Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/1164

1088 journals, notable among which are a series of letters to young, ministers. He is widely known as an eloquent speaker, through his many commencement addresses, his presentations of the foreign mission cause, and his lectures upon general subjects. The degree of doctor of divinity was conferred upon him by the Baylor university of Texas. Dr. Owen was born in Powhatan county, September 27, 1837. He was married December 6, 1866, to Henrietta, sister of Robert W. Hall, of Brunswick county, who served in Pickett's division and was captured at Sailor's Creek. They have seven children living: Minnie Etta, wife of M. P. Claud, of Portsmouth; Nettie Blanche, wife of John Freeman, of North Carolina; Sallie Hall, wife of J. E. Britton, of Norfolk; Austin Everett, Jr., of the Norfolk bank; William Russell, Jennie and Richard Clement.

Colonel John C. Owens, a patriotic officer conspicuous among the gallant soldiers contributed by southeastern Virginia to the Confederate cause, was born in Matthews county, March 19, 1830. His father, John Owens, a prosperous farmer of that county, was a worthy descendant of ancestors who had been liberty-loving colonists and Revolutionary soldiers. While a child Colonel Owens was brought by his parents to Portsmouth, Va., which was his home during the remainder of his life. At the outbreak of the war he was captain of the Portsmouth Rifle company, a military organization which had been in existence nearly seventy years, and had a fine reputation for discipline and efficiency. Responding promptly to the call of Governor Letcher, he was mustered in with his company April 20, 1861, and immediately went on duty. Stationed at Pig Point for several months he commanded his company in the artillery fight with the Federal steamer Harriet Lane, attracting favorable attention by his coolness and skill. Upon the organization of the Ninth regiment at Petersburg, the Rifles were assigned as Company G, and Captain Owens remained in command until the reorganization in May, 1862, when he was promoted major of the regiment. In this rank he participated in the battle of Seven Pines, and the Seven Days' campaign under Lee. Major Owens was attached to Huger's division, and while that command was moving down the Charles City road to cut off McClellan's retreat, he became impatient with the slowness of the movement, and asked General Huger for permission to take the advance with the Ninth regiment, or any other force that might be assigned him, and push forward rapidly until he encountered a considerable body of the enemy. But this request it was not thought advisable to grant. McClellan gained a strong position at Malvern Hill, against which Major Owens' regiment was thrown with heavy loss in the fruitless assault of July 1st. At the battle of Warrenton Springs, August, 1862, Major Owens was wounded, but he remained with his command through the Second Manassas and Maryland campaigns, including the capture of Harper's Ferry and battle of Sharpsburg. He participated in the battle of Fredericksburg and the Suffolk campaign of Longstreet's corps, and in June, 1863, was promoted colonel. In this rank he commanded the Ninth regiment in the charge of Armistead's brigade, Pickett's division, on the third day of the battle of Gettysburg, and was gallantly leading his men in the desperate assault when he fell