Guido Norman Lieber was born on May 21, 1837, in Columbia, South Carolina, to Francis and Matilda Lieber. His father was a professor of history and political economics at South Carolina College who wrote the Lieber Code during the Civil War. He grew up and attended school in Columbia, and he graduated from South Carolina College in 1856. He earned a law degree from Harvard University three years later before earning admission to the bar in New York.

 

Lieber remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War, and he received a commission as a 1^st lieutenant in the 11^th United States Infantry. He took part in the Peninsula Campaign, the Seven Days Battles, and the Second Battle of Bull Run. He was promoted to major in 1862, and he served as judge advocate in the Department of the Gulf. He later served as adjutant general of the Department of the Gulf before army officials transferred him to the Judge Advocate General’s office in Washington, D.C.

 

He remained in the United States Army after the war. He served as professor of law at the U.S. Military Academy from 1878 until 1882, when he was assigned to the Bureau of Military Justice in D.C. In 1884, he became Assistant Judge Advocate General. He was promoted to Judge Advocate General in 1895 with the rank of brigadier general, and he held the position until 1901. In the 1890s, he published two treatises on the laws of war. He died on April 25, 1923, in Washington, D.C.

 

Image: Guido Norman Lieber (courtesy Wikicommons)

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