Archibald
Hamilton Rowand, Jr., was born in Philadelphia on
March 6, 1845, and attended Quaker and other private schools
in Philadelphia and Greenville, South Carolina, where his
father worked as a bookbinder. Rowand’s period
in South Carolina produced an ability to speak with a southern
accent that served him well during the Civil War.
He
attempted to enlist in Pennsylvania, but was underage
and he went to Wheeling, West Virginia, where his father’s
younger brother, Thomas Weston Rowand, a veteran of the
Mexican War, was raising a company of cavalry that was
soon mustered into service as Company K, 1st Virginia
(Loyal) Volunteer Cavalry. Rowand’s enlistment
date was July 17,1862, and he was seventeen.
Click a Orange Triangle
next to a date in the column to the left to view his
letters and other related material from that period.