Fort Cumberland in 1755 as depicted in Lowdermilk's 1878 work, ''History of Cumberland''. William Harrison Lowdermilk (1839–1897) was a

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person or a company * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer ( fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * Jame ...

, and

newspaper publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

Biography

William Harrison Lowdermilk was born in

Cumberland, Maryland Cumberland is a U.S. city in and the county seat of Allegany County, Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its s ...

on January 7, 1839. He moved to

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

in 1850, attended college and learned the printing trade. During the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

Lowdermilk enlisted in Company S, Kentucky 6th Infantry Regiment on 24 December 1861 and was promoted to Full Private on 1 May 1862. His obituary in the ''Evening Star'' states that he was an officer on General W. B. Hazen's staff. He was captured at the

Battle of Stones River The Battle of Stones River, also known as the Second Battle of Murfreesboro, was a battle fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, in Middle Tennessee, as the culmination of the Stones River Campaign in the Western Theater of the Ame ...

and held a prisoner of war in

Libby Prison Libby Prison was a Confederate prison at Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. In 1862 it was designated to hold officer prisoners from the Union Army. It gained an infamous reputation for the overcrowded and harsh conditions. Prison ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

for eight months, when he was exchanged, and then he rejoined his regiment and served with distinction until the close of the war, fighting at Shiloh,

Chickamauga Chickamauga may refer to: Entertainment * "Chickamauga", an 1889 short story by American author Ambrose Bierce * "Chickamauga", a 1937 short story by Thomas Wolfe * "Chickamauga", a song by Uncle Tupelo from their 1993 album ''Anodyne (album), Ano ...

and Stone River. In 1865, he purchased the newspaper the '' Civilian and Telegraph'', a Cumberland newspaper made up of two previous papers, the ''Civilian'' and the ''Telegraph'', and owned by Evans and Maupin. In May 1869, he established the ''Transcript'', a daily newspaper which was published for three months, before it was abandoned, because of the ill health of the editor. Later that year he became the Cumberland Postmaster and an author of the ''History of Cumberland''. The book was reviewed in the ''Evening Star'' in May 1896. Lowdermilk moved to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in 1878 and embarked in the book business as a member of the firm of James Anglim & Co. He later owned one of the largest book stores in the country, W.H. Lowdermilk & Co. Booksellers at 1424 F St., Washington D.C. He joined the

Sons of the American Revolution The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR or NSSAR) is an American Congressional charter, congressionally chartered organization, founded in 1889 and headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, Louisville, Kentucky. A non-prof ...

on the grounds of the service of his ancestor Michael Kershner in Captain Graybill's Company on the

Maryland Line The "Maryland Line" was a formation within the Continental Army, formed and authorized by the Second Continental Congress, meeting in the "Old Pennsylvania State House" (later known as "Independence Hall") in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in June 17 ...

during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

. Kershner had been stationed at

Fort Cumberland A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

. Lowdermilk attended meetings of the Sons of the Revolution in Washington, D.C. He died in 1897, at age 80, in Washington D.C. and was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery, Cumberland.Ames W. Williams
The W. H. Lowdermilk Company
Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C., Vol. 51, he 51st separately bound book(1984), pp. 158-165. Published by: Historical Society of Washington, D.C.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowdermilk, William Harrison Military personnel from Cumberland, Maryland Businesspeople from Washington, D.C. 1839 births 1897 deaths American Civil War prisoners of war American printers American booksellers 19th-century American businesspeople Burials at Rose Hill Cemetery (Cumberland, Maryland) Businesspeople from Cumberland, Maryland