Birth and Naval Education
Nixon was born on the eve of the American Civil War, in Leesburg, Virginia, to Colonel Joel Lewis Nixon and Mary Jane Turner. Leesburg, only three miles into the Confederacy, changed hands several times over the course of the War. His brother George H. Nixon fought in the Virginia Cavalry as a member of "Mosby's Raiders."
Nixon graduated first in his class from the United States Naval Academy in 1882 and was sent to study naval architecture at the Royal Naval College, where, in 1885, he again graduated first in the class. At the Royal Naval College he was appointed an assistant naval constructor with the rank of lieutenant.
Read more about this topic: Lewis Nixon (naval Architect)
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