Israel S. Fowler was from the Isle of Wight Fowler family line…. a Fowler line that made its way from Virginia to Union County, South Carolina, yet paternally unrelated to the Henry Ellis Fowler line (also known as the Henrico Clan).

I have volumes of research on the Israel Fowler line. These men and women were in Union County from the late 1700s until present day, lived next to and married into my Henry Ellis Fowler family. There are more than a few people walking the earth today who carry the DNA of both Fowler lines.

Israel S. Fowler was the son of Daniel P. Fowler (b. 1810), son of Israel Fowler II (b. 1780), son of Israel Fowler (b. 1750), son of John Fowler (b. 1720).

On December 18, 1861, seventeen-year-old Israel S. Fowler traveled to the Davis Old Field in Union District and enlisted in Captain J. Felix Walker’s Company E 18th Regiment South Carolina Volunteers. From there he went to Camp Hampton and was enlisted again on December 28, 1861. This regiment later became Company F of the 18th Regiment South Carolina Infantry.

Civil War records indicate that, during the first three years of his military life, Israel Fowler had no battle wounds, no significant illness, nor was he captured. This would change in the autumn of 1864 through the end of the war.

The September/October 1864 Muster roll listed Israel Fowler as “Absent, sick” and he was furloughed: “Absent, furlough” November/December 1864 . He was “absent without leave” during the January/February 1865 roll.

Israel Fowler recovered from his illness, returned to his regiment, and was captured on April 1, 1865 at Petersburg, Virginia.

He was sent from City Point, Virginia to the prison camp at Point Lookout, Maryland on April 5, 1865.

We have no image of Israel Fowler –no tintype or sketch — but the Union Army gave us a brief description: five foot, ten inches tall, light complexion, brown hair, and hazel eyes.

Israel Fowler was released from the prison camp on June 26, 1865.

After his return home, Israel S. Fowler married Maria (b. 1843). They had the following sons and daughters:

• Mary Fowler (1867–)
• Sallie Fowler (1869–)
• James Fowler (1873–)
• Sidney Fowler (1874–1928)
• Joseph Fowler (1877–)

After the death of Maria, he married Susan Ann Quinn (1848–1939). It was a second marriage for both and there would be no children born of this union.

Israel S. Fowler was born and lived in Union County for most of his life. He spent his later years in nearby Spartanburg County and died of influenza and old age there, in Clifton, in 1918. His death certificate lists May 28 as his date of death; his headstone June 14, 1918.

I visited Israel S. Fowler’s grave yesterday at the Clifton Cemetery. His bones lie beneath a worn stone marker and a Southern Cross of Honor.

The inscription “He was beloved by God and man” spoke volumes to me as I stood by the final resting place of this son of Daniel, this father of sons and daughters, this soldier of the South. He will not be forgotten.