Levin Major Lewis Levin Major Lewis ( January 6 , 1832 – May 28 , 1886 ) was a Confederate States Army colonel during the American Civil War . On May 16 , 1865 , he was assigned to duty as a brigadier general by General E . Kirby Smith when the war even in the Trans - Mississippi Department was almost over , but he was not officially appointed by Confederate President Jefferson Davis and confirmed by the Confederate Senate to that rank . At about age 22 , Lewis moved to Missouri and briefly practiced law before becoming a Methodist minister . He was principal of Plattsburg College from 1856 to 1859 . At the outbreak of the Civil War , he organized a company of the pro - Confederate Missouri State Guard and was elected captain . In April 1861 , he was elected colonel of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment of the 5th Division of the Missouri State Guard , a one - year regiment . After the end of the regiment ' s term , he was briefly an aide - de - camp for Major General Earl Van Dorn and then was elected a captain of the Confederate 7th Missouri Infantry . He was wounded four times at the Battle of Lone Jack , Missouri on August 16 , 1862 . The regiment soon was broken up and Lewis became a major of another 7th Missouri Infantry , later designated the 16th Missouri Infantry . He became colonel of that regiment on March 24 , 1863 . Lewis was wounded and captured in an attack on the Union force at Helena , Arkansas on July 4 , 1863 . He was released from the prisoner of war camp at Johnson ' s Island , Ohio and exchanged in September 1864 . Lewis declined an appointment from Confederate Missouri Governor Thomas Caute Reynolds to the Confederate Senate and returned to the army . Lewis was assigned to duty on May 16 , 1865 by General E . Kirby Smith so that he could command an infantry brigade with the appropriate rank , although the war was effectively ended and the promotion could not be made through a legal appointment by Jefferson Davis or confirmation by the Confederate Senate . After the war , Lewis returned to the ministry and at various times was president of Arcadia Female College , Arkansas Female College and Marvin College ( Waxahachie , Texas ) . He also was a professor of English for a time at Texas A & M University . In 1884 , he was appointed pastor of the First Methodist Church in Dallas , Texas . Early life . Levin Major Lewis was born in Baltimore , Maryland on January 6 , 1832 . His parents were John Kendall and Mary ( Jones ) Lewis , a family of wealthy planters in Dorchester County , Maryland . Lewis ' s father died when he was young and he was raised by an uncle in Vienna in Dorchester County . Lewis attended school in Washington , D . C . in 1843 , and then at the Maryland Military Academy and at Wesleyan University in Middletown , Connecticut . A member of the class of 1852 , Lewis left Wesleyan in his sophomore year to study law . In 1854 or 1855 , he moved to Missouri and briefly practiced law before turning to the ministry . He became a Methodist minister in Liberty , Missouri and Missouri City , Missouri . Lewis was principal of Plattsburg College in Plattsburg , Missouri from 1856 to 1859 . Lewis ' s wife ' s maiden name was Margaret Barrow . American Civil War service . Levin Major Lewis was an early organizer and captain of a company in the pro - Confederate Missouri State Guard . In April 1861 , Lewis was elected colonel of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment , 5th Division of the Missouri State Guard under Major General Sterling Price , a one - year regiment . In March 1862 , he became a volunteer aide - de - camp for Major General Earl Van Dorn . On June 18 , 1862 , Lewis was elected a captain of the Confederate 7th Missouri Infantry . He was wounded four times at the Battle of Lone Jack , Missouri on August 16 , 1862 . One of these wounds was from a spent musket ball which hit Lewis ' s forehead sufficiently hard to stick and which Lewis picked out and showed to his colonel . After the Battle of Lone Jack , Lewis ' s regiment was broken up and Lewis became a major of another 7th Missouri Infantry , later designated the 16th Missouri Infantry . On December 4 , 1862 , Lewis was promoted to lieutenant colonel . On December 7 , 1862 , the regiment fought at the Battle of Prairie Grove . Lewis was promoted to colonel of the regiment on March 4 , 1863 , or March 24 , 1863 . On July 4 , 1863 , Lewis led his regiment in the unsuccessful Confederate attack on the Union Army garrison at the Battle of Helena , Arkansas , where he was wounded and captured . He was released from the prisoner of war camp at Johnson ' s Island , Ohio and exchanged in September 1864 . Lewis first went to the Confederate capital of Richmond , Virginia where he declined an appointment to the Confederate Senate from Confederate Missouri Governor Thomas Caute Reynolds and then returned to his regiment . Lewis was assigned to duty as a brigadier general on May 16 , 1865 by General E . Kirby Smith so that he could command an infantry brigade with the appropriate rank , although the war was effectively ended by the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia a month earlier and the capture of Jefferson Davis by Union troops in Georgia six days earlier . Smith also had no legal authority to promote officers to general officer rank . While Lewis vigorously opposed surrender of the Trans - Mississippi Department , by mid - May 1865 Smith realized the Confederacy was defeated , further fighting was senseless and he surrendered his forces and department on May 26 , 1865 . Aftermath . After the war , Lewis returned to the Methodist ministry . He served congregations in Shreveport , Louisiana , Galveston , Texas and St . Louis , Missouri . Lewis was president of Arcadia Female College in Missouri from 1870 through 1873 , Arkansas Female College from 1874 to 1878 and Marvin College at Waxahachie , Texas in 1880 . He also was a professor of English and first Head of the English Department at Texas A & M University in the year 1878 – 1879 . In 1884 , he left Waxahachie and was appointed pastor of the First Methodist Church in Dallas , Texas . Levin Major Lewis died on May 28 , 1886 at Los Angeles , California where he had gone for health reasons . He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Dallas , Texas .