William Miller Owen

Educated at the Gambier Military Academy, he moved from Ohio to New Orleans in 1858 and was in the business of brokering cotton deals. He enlisted in the Washington Artillery in December 1860, and was appointed Lieutenant and Adjutant on 26 May 1861.

He was Adjutant of the Washington Artillery on the Maryland Campaign, and served with Colonel Walton commanding the Battalion.

He was promoted to Major in August 1863 and assigned as Divisional Artillery chief in the Army of Tennessee. He was back with the Washington Artillery in April 1864, and wounded in action at Petersburg, Virginia in August. He was promoted Lieutenant Colonel of Artillery in 1865.

He returned to New Orleans with no money and restarted his career. He formed a new brokerage business with General James Longstreet (Longstreet, Owen & Company) there in 1866. He was later also Colonel of the re-organized Washington Artillery (1876-80), Brigadier General in the state militia, and central in establishing the Confederate Memorial Hall.

His early life and military service from CMH1 with further details from his own Camp and Battle2. Some additional biographical material from family genealogists. The image above is from a War-era portrait sold at auction by the Neal Auction Company in 2007.

Owen married Caroline Amanda Zacharie, daughter of James Waters and Caroline (Deare) Zacharie, her father being a New Orleans merchant. Her brother was Howard Henderson Zacharie. Their son Allison Owen commanded the Washington Artillery in WWI and grandson William Miller Owen II was killed in artillery service in 1918.

01/10/1834; Cincinnati, OH

01/10/1893; New Orleans, LA