Sedgwick County KSGenWeb
Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.
Chapman Brothers 1888
Pages 507 - 508
LEWIS SCOTT, the subject of this biography, who is numbered among the pioneer settlers of the southern part of Sedgwick County, located in Salem Township in the fall of 1870, and since that time has been engaged as an industrious tiller of the soil. He formed an intimate acquaintance with the hardships and privations of pioneer life, and as the result of his industry and resolution, is now the owner of a comfortable homestead, comprising eighty acres of good land on section 33, which is well watered and fertile, and upon which he has erected neat and substantial buildings. He has been quite prominent in the affairs of his township, being Constable for a period of nine years, and also officiating as District Clerk and School Director. In the fall of 1886 he was elected Township Trustee, and re-elected in 1887. He is numbered among the liberal-minded and public-spirited citizens, who, while carving out their own fortunes, contributed as they had opportunity to the wellbeing of the people around them.
Mr. Scott was born in Clinton County, Ind., Nov. 4, 1842, and is the son of Esom W. and Hannah (Arthur) Scott, natives respectively of Pennsylvania and Kentucky. Esom Scott departed this life at his home in Goshen, Ind., when about seventy-five years of age. The mother is still living, and a resident of Salem Township. Their household originally included seven children, of whom but two are living—our subject and his brother, Francis N., the latter a resident of Salem Township. This branch of the Scott family descended from excellent Scotch and German ancestry. who transmitted to their posterity in a marked degree the stanch and substantial qualities which have made of their men honest and good citizens, and of their women excellent wives and mothers.
Lewis Scott was reared to manhood in his native State, and early in life became familiar with farm pursuits. He was but a youth of nineteen years at the outbreak of the late Rebellion, and on the 20th of August, 1862, made his way to LaFayette, Ind., determining to enlist as a Union soldier. He joined Company L, 5th Indiana Cavalry, which was then being formed under command of Col. F. W. Graham, who resigned and was succeeded by Col. Butler. During a part of the following spring and summer, young Scott was among the troops who defended the southern portion of Ohio and Indiana during the well-remembered Morgan raid, and assisted in effecting the capture of a portion of Morgan's Men. This 5th Indiana Cavalry subsequently became a part of the 23d Army Corps, Department of the Ohio, under Gen. Burnside, and operated around Knoxville, Tenn., performing such duties as naturally belonged to the cavalry troops. Much of their time was spent in East Tennessee.
After the famous battle of Chickamauga, the Confederate General, Longstreet, laid siege to the city of Knoxville, occupied by Gen. Burnside, the troops fighting for a period of twenty-two days, at the end of which time Longstreet raised the siege, being unable to take the city. Mr. Scott was in the cavalry brigade which operated against the Confederates outside of Knoxville, and harassed the foraging parties from the rebel ranks. The .regiment becoming considerably reduced in numbers was then sent into Kentucky, where it was reinforced by horses and men. Companies L and H were the only companies which returned to Kentucky on horseback, the other men being obliged to go on foot.
Mr. Scott after this reinforcement was assigned to the army of Gen. Sherman, and started in the celebrated march to the sea, being under the immediate command of Maj. Gen. Stoneman. During the siege of Atlanta he was captured about twenty miles north of Macon, Ga., together with the entire regiment, and for nine months thereafter experienced the horrors of Andersonville and other Southern prisons. The capture was effected on the 31st of July, 1864, and Mr. Scott with a part of his comrades was exchanged in April, 1865, at Vicksburg. He subsequently participated in several engagements, and was on the passenger boat "Sultana," which was employed in transporting the Northern prisoners to Cairo on their way home for exchange. It will be remembered that this vessel was nearly destroyed by an explosion of her boilers near Memphis, involving great loss of life. There were on board at the time about 2,200 persons, including prisoners, passengers and crew. About 1,500 were lost, but Mr. Scott fortunately escaped with a slight wound in the hand, and received his honorable discharge from the army at Indianapolis on the 11th of September, 1865.
Mr. Scott upon his return from the army sought his old haunts in his native State, and engaged in farming in Cass County, until 1868. On the 20th of February, that year, he took unto himself a wife and helpmeet, Miss Maria Porter, who was born in Cass County on the 17th of May, 1848. The parents of Mrs. Scott were Tivis and Sarah A. (Hall) Porter, natives of Indiana, and pioneer settlers of Cass County. They are now deceased.
Mr. and Mrs. Scott commenced life together on a farm in Cass County, Ind., and in due time their union was blessed by the birth of nine children. Of these but seven are living: Clara A., the eldest, was born Nov. 27, 1868; James A., Dec. 31, 1869; William F., May 7, 1872; Birdie, Aug. 27, 1874; Ella M. was born Sept. 17, 1876, and died July 22, 1884; Jennie, born June 14, 1878, died Feb. 9, 1880; Lewis C. was born Feb. 21, 1882; Theresa, May 8, 1884, and the youngest, Maria M., Sept. 2, 1886.
Mr. Scott with his family resided in Indiana until the fall of 1870, then crossed the Mississippi, and coming into Sedgwick County, pre-empted land on section 28, in what is now Salem Township, and which he occupied four years, removing thence in 1874, to his present farm. He is Democratic in politics, and a member of Post No. 203, G. A. R., at Mulvane, and is at present Junior Vice Commander.
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