Guido Norman Lieber (May 21, 1837,

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is List of municipalities in South Carolina, the second-mo ...

– April 25, 1923) was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

lawyer and jurist.

Biography

He was the son of jurist

Francis Lieber Francis Lieber (18 March 1798 – 2 October 1872) was a German-American jurist and political philosopher. He is best known for the Lieber Code, the first codification of the customary law and the laws of war for battlefield conduct, which serve ...

, who developed the

Lieber Code The Lieber Code (General Orders No. 100, April 24, 1863) was the military law that governed the wartime conduct of the Union Army by defining and describing command responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity; and the military res ...

governing conduct of soldiers in wartime. He graduated from the

University of South Carolina The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...

in 1856, and at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

in 1859, and in that year was admitted to the bar of New York. At the beginning of the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

he became 1st lieutenant in the 11th infantry, U.S. Army, and was appointed regimental adjutant, and served during the peninsular campaign under

George B. McClellan George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey and as Commanding General of the United States Army from November 1861 to March 186 ...

, being brevetted captain for gallantry at the

Battle of Gaines' Mill The Battle of Gaines' Mill, sometimes known as the Battle of Chickahominy River, took place on June 27, 1862, in Hanover County, Virginia, as the third of the Seven Days Battles which together decided the outcome of the Union's Peninsula Campaig ...

on June 27, 1862. He was with his regiment at the

Second Battle of Bull Run The Second Battle of Bull Run or Battle of Second Manassas was fought August 28–30, 1862, in Prince William County, Virginia, as part of the American Civil War. It was the culmination of the Northern Virginia Campaign waged by Confederate ...

, being then appointed aide-de-camp to the general-in-chief. In 1862 he was appointed major and

judge advocate Judge-advocates are military lawyers serving in different capacities in the military justice systems of different jurisdictions. Australia The Australian Army Legal Corps (AALC) consists of Regular and Reserve commissioned officers that prov ...

, and he served in this capacity in the

Department of the Gulf The Department of the Gulf was a command of the United States Army in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, Civil War. History United States Army (Civil War) Creation The ...

, being present in the Teche and Red River campaigns. For gallantry during the latter he received another brevet, and he was brevetted a third time for services during the war. He also served as adjutant general of the department, and as judge of the provost court in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. He was then transferred to the Judge Advocate General's office in Washington. He was appointed assistant to his father in the Bureau of Confederate Archives. He afterward served as judge advocate of various military departments and divisions, being, when stationed in New York, one of the founders of the Military service institution. He was professor of law at the

U.S. Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as commissioned officers in the United States Army. The academy was founded ...

from 1878 until 1882, when he was assigned to duty in Washington in the Bureau of Military Justice. In 1884 he was appointed Assistant Judge Advocate General, with the rank of colonel, and was on duty as Acting Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army. In 1895, he was promoted to brigadier general and served as Judge Advocate General until 1901, in which capacity he was one of the most valuable advisers of President

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until Assassination of William McKinley, his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...

during the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

. Lieber was a member (Companion No. 05226) of the

Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States The Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS), or, simply, the Loyal Legion, is a United States military order organized on April 15, 1865, by three veteran officers of the Union Army. The original membership was consisted ...

, the first post-Civil War veterans' organization, founded by and for men who had served as commissioned officers in the armed forces of the Union.

Works

His publications include several important treatises on the laws of war, such as ''The Use of the Army in Aid of the Civil Power'' (1898), and ''Remarks on the Army Regulations'' (1898).

Notes

References

External links

The Personal Library of Brigadier General Guido Norman Lieber
via Library of Congress {{DEFAULTSORT:Lieber, Guido Norman 1837 births 1923 deaths United States Military Academy faculty American judges American people of German-Jewish descent American lawyers Jewish American military personnel United States Army generals Union army officers Harvard Law School alumni University of South Carolina alumni People of South Carolina in the American Civil War People of New York (state) in the American Civil War Lawyers from Columbia, South Carolina 19th-century American lawyers