Daniel Bedinger Lucas
| Daniel Bedinger Lucas | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
March 16, 1836 Charles Town, Virginia |
| Died | June 24, 1909 (aged 73) Charlestown, West Virginia |
| Occupation | Poet, Soldier, Lawyer |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1865-1909 |
Daniel Bedinger Lucas (March 16, 1836, in Rion Hall near Charles Town, Virginia – June 24, 1909, in Charles Town, West Virginia), was a poet and lawyer from West Virginia. He was the son of United States Senator William Lucas.
Daniel Lucas graduated from the University of Virginia and earned his law diploma from Washington College and graduated in 1856. He studied under Judge John W. Brockenbrough of Lexington and was admitted to the bar in 1859. He served with General Henry A. Wise during the Civil War in the Kanawha campaign of 1861. Late in the war he escaped a blockade of Virginia to aid his college friend John Yates Beall, who had been arrested as a spy. He left Richmond on January 1, 1865, and crossed the Potomac River through the ice in a small skiff. He was not allowed to assist in the defense of Beall by General Dix, and resided in Canada some months.
Beall was executed on Governor's Island in New York on February 24, 1865. Unable to return to Virginia, Lucas composed his most famous poem The Land Where We Were Dreaming, shortly after the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox. His work often earned him the epithet "The Poet Laureate of the Lost Cause", an honor he shared with several other Southern writers. When he returned to West Virginia the proscription on ex-Confederates in the practice of law prevented him from resuming his career until 1870, when restrictions were lifted. He returned to his law practice and was elected to the West Virginia Legislature from 1884 to 1887.
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