Lewis R. Stegman was born on January 18, 1839, in Brooklyn, New York, to Andrew Stegman and Meta Rust. His parents were German immigrants.  He grew up and attended school in New York, and after a brief time working as a surveyor, he began practicing law.

 

On September 30, 1861, Stegman received a commission as a captain in Company E of the 102^nd New York Infantry. According to his service records, he was 5 feet, 10½ inches tall, with light hair and blue eyes. The regiment took part in the Battle of Cedar Mountain. the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Battle of Missionary Ridge, and the Atlanta campaign. He was wounded in the head at Cedar Mountain on August 9, 1862, but he remained with the regiment.

 

He was wounded again at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, and at Ringgold, Georgia, on November 27, 1863. He was promoted to major on February 12, 1864. He was shot through the thigh in the Battle of Marietta on June 15, 1864, and the injury forced him to resign from the regiment in October 1864. He subsequently served as a major in the 1^st United States Veteran Infantry.

 

Stegman returned to New York after the war and resumed his legal practice. He later worked as a journalist, and he became under-sheriff of Kings County, New York, in 1876. He was elected to the state legislature as a Republican in 1879, and he became county sheriff two years later. He later served on the New York Monuments Commission, and he published several historical essays. He died in Brooklyn on October 7, 1923.

 

Image: Lewis R. Stegman (courtesy Wikicommons)

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