Thomas Cowan

(1839 - 1862)
Home State: North Carolina
Branch of Service: Infantry
Unit: 3rd North Carolina Infantry

Before the Antietam Campaign:
He read the law and passed the bar in 1860, beginning his practice (likely in Wilmington). He enlisted in the Wilmington Light Infantry (militia) in April 1861, and was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, Company B, 3rd North Carolina Infantry on 16 May 1861. He was promoted to First Lieutenant in early 1862.

In the Antietam Campaign:
He led the Company on South Mountain, and was mortally wounded in action on 17 September 1862 at Sharpsburg.

The remainder of the War:
He died 21 September 1862 of Sharpsburg wounds...

Wounded in the head, he was re-moved by the Federal authorities to Washington on Thursday, the day succeeding the battle, and lingered in suffering until the light of the Sabbath morning fell on a brow whence care and pain had departed forevermore. Consigned at first to the rude grave of the prisoner, he was afterwards committed to consecrated ground, with the solemn service of the church, and the tears of the noble women who ministered at his couch, who in the stranger and oppressor’s land, loved him for his country’s sake.

References, Sources, and other notes:
Basic information from Moore1. Further details from his death notice in the Fayetteville Observer of 12 January 1863, transcribed by Myrtle Bridges on NC GenWeb.

Birth Date: 04/08/1839
College: University of North Carolina    Graduating Year: 1858
Death Date: 09/21/1862    Death Place: Washington, DC

Notes

1 Moore, John Wheeler (compiler), and State of North Carolina, Roster of North Carolina Troops in the War Between the States, 4 volumes, Raleigh: Ashe & Gatling, State Printers and Publishers, 1882, Vol. 1, pp. 83 - 84 [AotW citation 6006]

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