Lewis Kennerly was one of three brothers (James and Samuel) from St. Louis who were captured at Camp Jackson, where U.S. Captain Nathaniel Lyon forced the surrender of the militia encampment on the edge of St. Louis on May 10, 1861. When they were paroled, all three joined the 1st Missouri Infantry on June 22, 1861, in Memphis, Tennessee. Kennerly was assigned to Company D and elected its first lieutenant on June 22, 1861. He was promoted to captain on July 4, 1862, and became a member of the 1st & 4th Missouri Consolidated Infantry when the regiments merged on November 7, 1862.

Kennerly was severely wounded in the hip and thigh at the Battle of Shiloh and hospitalized at Corinth, with his wounded brothers and brother-in-law, Brigadier General John S. Bowen. In 1864, incapacitated by wounds, he was assigned to the staff of General Stephen D. Lee. Kennerly surrendered and was held as a prisoner of war in Meridian, Mississippi, where he was paroled on May 10, 1865.

He died in Mobile, Alabama, on March 9, 1900.

Carte-de-Visite by Unknown Photographer.

Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 31487