28th Infantry

Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Lafayette Lowe, 28th Regiment N.C. Troops

As a young man Thomas Lafayette Lowe traveled from his native Catawba County to Charlotte, where he found employment as a clerk in the firm of Williams & Co. While there he also acquired enough education to return to Catawba County and establish himself as a school teacher. It was remembered that Lowe also taught “penmanship, which was remunerative.” (Examples of Lowe’s prowess in that skill may still be seen among his compiled service records at the National Archives.)

On August 13, 1861, Lowe enlisted at Newton and was appointed captain of the “South Fork Farmers,” subsequently Company C, 28th Regiment N.C. Troops. When the regimental officers were elected on September 21, 1861, James Henry Lane, a VMI graduate, former professor of the North Carolina Military Institute, and current lieutenant colonel of the 1st Regiment N.C. Volunteers, was chosen colonel. Perhaps surprisingly, Lowe, who seemingly had no previous military experience, was elected lieutenant colonel.

Lowe commanded the 28th North Carolina during the difficult retreat from New Bern to Kinston, following the Confederate defeat at New Bern on March 13, 1862. He also fought at the Battle of Hanover Court House, May 27, 1862, during which the regiment lost nearly 275 men captured. Scarcely two weeks later, on June 10 or 11, Lowe died of fever or pneumonia in a private residence near Richmond.

In November 1862 Colonel Lane of the 28th North Carolina was promoted to brigadier general and commanded the brigade to which the regiment belonged (7th Regiment N.C. State Troops, 18th, 33rd, and 37th Regiments N.C. troops) until the surrender at Appomattox Court House.

Lowe is buried at Grace Lutheran Cemetery, Newton, Catawba County.

Image: The Catawba Soldier of the Civil War.

Source Note:
1860 U. S. Census, Catawba County, North Carolina, population schedule, page 50, dwelling 373, family 368, Thos. L. Lowe household; Hahn, Catawba Soldier of the Civil War, 173; Manarin et. al., North Carolina Troops 8:110, 139; Mast, “North Carolina Casualties”; service record files of Thomas L, 28th Regiment N.C. Troops, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers from the State of North Carolina (M270), RG109, NA; http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=83630806