lawyer military politician Soldier
Robert Lowry was born on March 10, 1830 in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, United States, the son of Robert and Jemimah (Rushing) Lowry, both of Scotch-Irish extraction. The family moved to Tennessee about 1833 and to Tishomingo County, Mississippi, in 1840.
Robert's educational advantages were limited. From about 1854 to 1859 he was in Arkansas, during which period he read law. Upon his return to Mississippi he practised law as a partner of Judge A. G. Mayers.
In 1846 Lowry went to Raleigh, Mississippi, to live with his uncle, Judge James Lowry, with whom he engaged in mercantile enterprises first at Raleigh and later at Brandon. When the Civil War began he enlisted as a private in the Rankin Grays, but in August 1861 was elected a major of the 6th Mississippi Regiment, which was being organized at Grenada. He was twice wounded at the battle of Shiloh and in 1862 was commissioned colonel. He served with General Joseph E. Johnston during the Vicksburg campaign. On the death of his superior officer, Brigadier-General John Adams, he was placed in command of the brigade and was commissioned brigadier-general, February 4, 1865; he was with General Joseph E. Johnston when he surrendered to Sherman on April 26, 1865.
Returning to Mississippi, he served as state senator in 1865-1866, and with Giles M. Hillyer was appointed by Governor B. G. Humphreys on a commission, authorized by the legislature, to visit Washington and request President Johnson to release Jefferson Davis. In 1869 he was the Democratic candidate for the office of attorney-general but was not elected. In the campaign which resulted in the overthrow of the Carpetbag government in 1876, he took an active part. In 1881 the adherents of Governor J. M. Stone and Ethelbert Barksdale caused a deadlock in the state Democratic convention and Lowry was nominated as a compromise candidate for governor. The following campaign, which was the last in which the Republican party (under the name of Independent Party) put forward candidates for state offices in Mississippi, resulted in a victory for Lowry. He was renominated in 1885 and elected without opposition.
After retiring from the governorship he practised law at Jackson, Mississippi. In 1891, in collaboration with William H. McCardle, he published A History of Mississippi. He was a candidate for the unexpired term of United States Senator E. C. Walthall, who died in 1898, but failed of election. For seven years prior to his death he was state commander of the United Confederate Veterans.
Lowry was a member of the Democratic Party.
On September 9, 1849, Lowry married Maria M. Gammage, of Jasper County, Mississippi.
