Charles Winthrop Lowell is a ninth generation descendent of Percival Lowell, who was the first Lowell to emigrate to America, in 1639. He was born to Hon. Phillip Smith Lowell and Harriet Butler Lowell on November 20, 1834, in Farmingham, Maine.

He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1859 and studied law with the Hon. Charles P. Chandler, whose daughter Mary Elizabeth he married in June of 1860. Their daughter, Mary Chandler Lowell, was born on January 18, 1864; her mother died six days later. He married again, ca. 1870, Sarah ("Sally") W. Huff of Salem, Va., but had no children from this marriage.

Lowell was a prominent lawyer in Maine and Louisiana and served as a captain in the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War. After the war, he continued military service as a colonel and provost marshal general. At the close of the war he settled in New Orleans, La., served as a member and speaker of the Louisiana legislature, and for several years was postmaster of New Orleans. Lowell died on October 5, 1877, in Foxcroft, Maine.

The 80th Regiment of United States Colored Troops (which was formerly known as the Corps d'Afrique or The Native Guards) was formed in Louisiana in 1863. The mustering of African-American soldiers during the Civil War was a key event that helped change the struggle from a war of politics to a war for freedom, a position which was not overtly recognized by the United States government until 1863.

As the captain of African-American troops, Charles Lowell was directly involved in an important endeavor during this transitional period of the war. However, the bulk of Lowell's correspondence, which is of a military nature, provides little information about the soldiers, the organization of the unit, Lowell's responsibilities, or the troops' duties. Lowell's personal correspondence occupies a very small space in this collection and gives no hints about his actions, his opinions, or the activities of his company or the regiment. Similarly, the military documents that constitute a significant portion of the collection create a very meager and vague picture of life as an officer. Inventories of supplies received and given to the troops, however, may provide information about the quantity and quality of equipment given to Lowell's company, and some military orders reflect the types of duties assigned to Lowell's troops.

Lowell's legal papers offer glimpses into the many courts-martial and proceedings in which he was involved, both directly and indirectly. Most of the men held for crimes were members of the United States Colored Troops, and these documents give not only the names of those arrested and the offenses for which they were held and tried, but often show the punishments recommended by jurors and the sentences meted out by the courts.

None.

The collection is open for research.

Cite as: [Indicate cited item or series here], Charles W. Lowell Papers (Collection 2068), The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Gift of Mrs. James Armentrout, Jr. in 1977.

Accession number: 77:53

Reprocessed by: Leslie Hunt

Processing Completed: December 2000

A folder-level inventory was completed in 2001 in order to include this finding aid in an EAD encoding project. The collection was fully processed prior to the compilation of the new inventory, but previously there was only a box-level inventory. No changes in the arrangement were made during the creation of the folder-level inventory.

English.