Emilie Cowand
Bertie/Tyrrell Counties
Featured Character – 1863
Casket of Mementos
Belonging
to Emilie Cowand
Courtesy of Thomas Newbern
David Cowand was made lieutenant
colonel in the 32nd
Regiment North Carolina Troops. When Federal forces set out to destroy
the
locks of the Dismal Swamp Canal at
South Mills on
April 19, 1862, Cowand’s regiment marched to the locks and saved them.
In May
the regiment was moved to Drewry’s Bluff, Virginia,
where it was incorporated into
General Junius Daniel’s brigade. After this stint, the regiment moved
down to North Carolina
to Deep Gully outside of New Bern. Upon
return to General Robert E. Lee’s forces
in Northern Virginia, Cowand and his men made their way up the
Shenandoah
Valley through Maryland
and into Pennsylvania
where they helped outflank Union troops at
Gettysburg.
A
surprise attack on May 10, 1864, killed the regiment’s colonel, thus
promoting
Cowand to colonel. The regiment continued their fighting in North Carolina and Virginia
until Appomattox,
where upon surrender, Cowand was given permission to keep his sword.
There were only 117 men
remaining in the 32nd Regiment.
David’s sister, Emilie, kept an autograph book in which
David signed before going into the “Field of
Battle.”