Edward Brush Fowler
Union Army officer
Edward Brush Fowler (May 29, 1826 – January 16, 1896) was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He is best known for his command of the 14th Brooklyn Regiment and a demi-brigade during the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863.
Early life
He was born in Manhattan, and his family moved to Brooklyn when he was an infant. He attended Brooklyn Gaslight School with the intention of becoming an accountant, before entering military service.
Early career and personal life
He was a sergeant by the time he was 18, and a lieutenant by 1847 when he began his association with the 14th Regiment (New York State Militia), a unit made up primarily of Brooklyn businessmen, tradesmen and firemen. By 1852 he was a lieutenant colonel, and married Annie Cook at the Methodist Church on Hanson Place in Fort Greene. Eventually, Fowler and his wife had three children, two boys and a girl.
Military career
When the Civil War broke out, Fowler was commander of the 14th Brooklyn, which was stationed in Fort Greene Park. They were deployed to action at the Battle of Bull Run, where their red pants and their fierceness earned them the nickname the "Red-Legged Devils".
Sometime in 1862, Fowler wrote a letter home commenting on the regiment, a bit about the uniforms, and the tactics in which he had to use.
“Edward Brush Fowler” enters the record as union Army officer. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Edward, Brush and Fowler can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Edward Brush Fowler” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.