Newton F. Fowler was born in 1846 to Henry Fowler, son of Stephen Fowler, son of Ephraim Fowler, son of Henry Ellis Fowler.

Only eighteen years old — or perhaps even as young as seventeen — Newton F. Fowler enlisted in Company F, 18th Regiment South Carolina Infantry on January 28, 1864 in Charleston, South Carolina. His brother John Fowler had enlisted in the same regiment and company three years before.

The brothers — Newton and John — fought side-by-side for the next few months.

The Yankee army captured Newton Fowler on July 30, 1864 in Petersburg, Virginia. He was sent to Point Lookout, Maryland on August 5, then transferred to the Yankee Prisoner of War camp in Elmira, New York on August 8, 1864.

The young soldier, Newton Fowler, did not have a chance. In a prison camp with a capacity of 4000 filled with over 12,000 soldiers within the first month of opening, the death rate soared. The prison was only open for one year, but over twenty-four percent of the confederate prisoners who languished in horrid, unsanitary conditions died from disease, malnutrition, and poor medical care.

Southern mothers surely had fear in their hearts and cried with anguish when they learned that their beloved soldier sons were inmates in the prison called “Hellmira” by her imprisoned.

The prison at Elmira, even today, is proof of man’s inhumanity to his fellow man.

Newton F. Fowler died on August 31, 1864 in Elmira. Typhoid Fever was the cause of death.

Newton F. Fowler was buried in a trench, with other unfortunate souls, in a graveyard. — now known as Woodlawn National Cemetery– located a mile and a half north of the prison. His possessions were buried with him. Wooden grave markers were replaced with engraved marble headstones in 1907.

An ex-slave named John W. Jones was responsible for keeping records of the dead, and he excelled at his duty. Thanks to his meticulous work, we know that Newton F. Fowler lies in Grave Number 121. CSA, 0, 93.