LEWIS, MoRGAN (1754-1844). An American soldier and jurist. He was born in New York City, the son of Francis Lewis (q.v.), gradu ated at Princeton in 1773, and, on the eve of the Revolution, began reading law in the office of John Jay. He joined the Continental Army before Boston soon after the battle of Bunker Hill, and later in the same year was commissioned captain in the Second Regiment of New York militia. In 1777 lie was appointed quartermaster-general of Gates's army, and dis tinguished himself at Saratoga, and in 1779 he served with Sullivan and Clinton in the cam paign in central New York. After the war he took up the practice of law, married into the Livingston family, and became prominent in Anti-Fede•alist politics. After a term in the Assembly and a short period on the bench of Common Pleas in Dutchess County, where he made his home, he was elected in 1791 by the council of appointment to succeed Aaron Burr as Attorney-Gencral of the State. A year later he was appointed a judge of the New York Su preme Court. and in 1801 was made Chief Justice.
In 1804 the Livingston faction secured his nomi nation for the office of Governor, and lie was elected by a large majority over Burr. He was a strong supporter of Madison's war policy, and in 1812 was offered the portfolio of war. This lie declined, hut almost immediately accepted the post of quartermaster-general of the army, with rank of brigadier-general. On March 2, 1813, he was commissioned major-general and served on the Canadian frontier, being present at the bat tles of Fort George, Sackett's Harbor, and French Creek. In 1815 lie resigned his commission, and the rest of his life he spent on his estates in Dela ware County. For many years he was president of the New York Society of the Cincinnati, and in 1831 was elected grand master of the Free Masons. Consult Delafield. Biography of Fran cis and Morgan Let•is (1877).