Son of Milly Mary Glass and John Fowler. Married to Zerilda Cavaness/Caveness.

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The Emporia Gazette, 30 May 1923, Wednesday

ELI FOWLER

Eli Fowler was a member of Emporia's own Company C, 11th Kansas. He enlisted in August 1862, for three years. This regiment was enlisted as infantry, but afterward became a cavalry regiment. The Emporia company, which was made up of men from a wide scope of territory, was taken in wagons to Leavenworth. Old men and young boys, not eligible for war service, went along to bring home the teams. Few able-bodied men were left on the town site. They drilled 30 days at Leavenworth, then marched to Fort Scott, and from Fort Scott into Arkansas. This company's first smell of powder was when they met the Confederates at Fort Wayne, I.T. The Union men captured four pieces of artillery and sent the Confederates flying. Several Union men were killed and wounded. The fight lasted all one day, and that night the Union men slept in the deserted camp of the enemy.

The next engagement was the running all-day fight at Cane Hill, where the Confederates were driven back across the Boston Mountains. It was mighty difficult getting across those mountains, and often when the roads were the worst, or there were no roads, the men helped to push the artillery up the inclines and out of ditches, as the horses couldn't make it alone. The Union men took Cane Hill and camped there, but the Johnnies resented their presence and came back at them. There were many skirmishes all during the fall and during the winter.

Then came the battle of Prairie Grove, December 7, 1862, the history of which is familiar to all Emporia citizens. But what Emporia probably doesn't know is that Eli Fowler helped the late Capt. L. T. Heritage off the field after the Captain was wounded. Mr. Fowler tells how he got Captain Heritage off the field and through an orchard, he doesn't know how, half dragging, half carrying him, past the Union lines, where they met an orderly. Mr. Fowler made the orderly get off his horse and help put the wounded man in the saddle, then Mr. Fowler went with him, guiding the horse, until they were in sight of the flags of the hospital. Captain Heritage managed to stick on the horse, and Mr. Fowler returned to his company. All that time he had not let his gun get out of his hands.

The battle of Prairie Grove lasted one day and part of the night. Both sides were ready to rest, and there were no fires that night on either line, and nothing to eat on the Union side. It was a cold night, too, but fires would have disclosed their position to the enemy. The men slept as best they could on the cold ground, and were cheered and heartened next morning when a courier came, announcing that the Confederates had retreated.

The next move was the pursuit of the Confederates a second time over the Boston Mountains, and the capture of VanBuren, Ark., at which place also a considerable amount of supplies was captured--mostly sugar and corn. The Union men couldn't carry these things away with them, and they couldn't destroy the corn easily, but they dumped the sugar--many hogshead of brown, sticky sweetness, into the river. They filled their knapsacks with sugar, but eating it made them so thirsty they wished all the sugar had been dumped in the river.

Following this, the men were ordered into camp at Springfield, Mo., where they stayed most of that winter. Then they went into camp at Fort Scott, from which place about half the men were allowed to come home for a week or ten days. The others stayed to hold the camp.

After all had returned to Fort Scott, they were sent into Vernon county, Missouri. "We never did know what for, and I suppose we never will know," said Mr. Fowler. Then they were ordered to Vicksburg, the order was countermanded, and they were sent to Kansas City to fight the guerillas. They stayed on the border several months. They were camped near Humboldt for a time, then went to Paola, scrapping more or less all of the time with the guerillas. They were near Paola at the time of Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence.

Following the Quantrill Raid the regiment went after the Confederate General Price and his army, who were venturing dangerously far north. They met Price at Lexington, Mo., and engaged in a running fight most of the way between that place and Kansas City. Price had 30,000 men--and the best thing the 2,800 Union men could do was to get out of his way as rapidly as possible. The men of Company G were killed at this time--Charles Hyde, who was an orderly sergeant, and James Thomas. Hyde rode a white horse and was a target for a sharpshooter. Mr. Fowler saw him pitch off his horse, dead.

Pierce pursued the Union men to Kansas City where they were reinforced, and soon they turned Price and his men toward the south and followed them across the Arkansas River. The Union men were returned to Kansas City, and from that place were sent to Western Kansas and Eastern Colorado to help keep the Indians in order, and were in that section of the country during the remainder of their service. Mr. Fowler was mustered out in August 1865, at Fort Riley.

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The Emporia Gazette, 14 May 1924, Wed, Page 1

ELI FOWLER DEAD

Eli Fowler died Tuesday afternoon at his home, 625 Cottonwood, after a week's illness.

Mr. Fowler is survived by Mrs. Fowler and five children. On son, James, died four years ago, his death being the first break in the family circle. The surviving children are: C. S. Fowler, of San Antonio, Texas; E. L. Fowler, of Memphis, Tenn.; L. E. Fowler, of Kansas City, Mo.; E. H. Fowler, Eureka; and Mrs. T. W. Hafer, Kansas City, Mo. Mr. Fowler is also survived by eight grandchildren, five great-grandchildren; four brothers, Dorris and Ruffin Fowler, of Emporia; Alison Fowler, of Independence; and Irnton Fowler, of St. Louis, Mo.; and one sister, Mrs. Letha Stack, of Emporia.

Funeral services will be held Thursday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock in the First Christian Church. Rev. B. A. Brooks of Ash Grove, president of the Methodist Protestant conference in Kansas, assisted by D. F. Cross, pastor of the Christian church, will conduct the services. Interment will be in Hunt Cemetery.

Eli Fowler was born May 20, 1843, in Martinsville, Morgan county, Indiana. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. John Fowler, pioneer settlers in Lyon county, and was one of 16 children. In the fall of 1855, two years before the founding of Emporia, Eli Fowler came with his parents and brothers and sisters to Kansas, making the long trip overland in ox-drawn wagons, two teams to a wagon. It took five weeks to make the trip from Indiana. The Fowlers followed the old Santa Fe trail across the state, branching off between Allen and Admire.

John Fowler was the founder of the Fowler settlement in the Cottonwood Valley. He had the pick of all the rich land in the bottoms, and in addition to his original homestead, later bought many acres of land from discouraged settlers who wanted to sell out and return to the east. As his children grew up and established homes of their own, they rettled on farms near the old homestead.

Eli Fowler grew up in this pioneer settlement, his youth enriched by all the thrilling experiences in life in a new, growing country. He went to war with the boys of Emporia's own company, served through the long conflict, then returned to Kansas, and had spent the remainder of his life in Lyon county and in Emporia.

Mr. Fowler was married to Zerilda Cavaness December 8, 1865. The wedding took place at the home of John E. Wilhite, an uncle of the bride, and the ceremony...

The Emporia Gazette, 14 May 1924, Wed, Page 2
...was performed by Rev. J. C. Fraker, who was pastor of the Methodist church in Emporia and circuit rider for a wide outlying area. They went to housekeeping on one of the John Fowler farms in a 1-roomed log cabin, built of the unhewn timber with the bark left on. The greater part of their married life was spent in the Fowler settlement. Four years ago they moved to Emporia.

Mr. and Mrs. Fowler celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in Grand Army hall in Emporia December 8, 1915, and at this happy gathering 100 guests, almost all relatives, came to honor "Uncle Eli" and "Aunt 'Rilda."

Mr. Fowler enlisted in Company C, Eleventh Kansas, in August 1862, for three years. The Emporia company was taken in wagons to Leavenworth, where the men drilled 30 days, then marched to Fort Scott into Arkansas. Their first fight was when they met the Confederates at Fort Wayne, I.T. The next engagement was a running all-day fight at Cane Hill, where the Confederates were driven back across the Boston mountains. The Union men took Cane Hill and camped there, and there were many skirmishes all during the fall and early winter.

Then came the battle of Prairie Grove, December 7, 1862, the history of which is familiar to Emporia citizens. It was Eli Fowler who helped Captain L. T. Heritage off the field after he was wounded. Mr. Fowler half dragged and half carried his beloved captain from the battlefield and through an orchard, on past the Union lines, where they met an orderly. Mr. Fowler had the orderly get off his horse and help him put the wounded man in the saddle, then Mr. Fowler went with him, guiding the horse, until they were within sight of the flags of the hospital. Captain Heritage managed to stick on the horse, and Mr. Fowler returned to his company. All that time he had not let his guns out of his hands.

The next move after the Prairie Grove engagement was the pursuit of the Confederates a second time over the Boston mountains, and the capture of Van Buren, Ark. Following this the men were ordered into camp at Springfield, Mo., where they stayed most of the winter. Later they spent several months on the border, fighting guerillas, and were near Paola at the time of Quantrill's raid on Lawrence.

Other fighting in which Mr. Fowler's regiment participated was with the Confederate General Price and his army. After finally turning Price and his men toward the south, the Union men returned to Kansas City, and Mr. Fowler saw service in western Kansas and eastern Colorado when he was sent there with his company to help keep the Indians in order. He was mustered out in August, 1865 in Fort Riley.

Mr. Fowler was a member of Preston B. Plumb Post of the G.A.R., of which he was senior vice-commander, and of the Knights and Ladies of Security. From his early boyhood, until after he moved to Emporia, when he transferred his membership to the First Christian church, he was a loyal member and faithful worker in the Methodist Protestant church at Fowler chapel. He represented the congregation once as a delegate to General Conference at Pittsburgh, Pa. He has served Lyon county as a commissioner, and Emporia township as a treasurer.

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The Emporia Gazette, 14 May 1924, Wed, Page 2

ELI FOWLER

The death of Eli Fowler, one of the last of the good old sturdy stock of Fowlers who have been in this community for nearly 70 years, takes from us someone more important than a man who has seen a lot of Lyon county history. This old timer helped to make the history he saw. He was always an active citizen who did his full share--a real man's part--in making Emporia what it is and Lyon county all it has become. He was a soldier in the Civil war--and a brave one. He was a leader in his neighborhood for 60 years after, and in everything that is worth while Eli Fowler and his dear wife who always stood beside him a full partner in everything he did--played a good part. We shall miss him--hundreds of us whose hearts turn back to the old days. But the thousands who never knew him should pause to remember but for him and his kind, the aspiring, the sturdy, the simply and courageously wise--this town, this county, and this nation would not be what they are. So we should lift our hats in deep respect as he passes on.