John Edwin Holmes (December 28, 1809 – May 8, 1863) was the first Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin. He was born in Glastonbury, Connecticut. He was ordained a Universalist minister in 1833 and preached for a short time in Michigan and Ohio. He soon began to study law in Illinois and was admitted to the Illinois bar; he joined the Democratic Party. He moved to Jefferson, Wisconsin to practiced law In 1846, he became a member of Wisconsin Territory's Territorial Council, and in 1848, he was elected the lieutenant governor of Nelson Dewey, a position he held until 1850. In 1853, Holmes served in the Wisconsin State Assembly. When the American Civil War begin, he went into the United States Army joining the 22nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment and was a quartermaster. Holmes was taken pr