How our country observes Memorial Day has an interesting connection to the Union POWs who posed for “the photograph’ in Knoxville in 1865. Lieutenant Henry Fowler of the 15th New Jersey was just 17-years-old when he was seriously wounded in the knee and captured at the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse on May 12, 1864.
An overzealous Confederate surgeon wanted to amputate his leg. Fowler pleaded with the man as a chloroform rag was placed across his mouth and nose. When he awoke, miraculously he still had the damaged limb.
POW in the heart of the South
He was a POW in Macon, GA; as well as Charleston and Columbia, SC. Finally in November 1864 he escaped, tramping over 350 miles to Knoxville, TN through brutal winter weather conditions. He arrived on New Year’s Day 1865. The next day, he posed for a picture with eight other escapees and their three mountain guides. Then they all went their separate ways.
May 30, 1873 – The celebration of the 5th Decoration Day at Arlington National Cemetery
Stereograph by J. F. Jarvis Library of Congress
Three years after the war ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to honor it’s dead. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared it should be May 30. It was the precursor of Memorial Day, where the graves of fallen comrades were decorated with flowers.
In the south, the southern veterans groups did something similar, though each state did it on a different day.
Stays with the army until 1874
Fowler stayed in the army after the war ended becoming part of the 15th US Infantry. He moved west to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas participating in the skirmishing with the indigenous Native Americans in what was known as the Indian Wars, as the nation expanded into the plains of Kansas. He finally mustered out as a captain in 1874. Then he got married and moved to New Orleans where he took the job as superintendent of Chalmette National Cemetery, just outside of the city.
May 20, 1877 – The New Orleans Daily Democrat
In Spring 1877, Fowler reached out to his southern neighbors through a New Orleans newspaper and suggested they honor the fallen from both sides together on May 30. It was a gesture to promote healing by a man who had himself been held as a POW by the people who were now his neighbors. The idea was embraced as “an invitation to join hands over the bloody chasm.” The idea of Memorial day would honor all Americans, including those who had fought for the other side during the Civil War. They were all Americans once again.
Only the good die young
Fowler’s time left was short. He died on September 12, 1878. His wife Sarah died twenty-six days later on October 8, both victims of a yellow fever epidemic. Left behind was Joshua, their 2-year-old son who they had nicknamed Jack, who had somehow managed to avoid the mosquito -borne illness. A friend took the boy by train to New Jersey, to be raised by Henry Fowler’s mother. Both Henry and Sarah were buried at Chalmette (Click here for the Find-A-Grave link) where as years passed, he too was honored during Memorial Day.
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