Gen. Andrew Lewis’ bust installed in Virginia Capitol
RICHMOND – More than 230 years after he served in the House of Burgesses, Andrew Lewis is back in Richmond. This time, he gets to stay.
On March 22, a bronze bust of the Revolutionary War patriot, friend of George Washington and father of Salem was unveiled and officially presented to Gov. Bob McDonnell with all the pomp and circumstance befitting a hero.
Lewis Pitzer of Martinsville, a direct descendant of Gen. Lewis, and 11-year-old daughter, Campbell, unveil the bust of Gen. Andrew Lewis in the Old Hall of the Virginia Capitol. Photo by Meg Hibbert
A standing statue of Lewis in frontiersman garb – which most people mistakenly assume is explorer Meriwether Lewis – is one of a half dozen figures around the equestrian statue of Washington in front of the Virginia Capitol.
“It’s only fitting that he (Lewis) gets to come out of the rain and be inside,” quipped the governor.
Delegate H. Morgan Griffith of Salem presided over Monday’s ceremony in the Old Hall of the House of Delegates, under the watchful eye of Gen. Robert E. Lee. Lee’s full-size statue centers the hall. The Civil War leader’s statue is marked with a plaque that explains on that spot Lee accepted the command of the Armed Forces of Virginia, April 23, 1861.
“It’s a great day to celebrate the legacy of Andrew Lewis, a great man, who, along with other great Virginians have ensured the blessings of liberty that we all have as Americans,” said Griffith, who is majority leader of the House of Delegates.
Salem Educational Foundation President Dr. Wayne Tripp, the retired Salem School superintendent, presented Lewis’ bust to the governor on behalf of the foundation which raised the better part of the $25,000 to have the bust cast. The foundation is still accepting contributions.
“Being an Irish-American, I am happy to have another Irish-American in the Capitol,” said the governor, referring to Andrew Lewis’ birth in Ireland.
The bust was unveiled by Lewis Pitzer of Martinsville, a direct descendant of Gen. Lewis, and his daughter, Campbell, who turns 11 years old this week.
Traveling to Richmond for the unveiling was a birthday treat for Campbell, she said, “and getting to stay in the hotel with my aunt, Beverly Pitzer from San Francisco.”
Pitzer’s brothers Lewis and Andrew and their families were also present in the crowd of 90 invited guests.
Other luminaries were former U.S. Senator Charles S. Robb, a descendant of the Lewis family, and his wife, Linda Robb, daughter of the late President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Sen. Robb was honorary chairman for the project. Linda Robb took part in the unveiling of the larger-than-life of Lewis in front of the Salem Civic Center in September 2000.
Betsy McClearn of Salem, coordinator of the Lewis bust project, received kudos for the work she did in fundraising and other efforts to get the bust created and presented.
Salem Mayor Randy Foley and Vice Mayor John Givens – another distant Lewis cousin – accepted a Virginia flag flown over the Virginia capitol that day from Roanoke Delegate Onzlee Ware. Foley said at the request of Dr. Richard Fisher, the man who got the idea of the bust of Lewis started years ago, the flag will be framed in a box and presented to the Salem Civic Center.
The statue of Gen. Lewis in front of the civic center, and a painting also done by the bust and statue’s sculptor, Anne Bell, shows Lewis with the nautical cannon he used to blow the ship of the last British Colonial Governor Dunmore, out of the water.
Salem Council members Lisa Garst, Jane Johnson and Bill Jones also traveled in the Salem Senior Center van to Richmond for the ceremony, as well as Salem City Manager Kevin Boggess and Civic Facilities Director Carey Harveycutter.
Current Salem School Superintendent Dr. Alan Seibert and Salem High School Assistant Principal Sandy Hadaway proudly watched and listened as Salem High School trumpeter Kyle Crowell played “Hail Columbia” to open the ceremony. Near the conclusion of the event, SHS Forensics student Michael Thomas Robertson read a treatise on Lewis, written by Dr. Fisher.
The invocation was by LeAnn Turbyfill of Salem, a member of the Fort Lewis Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Turbyfill is state corresponding secretary of the Virginia DAR, which kicked off the fund drive for the bust.
Other attendees who promote history were members of the area Sons of the American Revolution, who are other major contributors, the Roanoke Symphony Youth Orchestra, and Salem Museum and SEFAA board member and fundraiser Frank Chapman and his wife, Julie.
As it happens, Frank Chapman’s late uncle, Benjamin E. Chapman, represented Salem and Roanoke County in the House of Delegates in 1932, Chapman recalled. “He probably voted on the legislation approving Andrew Lewis and the others for the Old Hall,” he added.
“Andrew Lewis was one of our forefathers that helped established Salem. We wanted to be a part of the celebration of his life,” Chapman said.
Salem native Bell presented miniatures of the bust to the governor for the Governor’s Mansion, one to longtime Clerk of the House of Delegates Bruce Jamerson, and one for the West Virginia governor’s mansion because of Gen. Lewis’ ties to that state.
For the ceremony, Lewis’ bust was up front, next to the ceremonial mace. Lewis’ permanent location will be in the southeast corner of Old Hall, Jamerson said after the ceremony, “facing the bust of Meriwether Lewis in the southwest corner.”
The bust of Andrew Lewis is long overdue being placed in Old Hall, Dr. Fisher noted in an interview last week. An act was passed on March 22, 1932, to authorize the governor to receive gifts of busts of certain great Virginians to be placed in the Old Hall of the House of Delegates.
Fisher was unable physically to make the trip to Richmond for the unveiling, but he was there in spirit and in a photograph near the bust. Largely through the efforts of Fisher and Griffith, in 2001 the Virginia General Assembly designated the portion of Interstate 81 as the Andrew Lewis Memorial Highway within the boundaries of the City of Salem, Roanoke County, Botetourt County and Rockbridge County.
Thirty-eight miles of the highway within the boundaries of Augusta County were designated the “John Lewis Memorial Highway.” John Lewis, the father of Andrew Lewis, brought his family from Ireland to Lancaster, Pa., in 1731.
Fisher graduated from Andrew Lewis High School – now Andrew Lewis Middle School – in 1941, grew up on the original Andrew Lewis land grant in Salem, and became interested in perpetuating the deeds of the Revolutionary Hero after reading a biography of Gen. Lewis given to him by his late wife, Anne.
Very well written article. Superb journalism!