Robert Cowdin

Born on September 18, 1805, Robert Cowdin was a Boston-area businessman and civic leader who later entered military service during the American Civil War. He was associated with local politics in Massachusetts and became colonel of the 1st Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry before being promoted to brevet brigadier general.

Cowdin is especially remembered for his wartime recollections. His memoir, First Regiment Massachusetts Infantry, from the 25th of May to the 25th of August, 1861, gives a direct account of the regiment’s early months in the war and helps preserve the experiences of volunteer soldiers at the beginning of the conflict.

He died on July 9, 1874. For listeners interested in nineteenth-century American voices, Cowdin offers both the perspective of a public-minded citizen and the immediacy of someone who wrote from lived experience.