Cyrus B. Lower (February 28, 1843 – May 21, 1924) was a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

soldier who fought with the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

as a private in the 13th Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment (also known as the "Bucktails" or 42nd Pennsylvania Infantry). He received his nation's highest award for valor, the U.S. Medal of Honor, for his display of gallantry during the Battle of the Wilderness on May 7, 1864, and afterward when he rejoined his regiment after having been wounded in action and held as a prisoner of war by

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

troops. That award was conferred on July 20, 1887.

Formative years

Born on February 28, 1843, in Mahoning Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, Cyrus B. Lower was a son of Samuel and Mary Bryan Lower. During his formative years, he resided with his parents near the Western Pennsylvania community of Edinburg.DiRisio, Betty Hoover.
Cyrus B. Lower: Medal of Honor Recipient (Civil War)
, in "1849–1899". New Castle, Pennsylvania: Lawrence County Historical Society, April 18, 2016.

Civil War

In 1861, Cyrus B. Lower became one of his nation's early responders to President Abraham Lincoln's call for volunteers to defend Washington, D.C. following the April 1861 fall of Fort Sumter to the

. During the early summer, he left his home state and headed for

Poland, Ohio Poland is a village in eastern Mahoning County, Ohio, United States. A suburb about southeast of Youngstown, the population was 2,463 at the 2020 census. It is a part of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area. History In 1796, Poland T ...

where, on June 21, he enrolled for Civil War military service, and mustered in as a private with Company E of the

23rd Ohio Infantry The 23rd Ohio Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during much of the American Civil War. It served in the Eastern Theater in a variety of campaigns and battles, and is remembered with a stone memorial on the Antietam ...

. After fighting with his regiment in the

Battle of Carnifex Ferry The Battle of Carnifex Ferry took place on September 10, 1861 in Nicholas County, Virginia (now West Virginia), as part of the Operations in Western Virginia Campaign during the American Civil War. The battle resulted in a Union strategic vict ...

, Virginia on September 10, he was then wounded in action in Maryland on September 18 while fighting with his regiment near Antietam. Shot in the left hand by a rifle, he sustained further damage when the ball traveled up and through his wrist joint. After three months of treatment for his injuries and subsequent convalescence at a Union Army hospital in New York, he returned to service with the 23rd Ohio at its headquarters at Camp White in West Virginia, but was quickly discharged on a surgeon's certificate and sent home to Pennsylvania when his superiors determined that he was still not fully recuperated.Hruska, Judy.
Cyrus B. Lower
. New Castle, Pennsylvania: ''New Castle News'', November 13, 2000, p. 1. Two years later, Lower re-enlisted for Civil War service. After re-enrolling in

New Castle, Pennsylvania New Castle is a city in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lawrence County. It is northwest of Pittsburgh, and near the Pennsylvania–Ohio border, just southeast of Youngstown, Ohio. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, ...

on October 27, 1863, he then mustered in at

Camp Curtin Camp Curtin was a major Union Army training camp in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, during the American Civil War. It was located north of Pennsylvania's state capitol building on 80 acres of what had previously been land used by the Dauphin County Ag ...

in Harrisburg on October 30 as a private with Company K of the 13th Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment (also known as the "Bucktails" or 42nd Pennsylvania Infantry). Military records at the time described him as a 20-year-old farmer and native of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania who was 5' 9-1/2" tall with brown hair, gray eyes and a light complexion.Lower, Cyrus B.
in "Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861–1866 (K-12 Res-42 Regt)". Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.

In 1864, he performed the acts of valor which would result in his later being awarded the U.S. Medal of Honor. After being wounded in the thigh on May 7 while fighting with his regiment in the Battle of the Wilderness, Virginia, he continued to march with his fellow Bucktails as they drove Confederate troops through Virginia. His injury hampered his movements, however, and he was captured (on May 30). On June 13, while being transported by rail to the CSA's prisoner of war (POW) camp at Andersonville, Georgia, he jumped from the train, and escaped by making his way north to rejoin his regiment in Virginia. Subsequently transferred to the 190th Pennsylvania Infantry as part of a reorganization of Pennsylvania military units, he continued to serve until he mustered out on June 28, 1865, at Arlington Heights, Virginia.

Post-war life

Following his honorable discharge from the military, Lower returned home to Pennsylvania where, sometime around 1869, he wed Sarah Edwards. Sons Elton and John Edward were then born, respectively, on March 9, 1870, and March 18, 1873. Superintendent of his county's Greenwood Cemetery, Lower also supported his family through the proceeds he made from his nursery business. Widowed by his wife in 1879, he relocated to Washington, D.C. where he ultimately obtained work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. On November 8, 1881, he remarried. He and his wife, Florence (Hinton) Lower, then welcomed the births of two children, Elsie Lower Pomeroy on September 30, 1882, and Irvin Bard on July 3, 1892. Lower died on May 21, 1924. Following funeral services, he was laid to rest in Section 17, Lot 19971 at the

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...

Medal of Honor citation

Rank and organization: Private, Company K, 13th Pennsylvania Reserves. Place and date: At Wilderness, Va., May 7, 1864. Entered service at: ------. Birth: Lawrence County, Pa. Date of issue. July 20, 1887. Citation:

Gallant services and soldierly qualities in voluntarily rejoining his command after having been wounded.

Publications

* Lower, C. B.
We Rode with Little Phil and Other Poems
'. Washington, D.C.: Gibson Brothers, 1899.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lower, Cyrus B. 1843 births 1924 deaths United States Army Medal of Honor recipients United States Army soldiers Union Army soldiers People from Lawrence County, Pennsylvania People of Pennsylvania in the American Civil War Burials at Arlington National Cemetery American Civil War recipients of the Medal of Honor