James Edward Sowry
James Edward Sowry was born on March 31, 1820, in Yorkshire, England. His father was a woolen manufacturer. He enlisted in the English Grenadiers around 1838 and spent the next two years stationed in Ireland and Gibraltar. He then returned home to Yorkshire and worked in a woolen mill. He sailed for America in November 1844 and settled in Dayton, Ohio, in March 1845. He worked as a superintendent in a woolen mill there. He served in Company B of the 1st Ohio Infantry during the Mexican American War, taking part in the siege of Monterey. He returned to Ohio after the war and settled in West Milton.
Sowry married Hester Turnpaugh there on September 7, 1851, and they had at least two children: James, born around 1852; and Thomas, born around 1855. He worked as a weaver, and by 1860, he owned $2,000 of real estate and $400 of personal property. He became a “staunch and inflexible adherent of the Republican Party” in the 1850s, doing “all in his power to promote its growth and insure its success.”
When Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter in April 1861, one friend recalled, “the loyal heart of Captain Sowry was stirred to its profoundest depths.” He enlisted in the Union army on October 10, 1861, and mustered in as a 2nd lieutenant in Company E of the 48th Ohio Infantry on December 7. He was promoted to 1st lieutenant on September 15, 1862, and to captain on February 20, 1863.
The regiment took part in the Battle of Shiloh, the siege of Corinth, the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, the siege of Vicksburg, the Jackson expedition, and the Battle of Sabine Crossroads. Confederate forces captured him at Sabine Crossroads, and he spent the next six months in a prison camp. During his imprisonment, one friend recalled, he “mingled with his men, counseling patience, inventing amusements and giving them all the encouragement the dreary situation would afford.” He was exchanged in the fall of 1864, and he mustered out on January 17, 1865.
Sowry returned to Miami County, Ohio, after the war and resumed his work as a woolen mill superintendent. By 1870, he owned $6,000 of real estate and $800 of personal property. He applied for a federal pension in January 1879, complaining of rheumatism and piles. He died of “old age” in West Milton, Ohio, on February 25, 1905.
DATABASE CONTENT
| (724) | Sowry, James Edward | 1820-03-31 | 1905-02-25 |
- Conflict Side: Union
- Role: Soldier
- Rank in: 2nd Lieutenant
- Rank out: Captain
- Rank highest: Captain
- Gender: Male
- Race: White
Documents - Records: 14
- (4603) [writer] ~ James E. Sowry Statement, 30 June 1863
- (4604) [writer] ~ James E. Sowry Statement, undated
- (4605) [recipient] ~ Waldo C. Daniels to James E. Sowry, 1 April 1864
- (4606) [writer] ~ James E. Sowry Statement, 27 February 1864
- (4610) [recipient] ~ William N. Walker to James E. Sowry, 21 September 1863
- (4612) [recipient] ~ George W. Young to James E. Sowry, 24 September 1869
- (4614) [recipient] ~ William W. Donnelly to James E. Sowry, 15 October 1883
- (4615) [recipient] ~ William N. Walker to James E. Sowry, 24 July 1863
- (4616) [writer] ~ James E. Sowry Statement, 1 March 1864
- (4617) [recipient] ~ Peter John Sullivan to James E. Sowry, 28 September 1881
- (4619) [writer] ~ James E. Sowry Statement, 23 October 1863
- (4622) [writer] ~ James E. Sowry to Ezra B. French, 26 July 1866
- (4624) [recipient] ~ P. L. Bausman to James E. Sowry, 9 October 1863
- (4626) [writer] ~ James E. Sowry Statement, 4 March 1864
Places - Records: 2
Regiments - Records: 1
- (227) [officer] [E] ~ 48th Ohio Infantry
Groups - Records: 2
SOURCES
1860, 1870, 1880, and 1900 United States Federal Censuses, available from Ancestry.com; 1890 Veterans Census, available from Ancestry.com; Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865, available from Ancestry.com; Ohio Soldiers Grave Registration Cards, 1804-1958, available from Ancestry.com; A Genealogical and Biographical Record of Miami County, Ohio (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1900).
