Lewis Cyril Skinner was born on June 3, 1833, in Nunda, New York, to Samuel and Susanna Skinner. His father was a farmer who owned $9,440 of real estate by 1850. Skinner grew up and attended school in Nunda. By 1860, he was working as a bookkeeper, and he owned $2,000 of personal property.

 

In September 1861, he received a commission as a 1^st lieutenant in Company A of the 104^th New York Infantry. He was promoted to major in March 1862. He suffered an “accident[al] dislocation of [the] right ankle” in 1862. He received a commission as a colonel in the fall of 1862, but he declined it and resigned from the army that October to recover his health. He returned to the Union army in December 1863, receiving a commission as a major in the 8^th Veteran Reserve Corps. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in June 1864, and he spent the remainder of the war guarding Confederate prisoners at Camp Douglas near Chicago, Illinois. He mustered out in December 1865.

 

He worked with the Freedman’s Bureau after the war, and he was assigned to Orangeburg and Barnwell in South Carolina. He returned to Chicago, Illinois, around 1866 and worked as a merchant. He married Delyra Tuthill sometime in the 1860s, but she died in early 1870. He moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, around 1869, and then back to Nunda in the early 1870s. He married Eliza Tuthill, and their daughter Dora was born around 1875.

 

He moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, around 1878, and he operated a ranch there. He applied for a federal pension in January 1878 and eventually secured one. He supported the Republican Party. He served one term as county commissioner of El Paso County, Colorado, and he served four years as alderman for Colorado Springs. He died in Colorado Springs on March 26, 1904.

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