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W.W. Rowley

W.W. Rowley

Federal (USV)

Lieutenant

William W. Rowley

(1835 - 1908)

Home State: New York

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: Signal Detachment, Army of the Potomac

Before Antietam

In 1860 he was a 26 year old partner in a law firm with George Bowen at Batavia, NY, and lived in the home of another lawyer (and county judge), Moses Taggart. He enlisted on 4 May 1861 as a Private in Company F, 28th New York Infantry. He was almost immediately commissioned 2nd Lieutenant and promoted to First Lieutenant on 4 July 1861. He was detailed to the Signal Corps in August 1861.

On the Campaign

By 1 September 1862 he was at Point of Rocks, MD. On the 11th he was on Sugarloaf Mountain about 10 miles south of Frederick, MD, and by 20 September he was at Fairview, MD, northwest of Hagerstown near the Pennsylvania border.

The rest of the War

On about 10 October

... surrounded by an impenetrable cloud [fog], the cavalry legion of Gen. Stuart crossed the Potomac, successfully eluding our army and appeared in the midst of our lines. The signal party on Fairview Mountain first discovered their character, but only in time to avoid capture. From the station on that eminence, the point at which the enemy forded the river is entirely hid from view, and the road which the force travelled after crossing, winding in its course, is also completely shaded from observation by the hills and woods through which it passes. It was not until they had ridden nearly up to the signal station that they were discovered. The officer in charge, Lieut. Rowley, gave instant orders for the party to save themselves from capture by flight. Lieut. Rowley says: -

"We had just succeeded in saddling our horses, at least part of us. (Privates Vincent and Emge had not finished saddling theirs, which accounts for their capture.) They were trying to save their horses with them selves. The men lost all their extra clothing, three McClellan saddles and bridles, two horses, two full sets flags, one saber, three pistols, two telescopes, two marine glasses, and two kites, none of which have been recovered. Lieut. Roe and myself rode to Clear Spring, about three miles from the station, and there reported to Capt. Russell, of the first Maryland Cavalry. He immediately sent our dispatch to Gen. Kenly, at Williamsport ..."
He was promoted to Captain of Company E on on 10 November 1862, to date from 25 October, and was assigned as Chief Signal Officer to General Banks in the Department of the Gulf in December. By March 1863 he was at Baton Rouge, LA. He departed for New York near the end of his term of service, on 29 April, and mustered out with his Company on 2 June 1863 in Albany.

After the War

In 1875 he was a lawyer in Buffalo, NY. By 1896 he was appointed Quartermaster of the National Home for Disabled Soldiers (Northwest Branch), Milwaukee, WI, and in 1900 was living there with his wife Alice, a housemaid, and a cook.

References & notes

His basic service from the State of New York1 with details from Brown,2 source also of his picture and quote above. Maryland Campaign events from Captain B.F. Fisher's Report. Personal details from family genealogists, Afford E North's A Descriptive and Biographical Record of Genesee County New York (1899), the New York State Census of 1875, and the US Census of 1860 and 1900. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

Birth

01/22/1835; Columbia County, NY

Death

03/19/1908; Milwaukee, WI; burial in Byron Cemetery, Byron, NY

Notes

1   State of New York, Adjutant-General, Annual Report of the Adjutant General of the State of New York [year]: Registers of the [units], 43 Volumes, Albany: James B. Lyon, State Printer, 1893-1905, For the Year 1899, Ser. No. 21, pg. 383  [AotW citation 28679]

2   Brown, J. Willard, The Signal Corps, U.S.A. in the War of the Rebellion, Boston: U.S. Veteran Signal Corps Association, 1896, pp. 335, 571, 861  [AotW citation 28680]