As its first Commandant, he is considered to be the father of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets and is the namesake of the University's oldest building, Lane Hall.

He was a professor of mathematics at VMI and then of natural philosophy at the North Carolina Military Institute until the start of the Civil War.

[2] It was soldiers with Major John D. Barry of Lane's brigade that accidentally shot General Jackson as he returned from a nighttime scouting trip in front of the Confederate lines during the Battle of Chancellorsville.

Lane's command became the 2nd Brigade in W. Dorsey Pender's division of Hill's Third Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia the following May, directly before the beginning of the Gettysburg Campaign.

He was replaced in division command by Major General Isaac R. Trimble and returned to lead his brigade during Pickett's Charge, during which he was wounded when his horse was shot from under him.

[2] Lane returned to academic life, as professor of civil engineering and commerce at Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (VAMC)—founded in 1872, name changed to Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI) in 1896—and from 1881 until his death, professor of civil engineering and commandant at Alabama Polytechnic Institute, now known as Auburn University.