Lewis Addison Armistead
Affectionately called LO (Short for Lothario) by his men
Was born at New Bern , North Carolina 1817. Was a cadet at West Point from 1834 to 1836, but
was dismissed for breaking a plate over the head of Jubal Early.
He was Appointed to the regular Army in 1839 and was twice brevetted for Gallantry in the war
of Mexico . While serving in the West he became close friends with two others who would make their mark in the American Civil
War: Later Union Generals John Reynolds and Winfield Scott Hancock.
In 1861- Lo resigned his commission with the Union Army in defense of his Native State remarking
as he left for Confederate service to friend John Hancock :
“If i ever lift a hand against you in Battle “May God strike me dead”
Lo was married twice 1st to Cecelia Lee Love a cousin of General Lee .
Cecelia died in 1850 and he married Cornelia Jamison who passed away in 1855. he had two children
from his first marriage Walker Keith (named after his father who had served with distinction in the War of 1812) and Flora
Lee and one from his second marriage :Lewis B Armistead.
Lo first served as a Colonel of the 57th Virginia and promoted to
Brig General in April of 1862 where he was given command of a Brigade in George Picketts Division.
He served with distinction at the Battles of Malvern Hill, Seven Pines, 2nd Bull Run , Antietam
and Fredricksburg but received his greatest laurels in History on the 3rd Day of the Battle of Gettysburg where his Brigade
was part of Picketts Charge- “His speach to his men right before the Charge” remember your wives,your Mothers,your
sisters and your sweethearts,Remember today you are from OLE VIRGINIA”
Armisteads Brigade was in support of Generals Garnett and Kemper during the famous Charge.
General Armistead was 50 yards in advance of his Brigade leading his men with his hat speared
by his sword , Calling out” Come on Boys-Give them the Cold Steel”
He lead them over the wall and into the Union lines , planting the colors of his Brigade over
the fortifications, when he and his men were overwhelmed with a Union Counterattack in which Lo received 3 wounds in the fleshy
part of the arm and just below the right knee.
When Armistead fell he gave the Masonic sign //which was answered with the assistance of a fellow
Mason a Union Captain .
Armistead lay wounded next to a Cannon and asked the Union Captain about his old Friend General
Hancock and was informed that General Hancock had also also been wounded. Hancock it seemed was the Federal Commander in the
center of the Union line that Armistead had just charged!
Armistead was taken to the Union Field hospital at the Spangler farm where his wounds were thought
not to be fatal but he died two days later.
Just before his death he told the doctor “tell Hancock, I have done him and all you all
a grievious injury, which i shall always regret”
Lo is buried in Baltimore Maryland at St Pauls Cemetery next to his Uncle George Armistead Commander
of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812.
