CSA Bios: McCausland, Lyon, Lowry, Lowrey

[Battleline]

Brig. Gen. John McCausland (b. 1836, d. 1927) When John McCausland died on his farm, “McCausland” in Mason County, West Virginia, he was one of the last Confederate generals to pass away. McCausland survived over 60 past the end of the Civil War, dying Jan. 22, 1927. It was reported only one Confederate general outlived him. McCausland had a colorful career with Confederate forces in Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia. Born in St. Louis Sept. 13, 1836, McCausland was educated at Port Pleasant, Virginia, (later West Virginia) before heading to the Virginia Military Institute. At VMI, McCausland graduated first in the Class of 1857. He studied at University of Virginia in 1858 and returned to VMI as an assistant professor of mathematics. In 1859, McCausland was with a cadet detachment at the execution of John Brown in Charles Town. As war came, he recruited the 36th Virginia Infantry and was commissioned its colonel. McCausland’s first service was in the brigade of John B. Floyd in Western Virginia. He moved to the command of Gen. A.S. Johnston in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Later stationed at Fort Donelson, McCausland was able to escape with his troops before the surrender. In 1863, McCausland was back in Virginia. His regiment was in the commands of Generals Loring, Echols and Sam Jones for action in West Virginia, southwestern Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. His regiment was called to the Kanawha Valley. When Gen. A.G. Jenkins was killed at Cloyd’s Mountain, McCausland assumed command of the brigade. He was promoted to brigadier general to rank from May 18, 1864. His first action as a brigadier earned praise as he repulsed Federal Gen. David Hunter at Lynchburg, Virginia. The city’s citizens gave him a gold engraved sword, silver spurs and a new horse in gratitude. He joined up with Early’s Valley Campaign. To Confederate commanders, McCausland received praise for his Valley operations and raids into Maryland and Pennsylvania. At Hagerstown, Maryland, citizens paid a ransom of $20,000 (McCausland forgot to add a zero to his demands. After the Battle of Monocacy, McCausland’s command advanced as far as Georgetown before being turned back. The citizens of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, probably had a different view of McCausland after he burned their city under orders from Gen. Early July 30, 1864. It was the second time Confederate forces had been there. The town peacefully been occupied during the Gettysburg Campaign. McCausland’s ransom that Early wanted in retaliation for Federal Gen. Hunter’s burning of private homes in the Shenandoah Valley was refused, so his men burned much of the town. At Moorefield, West Virginia, McCausland’s brigade lost 400 men against Federal cavalry. After that, McCausland’s brigade was attached to Rosser’s Division and fought at Petersburg and Five Forks. His brigade left the main force of the army, cutting through Federal units, before the final surrender. McCausland was paroled at Charleston, West Virginia, and spent the next two years in Europe and Mexico, mainly to avoid any indictment for his actions at Chambersburg. Back in America, McCausland acquired a tract of 6,000 acres in West Virginia and farmed there for the rest of his life.

Brig Gen. Hylan B. Lyon (b. 1836, d. 1907) Artillery, infantry and cavalry forces all were commanded by Kentucky’s Hylan Benton Lyon during the Civil War. Lyon was born at “River View” in Caldwell (now Lyon) County, Kentucky, Feb. 22, 1836. Lyon was orphaned when he was eight. He attended several Kentucky schools before receiving an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy in 1852. He graduated with the Class of 1856 (19th in the class) as a brevet second lieutenant of artillery. He served in Florida and near Spokane. He held this position until he resigned April 30, 1861, to enter Confederate service. His first role was as a battery captain. He became lieutenant colonel of the Eighth Kentucky Infantry and was at Fort Donelson when it fell. He spent seven months as a guest of the Federal government as a prisoner on Johnson’s Island. Exchanged, he was assigned to the division of Paducah’s Gen. Lloyd Tilghman in the Army of West Tennessee. Lyon saw action at Holly Springs and Vicksburg. At the latter battle, it was the turn of Lyon’s unit to slip away before the surrender. He commanded all of Gen. Bragg’s artillery and succeeded in evacuating most of it following the battle. Joining Gen. Forrest’s cavalry, he played a major role at the Battle of Brices Cross Roads June 10, 1864, Lyon’s men opened the battle and fought unsupported for an hour. Lyon was made a brigadier general to rank from June 14, 1864. His brigade consisted of four Kentucky cavalry regiments in Gen. Forrest’s corps. He fought in Forrest’s Johnsonville Raid and in the Hood’s Tennessee Campaign. Near the end of the war, he replaced Gen. Adam R. Johnson as commander of the Federal-occupied District of Western Kentucky. After the war, Lyon went to Mexico and returned home in 1866, farming near Eddyville, Kentucky. He became a lessee of the state penitentiary and served as a commissioner to build a branch penitentiary near Eddyville. He died on his farm near Eddyville April 25, 1907.

Brig. Gen. Robert Lowry (b. 1830, d. 1910) Robert Lowry fought in Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, serving in rank from private to brigadier general. He achieved his final promotion Feb. 4, 1865. Lowry was born March 10, 1830, in Chesterfield District, South Carolina. As a youngster, he moved with his family first to Tennessee and then to Tishomingo County, Mississippi. He was 10 when the family settled there. Lowry engaged in the mercantile business and later got into the legal profession. After marrying, he lived in Arkansas for five years. He was a lawyer in Mississippi when he enlisted in the Rankin Grays as a private in 1861. Lowry didn’t remain an enlisted man for long, being elected major of the Sixth Mississippi Regiment. The unit saw action at Shiloh, were Lowry was wounded twice. One historian stated the Sixth Mississippi was “reduced to a burial squad.” He was promoted to colonel and fought under Gen. Joseph Johnston in the Vicksburg Campaign. At Port Gibson, he won praise from superiors for his “coolness and promptness in executing every order.” He moved to the Army of Tennessee during the Atlanta and Tennessee campaigns. At Kennesaw Mountain, his men repulsed two Federal attacks. He won praise while briefly running Gen. Winfield Featherston’s brigade. When Gen. John Adams was killed during the Battle of Franklin, Lowry ascended to brigade command. He received an appointment to brigadier general Feb. 4, 1865. He fought with Gen. Joseph Johnston in South Carolina and North Carolina. After the Battle of Bentonville, Lowry was paroled at Greensboro, North Carolina. After the war, he returned to Mississippi and was defeated an attempt to become the state’s attorney general in 1869. Lowry worked to overcome carpetbag rule and was elected governor in 1881. He was unopposed for the post four years later. In 1898, he ran for U.S. Senate, but was defeated. At some point after the war, he co-authored a history of Mississippi. During the final seven years of his life, he served as state commander of the United Confederate Veterans. He died in Jackson, Mississippi, Jan. 19, 1910.

Brig. Gen. Mark P. Lowrey (b. 1828, d. 1885) Mark Perrin Lowrey fought in two separate wars with Mississippi troops. Born in McNairy County, Tennessee, Dec. 30, 1828, the son of immigrants, Lowery didn’t have a formal education. After the death of his father, the family moved to Tishomingo County, Mississippi, in 1845. The following year, he enlisted in the Second Mississippi Volunteers for the Mexican War, seeing no action. After that conflict, he was a brick mason and later boarded the village school teacher to learn from him at night. In 1853, Lowrey entered the Baptist ministry and was practicing when the Civil War started. He entered service in command of the Fourth Regiment of Mississippi State Troops, a 60-day regiment. After the organization was disbanded, he became colonel of the 32nd Mississippi Infantry in 1862. He fought with distinction in the Kentucky Campaign and at Chickamauga. At the Battle of Perryville, Lowrey briefly took over the brigade of Gen. S.A.M. Wood, who had been wounded. Lowrey was promoted to brigadier general to rank from Oct. 4, 1863. His brigade served in Cleburne’s Division of Hardee’s Corps during the Atlanta Campaign. He led a division at Jonesborough. He was in brigade command again for Gen. Hood’s Tennessee Campaign, fighting at Franklin and Nashville. At the latter fight, he took charge of Gen. Cheatham’s Division and held that spot through the army’s retreat. Lowrey remained a man of faith and baptized 50 men in two weeks during the spring of 1864. That had something to do with why he resigned his commission March 14, 1865. “I had been separated from the men and officers with whom I had borne the ‘burden and heat of the day.’ and to whom I was endeared by a thousand sacred ties, and although I was willing to stand with our broken forces until the end of the struggle, I was unwilling to mourn with strangers at the funeral of ‘The Lost Cause.’ ” In 1873, Lowrey founded the Blue Mountain Female Institute at Blue Mountain, Mississippi. There, he was president and taught history and moral science. He also wrote for The Christian Index. Lowery was a force in the councils of the Baptist denomination. He died while traveling at the railroad station in Middleton, Tennessee, Feb. 27, 1885.

[Gil R.]

These look good. Thanks.