Description
18th/19th Century American Door Knocker from Norfolk Virginia. This is from the<br>Norfolk Virginia home of Civil war Colonel William Lamb (7 September 1835 – 23<br>March 1909), an American newspaper editor, politician, businessman, and soldier,<br>noted his role as a Fort Fisher at the mouth of the Cape Fear River during the<br>Civil War. It was passed on via inheritance to the family I'm representing. I'm<br>not sure of the address of the house or when it was built, but it's at least<br>from the first half of the 19th century. It has the L monogram as shown, I'm<br>100% sure it came from his home. 6.25" tall x 4" wide with a lamb head at the<br>base. I believe it's bronze but it could be brass with the original unpolished<br>patina.tw215Lamb, Williamby Joseph Edmund Deaton, 199127 Sept. 1835–23 Mar.<br>1909Engraved portrait of William Lamb, from James T. White's The National<br>Cyclopedia of American Biography, Volume I, p. 274. Published 1898 by James T.<br>White & Company, New York. From the collections of the Government &<br>Heritage Library, State Library of North Carolina. Engraved portrait of William<br>Lamb, from James T. White's The National Cyclopedia of American Biography,<br>Volume I, p. 274. Published 1898 by James T. White & Company, New York. From<br>the collections of the Government & Heritage Library, State Library of North<br>Carolina.William Lamb, publisher, Confederate soldier, and politician, was born<br>in Norfolk, Va., the son of William Wilson and Margaret Kerr Lamb. He attended<br>the Norfolk Academy, the Rappahannock Military Academy, and the college<br>preparatory Jones School in Bridgeport, Conn., before entering William and Mary<br>College at Williamsburg, Va., in 1852.At age twenty he was graduated with a<br>bachelor of law degree. As he was too young to practice law, his father<br>purchased for him a half ownership of the newspaper, Southern Argus, in Norfolk.<br>While part owner and coeditor of the newspaper, Lamb participated in national as<br>well as local politics. In 1856 he was a delegate to the Democratic National<br>Convention. In 1857 he was instrumental in ensuring the election of a Norfolk<br>city council that would institute a system of public education based on New<br>England models. Finally, in 1860 he was a presidential elector for the<br>Breckinridge Democrats. When Abraham Lincoln defeated John Breckinridge, Lamb<br>felt that the Union could not be preserved.In 1861 the Southern Argus was forced<br>to close due to loss of staff to the Confederate army. On 18 April Lamb himself<br>was appointed captain of Company C of the Sixth Virginia Regiment. This force<br>had formerly been known as the Wood's Rifles, a militia company that Lamb had<br>commanded at Harpers Ferry at the time of the John Brown raid in 1859. On 24<br>Sept. 1861, he was appointed major and quartermaster for the Wilmington District<br>in North Carolina under Brigadier General Joseph R. Anderson. Lamb served as<br>commander of Fort St. Philip, a minor defense work in the Wilmington area. In<br>1862 the Thirty-sixth North Carolina Regiment was formed and Lamb was elected<br>its colonel. This regiment, also known as the Second North Carolina Artillery<br>Regiment, was to form the garrison for Fort Fisher, at the mouth of the Cape<br>Fear River, which protected the vital port of Wilmington. Lamb was appointed<br>commander of the fort on 4 July 1862 and remained in that post for two and a<br>half years. Under his direction, the fort's defenses were expanded and it became<br>the largest earthwork fortification on the continent. Colonel Lamb was severely<br>wounded and captured when it fell to Union forces on 15 Jan. 1865 after a heroic<br>defense. Because of his courageous stand against the enemy, he often was<br>referred to in later life as "the hero of Fort Fisher." The wounds he received<br>during the final assault would leave him on crutches for seven years. He was<br>confined to Fort Monroe, Va., and released on 1 May 1865.Lamb returned to<br>Norfolk and managed the shipping of coal for the Norfolk and Western Railroad,<br>helping to make Norfolk the major coaling station on the Atlantic coast. He<br>designed and used the first bill of lading to aid in shipping coal from cities<br>in the American interior through Norfolk to Europe.Politically he was again<br>active as a Democrat, serving as a delegate to the Democratic National<br>Convention in 1876. But in 1879 he joined the Readjusters (those who advocated<br>readjusting the state's prewar debts without ruining taxpayers); this plus his<br>high-tariff and other views held by the Republicans caused him to switch parties<br>in 1882. He served three terms as mayor of Norfolk (1880–86) and turned down a<br>fourth. His father and grandfather also had been mayors of Norfolk. Lamb served<br>as Republican state chairman (1895–97) and was a delegate to the Republican<br>National Convention in 1896. He became a consul for Germany and Sweden at<br>Norfolk, and for his services King Oscar of Sweden conferred on him the Royal<br>Order of Vasa.Committed to the field of education, Lamb helped to establish<br>public education in Norfolk. After the war he advocated education for blacks. He<br>served on the board of visitors of the University of Virginia, was a rector of<br>the College of William and Mary, and was the first president of the Norfolk<br>Public Library. He contributed both time and money to build up the College of<br>William and Mary and the University of Virginia; at the former institution, he<br>helped to reestablish the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity, serving for many years as<br>president. Additionally, he was active in the Virginia Historical Society. In<br>1899 he received a doctor of laws degree from St. Lawrence University, Canton,<br>N.Y.In business, Lamb served as president of the Lower Norfolk Coke and Gas<br>Corporation, the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, and the Board of Trade in Norfolk.<br>He also was president of the Norfolk Seamen's Friend Society and a vestryman of<br>St. Paul's Church. He contributed $50,000 to help Confederate veterans.Lamb<br>married Sara Ann Chaffee of Providence, R.I., in 1857. She was visiting her<br>parents when the war broke out but, due to the influence of friends, was allowed<br>to pass through Union lines to join her husband. She accompanied him throughout<br>his life; during his two-and-a-half-year stay at Fort Fisher, she lived in a<br>small cottage a short distance from the fort and narrowly escaped capture when<br>it was overrun. The Lambs had three children. He died at home and was buried in<br>Norfolk.
