Slogging north through the swamps of Whitesville North Carolina on a starlit February night, Owen Thomas Wright and three companions needed to put distance between themselves and the prison transport train. Owen hoped they were wading toward freedom from the horrors of the Confederate stockades in Florence. Instead, he was about to be snared as a catalyst for a guerilla war that would terrorize Robeson County, North Carolina, for seven years after Lee surrendered at Appomattox.
Different histories would use the name of Owen Thomas Wright in scorn or praise: guerilla leader of Indians and escaped slaves against the rising Ku Klux, a terrorist of wealthy plantation owners, a champion of freedom and humanity, a notorious criminal, an informant, or any combination of the above. Owen’s journal offers a more straightforward picture: a sick soldier left behind to take the blame for a series of dramatic events that occurred while he was imprisoned, unconscious, or delirious. Adding his voice to history changes the understanding of events that triggered a protracted guerilla war between swamp outlaws and Confederate loyalists during the closing days of the Civil War.
Synthesizing Owen's recently discovered journal with the pages of history provides an intimate look into the homes of Southerners as Sherman’s approaching army heralded the end of the war and offers a clearer understanding of the role four escaped Yankees played in triggering the Lowry War.
In the works!
Thank you for your interest in "Escape into the Swamp War: Escaped Yankee prisoners trigger a guerrilla war in North Carolina." I am preparing this section of the site as a booklet for Fall 2020. Meanwhile, if you have input, feedback, and questions about escaped Yankee prisoners who were catalysts of the Lowry War in the swamps of Lumberton North Carolina in the closing days of the Civil War, please use the comment field at the bottom of the article, or directly contact me using the Contact Form. For now, below is a summary, an image gallery, and a bibliography.
Summary
As Sherman’s army marched toward the heart of the rebellion at the end of the Civil War, citizens of Lumberton North Carolina would blame four escaped Yankee prisoners for triggering the Swamp Wars, seven years of guerilla combat waged by the Lowry Gang against Robeson County plantation society. Although numerous histories have attempted to tell the events surrounding the start of the Lowry War, most writers have based analysis on investigative reports from several years after the events. Relying on these later investigations, most accounts identify an escaped Yankee prisoner, Owen Thomas Wright, as a key figure in organizing and leading guerilla bands in the swamps around Lumberton. However, Owen’s recently discovered journal adds a first-hand account that offers a new perspective on the Lowry War, and that questions the judgment of history. From escaping Confederate prison, through association with the Lowry Gang and recapture by Confederate militia, to rescue by Sherman’s cavalry, this section will weave Owen’s recollections into historical and contemporary accounts. The result provides an intimate look into the homes of Southerners as Sherman’s approaching army heralded the end of the war and offers a clearer understanding of the role four escaped Yankees played in triggering the Lowry War.
