James Taylor Lewis (30 October 1819-5 August 1904) was the Republican Governor of Wisconsin from 4 January 1864 to 1 January 1866, succeeding Edward Salomon and preceding Lucius Fairchild.
Biography[]
James Taylor Lewis was born in Clarendon, New York in 1819, and he served in the New York state militia before becoming a lawyer and schoolteacher in Clarkson, Wisconsin in 1842 and settling in Columbus in 1845. Lewis served as district attorney and county judge from 1846 to 1852, in the State Assembly from 1852 to 1853, in the State Senate from 1853 to 1854, and as the state's Democratic Lieutenant Governor from 1854 to 1856. However, he became a Republican in 1861 and served as Secretary of State from 1862 to 1864 and as Governor from 1864 to 1866, providing troops to the Union Army during the American Civil War and establishing hospitals for the care of the wounded. He died in Columbus in 1904.