12/12/2024
Mark Perrin Lowrey was born Dec. 30, 1828, in McNairy County, TN. Mark’s father died of yellow fever when he was young. In 1843, Mark’s family moved to Mississippi where he found work as a bricklayer. After volunteering for service in the Mexican American War, he was ordained a minister at Farmington Baptist Church. When the Civil War began, he joined the Mississippi militia.
By early 1862, Mark was colonel of the 32nd Mississippi and led his men into battle at Shiloh and Perryville where he was shot in his left arm. Following the battle, he was given leave and spent 6 weeks recovering. He returned and fought at Stones River and Chickamauga before receiving a promotion to brigadier general.
During Hood’s Tennessee Campaign, Lowrey and his men were ambushed by Bradley’s Brigade in woods south of Spring Hill. After a brief fight, U.S. troops fell back towards town while the Confederates prepared their camps. With Columbia Pike unobstructed, the entire Federal army passed up the road to Franklin. The following afternoon, Confederates arrived south of town and prepared for a frontal assault. Assigned to Cleburne’s Division, Lowrey’s Brigade was positioned between Columbia Pike and the Nashville & Decatur Railroad. They were first confronted by Conrad’s Brigade which was immediately overrun and forced to fall back to the main line. Hit by cannon fire from the 6th Ohio Battery, they pressed on, striking the defenses, but were unable to break through. They suffered heavy casualties, among them all 5 of Lowrey’s regimental commanders.
Gen. Lowrey resigned his commission in March 1865 and returned to Mississippi where he served as president of the Mississippi Baptist Convention for 9 years and in 1873 founded Blue Mountain Female Institute. He died from illness at 56 in Middleton, TN, on Feb. 27, 1885.
