Lewis Malone Ayer Jr. (November 21, 1821 – March 8, 1895) was a

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

politician who served as a

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

Congressman during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. Ayer was born near

Barnwell, South Carolina Barnwell is a city in and county seat of Barnwell County, South Carolina, United States, located along U.S. Route 278. The population was 4,750 at the 2010 census. Geography Barnwell is located east of the center of Barnwell County at (33.24 ...

, and educated in the common schools. He attended law school and passed his bar exam. After establishing a successful practice, he served in the state legislature from 1848 until 1856. He married Anna Patterson and raised a family. An ardent supporter of

states rights In American political discourse, states' rights are political powers held for the state governments rather than the federal government according to the United States Constitution, reflecting especially the enumerated powers of Congress and t ...

, Ayer signed the

ordinance of secession An Ordinance of Secession was the name given to multiple resolutions drafted and ratified in 1860 and 1861, at or near the beginning of the American Civil War, by which each seceding slave-holding Southern state or territory formally Secession in ...

and represented South Carolina in the

Confederate Congress The Confederate States Congress was both the provisional and permanent legislative assembly/legislature of the Confederate States of America that existed from February 1861 to April/June 1865, during the American Civil War. Its actions were, ...

from 1862 until the war's end in 1865. He died in 1895 in Anderson,

References

1821 births 1895 deaths Members of the Confederate House of Representatives from South Carolina Harvard University alumni University of Virginia alumni University of South Carolina alumni People from Barnwell, South Carolina {{SouthCarolina-politician-stub