to his daughter Winnie's proposed marriage to Alfred Wilkinson, a New Yorker whose father had been an abolitionist. Lomax later became a clerk in the War Department assembling and editing the Official Records of the war and was for a time commissioner of Gettysburg National Park.


Death and legacy

Lomax died May 28, 1913 and was buried in Warrenton, Virginia.


See also

* List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)


References


Notes


Bibliography


Biography
at th
Alexandria, Virginia library
online collection * Boatner, Mark Mayo, III. ''The Civil War Dictionary''. New York: McKay, 1988. . First published New York, McKay, 1959. * Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, ''Civil War High Commands.'' Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. . * Sifakis, Stewart. ''Who Was Who in the Civil War.'' New York: Facts On File, 1988. . * Warner, Ezra J. ''Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders.'' Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Lomax, Lunsford 1835 births 1913 deaths Confederate States Army major generals People of Virginia in the American Civil War Presidents of Virginia Tech United States Army officers United States Military Academy alumni People from Newport, Rhode Island Northern-born Confederates