Presents

The interview in 1925 with Lewis Owens

by

Lewis Owens, died in 1925 and is buried in the Ottumwa Cemetery in Ottumwa, IA.

OTTUMWA MAN WAS A GUARD DURING THE TRIAL OF JOHN BROWN

"Lewis H. Owens Recalls Vividly the Sensational Scenes of Historic Event.

Ottumwa, Ia.,April 23, 1925.

"The days of the abolitionist and insurrectionist, John Brown, seem a dim part of the far past to most Americans of today, but by one man in Ottumwa, Lewis H. Owens, they are vividly remembered.

"Mr. Owens, who has one of the finest records of service in the civil war of any G.A.R. veteran in this community, resides at 116 North Cass St. He has lived in Iowa many years now, but he can still recall those days in Virginia in 1859 when he was a young soldier, only 19 years old, in the Virginia state militia.

"He was at Harper's Ferry when John Brown was taken prisoner after his reckless capture of the United States arsenal, with his little handful of men. Mr. Owens was in Charleston (this actually was Charlestown, or as it was called then Charles Town) during the days of the trial of the man who gave his life to advance the cause of freeing the slaves. He was one of those who guarded Brown when he marched from the jail to the gallows on Dec.2,1859.

WORE BUFF AND BLUE "In those days, the young militiamen wore the handsome blue and buff uniform with its cutaway coat and knee britches, the same uniform which Washington's soldiers had worn more than half a century before, in the continental army. Later he left behind that uniform to wear the blue of the northern armies.

" 'I was raised on a farm and was young and green when I joined the Seventy-second Virginia state guards, with which I served for two years under 'Jeb Stewart', the calvary leader,' said Mr. Owens. 'I was at Harper's Ferry when John Brown captured the government arsenal with his little band of seventeen men and when they sent for Gen. Robert E. Lee, then a colonel, and he brought the United States Marines down to capture John Brown, arriving on October 17.

" 'The insurrectionists with John Brown at their head, he had with him two of his sons, were then in possession of the armory, arsenal, rifle factory, and the bridge across the Potomac. They had captured 40 of the citizens of the little Virginia town. On the morning of the 18th,.the marines under Lee, recaptured the arsenal, and the few insurgents who remained alive. Those who resisted were bayoneted. Brown's sons were killed.

STOOD BY GALLOWS
"'There was talk of lynching on October 9, when the surviving prisoners were taken to the jail at Charleston, under escort of the marines but Governor Wise, who had arrived at the scene of action, and the presence of the troops discouraged that. I was in the company that guarded John Brown while he was in the jail at Charleston; we saw him every day and I have talked to him. We stayed there until the day of the hanging, December 2.I saw him as he went from the jail to the gallows and stood right in front of the stand while he was hung. The day of the hanging there were 5000 Virginia troops there to prevent any possible trouble. John Brown paid the penalty for his reckless action on United States property, after he had been tried in a Virginia court. He was defended by a Massachusetts council. History has it that his courage never faulted during the stress of the trial or at the final moment.'

"After the trial and hanging of the abolitionist, Mr. Owens served for two years in Winchester, Frederick County. 'I was still in the militia when Lincoln was elected,' he relates. 'I found that there was sure to be a war, that Virginia was sure to secede and as I had no wish to serve with the rebels, I left Virginia April 1, 1861.'

'I had a half-brother in Iowa and came west to join him, though I never saw him, as he died in Davenport before I joined him. I landed in Mount pleasant sixty-one years ago, April 10, 1861. I enlisted July 28, 1861, in the Iowa state service, at Birmingham and was stationed in Keokuk. I was in the militia only about six weeks, enlisting Sept. 10, in the United States forces, Company H of the Third Iowa calvary. It was more than four years later that I was mustered out of the service in Davenport, Sept.21, 1865'.

"Mr. Owens has a record to be proud of as he served all through the war. 'I was never arrested, never in the guard house, never in the hospital though I had a siege of measles and broke my leg once. One dark night, somewhere on the road between Vicksburg and Memphis we crossed a bridge which the rebels had torn up. My horse stumbled and I fell through the bridge, breaking my leg'. Mr. Owens has been slightly crippled from this injury ever since. At that time, in spite of the very severe pain, he rode on for seventy-five miles, afraid to drop behind his comrades for fear of capture. 'I had to go on or get left behind and be taken prisoner by the rebels and I had sworn never to do that.' In an explanation of his splendid war record the veteran declares, 'I made up my mind when I joined the army that I was going to be a good soldier so long as I was lucky enough to live through it'.

WITH WILSON IN RAID

"His first fight was at Moore's Hill, MO, where he was wounded necessitating his being off duty for 2 1/2 months. He saw action at Clear Creek and Hartsville under General Curtis. That was early in his four years of action. Later the Ottumwan served with General Davis' Army of the Mississippi. Then he was transferred to Wilson's cavalry corps and was with Wilson in his raid through Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina.

"The Ottumwan's young brother, James Owens, served with him in the same Company all through the war, joining the elder after he had been in Iowa for only a short time. His reason for coming west was the same as his brother's, fear of remaining in Virginia because he would be forced to serve with the southern forces. James Owens was only 15 years old when he joined the Union forces. After the war he returned to Virginia where he died.

" One of the hundreds of narrow escapes Mr. Owens experienced in his long period of service occurred in December 1864 when a big boat which was taking his regiment from St. Louis to Louisville was blown up not far below St. Louis. 'The explosion came early in the morning. We never learned just what happened, although there were many different theories. One was that the rebels had in some way put explosives in our coal. Two buglers were killed. My brother was injured. The accident occurred close to shore, or there would have been a greater loss of life. As it was it was a big loss of equipment.'

"Mr. Owens was married four years after the war ended. He has been a member of the G.A.R. for 54 years, joining, transferring to the Cloutman Post, Kirksville, MO.Post in 1868, later in this city.

This was contributed by (11/1997)

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