Details: © 2020 by Brent A. Duncan, PhD

History would credit Owen for training the Lowery Gang in their guerrilla war against the southern militia. But, Owen's newly discovered recollections provide a new perspective on the Swamp War. (Harper's)

Article Index

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.

Image Gallery

On board the old transport — When the train stopped for water that evening, the Confederates allowed the prisoners to get off the train to build fires. Guards watched from atop the boxcars. With the cars empty, Owen snuck back into the boxcar with a railroad spike to ply up some planks in the front left-hand side of the car. (Library of Congress)

The home of Allen Lowry still stands as a revered landmark of the Lumbee Tribe. Allen hosted Owen and his companions here before his sons took them to hideout in the swamps to escape Confederate Militia. The militia killed Allen and one of his sons for not giving up Owen, an event that triggered the Swamp Wars waged by the Lowry Gang. (Robeson County Museum)

The Back Swamp where the Lowry Gang hid out with Owen. The exact spot of their camp remains unknown. (Brent Duncan, PhD)

The remains of one of the canoes the Lowry gang used in the swamps. When one of the Lowry's floated Owen down the river to escape militia, Owen wrote: "That night there might have been seen moving upon the dark and murky waters of the Lumber River a canoe containing an Indian and a sick soldier, for such he was." (Brent Duncan, PhD)

Grave of Allen and William Lowry. The militia shot Allen and William for harboring Yankee prisoners. Recalling the time he spent with Allen, William, Henry Berry, and the other members of the Lowry clan, he wrote: "I wish I could sufficiently express my heartfelt thanks to those Union people who showed me so much kindness while making my escape from Rebeldom." (Brent Duncan, PhD)

Amanda Nash, a widow of a Confederate colonel. His companions left Owen under Widow Nash's care because he was close to death and couldn't flee with them from the approaching militia. This picture is with Owen's journals and Bible. (Brent Duncan, PhD)

Owen in Lowry War history

Owen is featured in the following books

In Swamp Outlaw: Henry Berry Lowery and his Civil War Gang, David Ball features Owen as an escaped Yankee prisoner who organizes the Lowry Gang.

L. M. Hauptman, Between two fires: American Indians in the Civil War, New York, NY: Free Press Paperbacks, 1995.

W. M. Evans, To Die Game: The story of the Lowry Band, Indian guerillas of reconstruction, New York, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1995.

Brenda Chambers McKean. Blood and War at my Doorstep: North Carolina Civilians in the War between the States

Land of the Lowerys. New York Herald. (New York [N.Y.]), 08 March 1872. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
The Swamp outlaws, or, The North Carolina bandits: being a complete history of the modern Rob Roys and Robin Hood, New York, NY: Robert M. DeWitt, 1872. https://amzn.to/3hXpRWn
The Lowerie history. As acted in part by Henry Berry Lowerie, the Great North Carolina Bandit, Lumberton, NC: Lumbee Publishing Company, 1909. https://archive.org/details/lowriehistoryasa00norm
The life and times of Henry Berry Lowry, Pembroke, NC: The Lumbee Publishing Company, 1979.
https://archive.org/details/TheLifeAndTimesOfHenryBerryLowry

Bibliography

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[4]	W. M. Evans, To Die Game: The story of the Lowry Band, Indian guerillas of reconstruction, New York, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1995.
[5]	J. B. Hood, "The defense of Atlanta," in Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. 4, New York, NY: The Century Co., 1887.
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[10]	B. C. McKean, Blood and War at my Doorstep (Hardcover), Xlibris, 2011.
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[12]	G. A. Townsend, The Swamp outlaws, or, The North Carolina bandits: being a complete history of the modern Rob Roys and Robin Hood, New York, NY: Robert M. DeWitt, 1872.
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[16]	Bloomfield News, "Former well known soldier citizen of Taylor Township passes on," The Bloomfield News, vol. XXXV, no. 8, p. 1, 5 January 1911.
[17]	H. W. Slocum, "Sherman's march from Savannah to Bentonville," in Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. 4, New York, NY: The Century Company, 1888, p. 694.
[18]	Harper's Weekly, "The North Carolina Bandits," Harper's Weekly, p. 249, 30 March 1872.
[19]	New York Daily Herald, "Land of the Lowrys," New York Daily Herald, 8 March 1872.
[20]	National Park Service, "The Civil War soldier search," 31 January 2015. [Online]. Available: http://www.nps.gov/civilwar/soldiers-and-sailors-database.htm. [Accessed 1 February 2015].