Charles Russell Lowell

Charles Russell Lowell III (January 2, 1835 – October 20, 1864) was a railroad executive, foundryman, and General in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was mortally wounded at the Battle of Cedar Creek and was mourned by a number of leading generals. Early life Charles Russell Lowell III was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 2, 1835. His mother, Anna Cabot Jackson, a daughter of Patrick Tracy Jackson, married Charles Russell Lowell, Jr., brother of Robert Traill Spence Lowell and James Russell Lowell. Charles Jr., Robert, and James were sons of Unitarian Minister Charles Lowell. Anna wrote verse and books on education. Lowell III graduated as the valedictorian from Harvard College in 1854, and worked in an iron mill in Trenton, New Jersey, for a few months in 1855. He spent two years abroad, and from 1858 to 1860 was local treasurer of the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad. In 1860, he took charge of the Mount Savage Iron Works in Cumberland, Maryland. Civil War Lowell entered the Union Army in June 1861, and was commissioned as a captain in the 3rd U.S. Cavalry, transferring to the 6th U.S. Cavalry in August. He served as an aide-de-camp to General George B. McClellan during the formation of the Army of the Potomac in the summer and fall of 1861 and continued at McClellan's side during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign and the Battle of Antietam. In 1863 Lowell recruited and organized the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry, and on May 10 was appointed its colonel. During the winter of 1863–1864, he was in charge of the outer defenses of Washington, D.C., and was engaged in repelling the raid by Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal Early that reached the outskirts of the capital. In February, 1864, near Vienna, Virginia Lowell ordered the drumhead execution of William E. "Pony" Ormsby, a deserter and traitor who fled to join Colonel John S. Mosby's (CSA) campaign.