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With the passing of Capt. Lewis Guion, valiant Confederate veteran, prominent citizen of New Orleans, La., and brilliant lawyer, another vacancy has occurred in the fast-thinning ranks of the gray which can never be filled. Captain Guion was a well-known figure in the State of Louisiana, having held many important positions, and his loss will be keenly felt, particularly in Confederate circles. A gentleman of the old school, he bore the stamp of the Southland's true aristocracy, his genial disposition and courtly manners having won for him a legion of devoted friends. After some days of suffering the summons came on January 12, 1920, and Captain Guion obeyed the silent command with the same fearless front with which he marched into battle away back in the sixties. It was characteristic of his nature that he should have jested with his family during a brief interval of consciousness just preceeding the last sleep, for he was ever ready to point out the silver lining in the darkest cloud. Throughout a long and useful life he clung to the faith of his childhood and was buried with the rites of the Episcopal Church, the body having been conveyed to his old home in Thibodaux, La., after simple but beautiful ceremonies held at the family residence in Coliseum Street, Rev. Albert Berkley, of Saint Paul's Church, officiating. All Confederate organizations were represented in the gathering about the bier of the beloved veteran, the casket being draped with the red and white colors of the Confederacy. Significant of the esteem in which Captain Guion was held, floral offerings in the rarest and most exquisite designs poured in from numerous organizations with which he had affiliated, as well as from his host of friends. Captain Guion came from distinguished ancestry and was born in Lafourche, La., in 1838. He was the son of Judge George S. Guion and Caroline Winder. He received his early education at the St. James Episcopal College, Maryland, after which he took the degree of A.B. at the University of Mississippi. He was also graduated from the Law Department of the University of Virginia and the Law Department of the University of Louisiana, afterwards Tulane University. He entered the Confederate army in March, 1861, as a second lieutenant of Company B, 1st Louisiana Infantry Regulars; was promoted to first lieutenant of Company A, Louisiana Infantry, C.S.A., in 1861, and was promoted to the rank of captain of Company D, 26th Louisiana Volunteers, 1863-65. He also filled the important office of acting assistant inspector-general on the staffs of Gens. F. A. Shoup and Allen Thomas during the siege of Vicksburg. At the close of the war Captain Guion resumed the practice of law. During the dark Reconstruction days he stood staunchly shoulder to shoulder with those fearless ones who helped to keep the honor of the Southland unblemished, for he loved the land of his birth with the passionate devotion of a true patriot. At various stages of his career Captain Guion was in turn a sugar planter, melter and refiner at the New Oreans Mint (once so famous throughout the United States), assistant attorney-general to his brother, Judge Walter Guion, President of the Association of the Army of Tennessee, a director of the Soldiers' Home of Louisiana, and at the time of his death was Confederate Commisioner of the Vicksburg National Military Park, having been appointed to that position following the death of Gen. Stephen D. Lee; was Vice President of the Jefferson Davis Parkway Commission, as well as a member of the Louisiana Historical Society and member of the Louisiana-Vicksburg Monument Commission. The money for this beautiful monument to Louisiana soldiers, soon to be erected, was secured through the efforts of Captain Guion and others. Captain Guion was considered an authority on Southern history and was instrumental in correcting many of the historical errors found in books used in public schools of the South. Many years after the war Captain Guion married Mrs. Mary Harris Lanier, of Columbus, Miss., among the loveliest and most accomplshed women of her day, and, besides his widow, is survived by two daughters (Mrs. M. O. Boatner, well known as a talented musician of New Orleans, and Miss Carrie Guion), a brother (Judge Walter Guion), and three sisters (Mrs. M. G. Ellis, Mrs. E. G. Pierson, and Mrs. Caroline G. Nicholls, widow of the late Governor Nicholls). Captain Guion is also survived by a young grandson, whi gives promise of following in his distinguished grandsire's footsteps.
SOURCE: Confederate Veteran Magazine, March, 1920.
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