CHARLES FOWLER

CHARLES A. FOWLER

Charles A. Fowler was born in about 1843 in Laurens County., S. C., the son of David Ramsey Fowler and Nancy Jane McCracken.
His father, David, died in 1853. His mother then married William H. Fowler, her husband’s brother, who adopted the children and moved the family and their slaves and possessions to his home in Texas. William Fowler was an early settler of Montgomery County, Texas, serving as county clerk in 1843 and 1846 and as probate judge in 1847.
The Fowlers were interrelated with other early Montgomery County settlers who originated in Laurens County, the Parks and the Kelletts.
William H. Fowler died in 1859, and the family is listed in the 1860 Montgomery County census with J. Fowler, female, as head of family. The family had twenty-two slaves. Charles’s mother then married a man who was a decade younger than she, Charles Estill.
Charles Fowler joined the Danville Mounted Riflemen, a local militia unit, on May 4, 1861 at Danville, as a private.
On March 29, 1862, at Danville, he enlisted in the Second Texas Lancers, which became Company B, 24th Regiment Texas Cavalry, He gave his age as eighteen and gave no value for his horse or equipment. He had to travel forty-five miles to the place of rendezvous, which was Camp Carter at Hempstead. Charles Estill, his young step-father, also joined the same company.
Charles Fowler arrived at Hempstead on April 28, 1862, and trained there with the other men. In May, he rode off to Arkansas with his company and was dismounted there with the rest of the 24th Regiment. He spent the fall with his fellow Confederates at Ft. Hindman, Arkansas Post, building cabins for winter quarters.
Charles fought in the Battle of Arkansas Post on January 11, 1863, and was captured there and sent to prison at Camp Butler, Illinois. His name appears on a Roster of Troops Captured at Arkansas Post, and also on a Roll of Prisoners of War at Camp Butler, Springfield, Illinois.
When the other men were paroled in April, 1863, he was one who was left behind in the prison hospital, too sick to travel. Other soldiers were left behind as nurses for the sick men.
Eventually, Charles was released from prison at Camp Butler and was paroled by June, when his name was on a roll of those who were paid by Captain Moore both for their time in service and for the use of their horses.
Sadly, Charles was one of the three members of his company who were killed at the Battle of Chickamauga on September 20, 1863.
History tells us that the Confederate dead were left on the Chickamauga battlefield until after the war, at which time they were moved by volunteers to the Confederate Cemetery at Marietta, Georgia.

This is a photo of the entrance to the Confederate Cemetery at Marietta, where Charles's body may be interred with the hundreds of other unidentified Confederate soldiers. The photo is posted on the website of the Marietta Welcome Center.

Family data was taken partially from the Fowler article written by Sherry Davis and published in the 1981 Montgomery County history book. Other information is taken from Compiled Service Records (available at the National Archives), census, county, and other local records.

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