The Lanes moved to Fairview in Guernsey County Ohio in 1824. By 1836 Lane had come to Texas to participate in it’s war for independence against Mexico. After Texas had gained it’s independence, Lane lived in San Augustine County in East Texas and then San Antonio where he briefly served as a Texas Ranger. In 1846 Lane joined the First Regiment, Texas Mounted Riflemen as a first lieutenant to fight in the Mexican-American War. Lane fought with honors at the battle of Monterey and was later given the rank of major and a command of his own battalion. After the Mexican-American War, Lane wandered about doing various things in Arizona, California, and Peru before opening a mercantile business in Marshall, Texas in 1858.
When the American Civil War broke out, Lane was among the first Texans to call for secession. Lane’s military reputation was so great that the first volunteer Confederate company raised in Harrison County was named for him, though Lane would join the Texas Third Cavalry Division. Lane participated in the battles of Wilson's Creek, Missouri, Chustenahlah, and Pea Ridge, Arkansas and Corinth, Mississippi. Lane led the Third at the battle of Franklin, Mississippi and commended by General P.G.T. Beauregard for his efforts. Lane was severely wounded at the battle of Mansfield, Louisiana in 1864 where Confederates forces rebuffed a push to capture either or both Shreveport, Louisiana or Marshall, Texas. Before the war ended Lane was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in 1865.
After the Civil War, Lane returned to Marshall where he helped to establish the Texas Veterans Association. After reconstruction Lane and his brother George founded the Citizen’s Party and ran Republicans and African-Americans out of town. With Democratic white hegemony brutally reestablished in Marshall and Harrison County, Lane declared the city and county “redeemed.” He died in 1892 in Marshall, Texas and is buried in the Marshall Cemetery near downtown Marshall, Texas.