Asa Lewis was a young Barren County, Kentucky farmboy, who was born about 1843. Asa joined Company E, 6th Kentucky Infantry Regiment of the "Orphan Brigade" of the Confederate States Army, Lewis received no training, but was simply handed a rifle and told he was a soldier. Lewis served with distinction at the Battle of Shiloh in the American Civil War and was promoted to corporal. The execution of Asa Lewis deepened the resentment between the Kentuckians and General Bragg. The Kentuckians petitioned that the sentence be commuted, Gen. Bragg stood firm.[5]