CHARLES L. SOWELL.-Among the substantial and successful businessmen whose names have added luster to the fame of Escambia county, few are as widely and favorably known as the popular banker, Charles L. Sowell. Mr. Sowell was born November 12, 1835, in Monroe County, Ala., and is the son of James and Nancy (Coleman) Sowell, natives, respectively, of South Carolina and Georgia.

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James Sowell was a wealthy planter and owned, at one time, over 800 acres of finely cultivated land, and from forty to sixty slaves. He was married three times, first, in his native state, to Anne Brown, who bore him four children. After her death, he removed to Alabama, where his second marriage was consummated with Mrs. Bradford, who was accidentally killed about two years later, being thrown from a horse, while on her way to church. The third marriage took place in Monroe County, Ala., in. the year 1830, with Nancy Coleman, who bore her husband the following children: Andrew J., deceased; Sarah, widow of Eranda Bethea; Charles L.; Samuel; Thomas, deceased; Douglas S.; Anne; Caroline, wife of William Crook, and John L. Of the above sons, five served through the late war, and earned the reputation of brave and gallant soldiers.

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The father died in 1849, after which Mrs. Sowell resided on the old homestead for some time, but subsequently moved to the village of Monroeville, where she maintained a homestead until the war gave freedom to her slaves. Since then she has made her home with her children in Brewton, where she still lives at the ripe old age of eighty, retaining in a remarkable degree her faculties, physical and mental. 

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Charles L. Lowell spent the first eighteen years of his life in Monroe County and then left the parental roof, going to Milton, Fla., where, until the breaking out of the Civil war, he was employed in the milling and lumbering business. On the 5th of April, 1859, he entered into the marriage relation with Annie, daughter of Silas Jernigan, and in April, 1862, responded to the call of his state for volunteers, enlisting that year in Capt. Jack Deloach's company of volunteers, from Monroe county. This company became a part of the Thirty-sixth Alabama infantry. Col. Bob Smith commanding; but on the commencement of the Georgia campaign of 1863, it was transferred to the First Florida regiment, and designated as company G, J. D. Lee captain, and such it remained until the final surrender in 1865. Mr. Sowell's military record, of which he feels deservedly proud, is replete with a long series of valorous deeds. He was with his command in the bloody battles of Murfreesboro. Mission Ridge, Lookout Mountain, Chickamauga, took part in the Atlanta campaign from Resaca to its close, and then went with Hood to Tennessee and participated in the battles of Franklin and Nashville.

He passed through the greater part of the war without receiving the slightest injury, but at Nashville, he received a wound which deprived him of his left arm and left him maimed for life. During the progress of that terrible battle, the two armies had driven each other backward and forward, for two days, and on the second day, Mr. Sowell, with others, was detailed as a sharp-shooter and ordered to a position far in advance of the Confederate lines. Finding, as he supposed, a secure position in a hole in the ground, he opened fire on a Yankee sharpshooter, partially secreted in a tree, but the blue coat returned the fire with such effect that Mr. Sowell's left arm was shattered by a ball which passed entirely through the member and killed a comrade sitting a few feet in the rear. After receiving the wound he walked to the rear of the lines, and that night the mangled arm was amputated, close to the shoulder. The next day he was made prisoner but was not able to leave the hospital for over ninety days.  Subsequently, he was sent to Camp Chase, where he had a severe attack of smallpox, and upon his recovery therefrom, he was started with others to Richmond for exchange, but for some reason did not get any farther than Point Lookout, where he was detained with others until after the surrender at Appomattox.

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At the close of the war, he started home, and on landing at Mobile his clothing was in shreds, and not a penny graced his pocket. In this dilemma, a comrade presented him with a new Confederate uniform, and on reaching home his wife made him a couple of shirts out of a linen dress which she had kept secreted during the gloomy period of the war, and this raiment, with a few articles of household furniture, saved from the general destruction, represented the sum total of his earthly possessions. Within a brief period, he was fortunate in securing the appointment of station agent for the L. & N. railroad at Brewton, which position he held till 1869 when he resigned and engaged in buying and selling timber.  This proved very remunerative, and he continued it successfully for about eight years, during which time he realized a comfortable fortune. He built a large sawmill, employed a large force of workmen, and followed lumbering very extensively until 1888, at which time he disposed of his mills and engaged in the banking business, which he carried on alone until the fall of 1891.

At that time the bank was reorganized and chartered under the state law, with Mr. Sowell as president, a position he still retains. The same year he again embarked in the timber business in partnership with S. J. Foshee, under the name of Sowell, Foshee & Co., a firm which now owns 16,000 acres of timberland in Escambia county, upon which are mills with a capacity of 50,000 feet of lumber per day, and dry kilns and planing machinery sufficient to take care of the same. The plant represents a capital of $100,000 and the yearly business of the firm aggregates in the neighborhood of $150,000. In addition to the business enterprise referred to, Mr. Sowell owns a large amount of valuable real estate throughout southern Alabama, possesses fine property in Brewton and other towns, and is, perhaps, the most extensive capitalist in Escambia county. He is public-spirited in all the term implies, enjoys almost unbounded popularity, and, while always foremost in every laudable enterprise, has never sought official preferment at the hands of his fellow citizens. Notwithstanding his inclination in this respect, however, he was elected tax assessor in 1872, in which position he resigned at the end of one year, and in 1882 was chosen commissioner of Escambia county, in which capacity he served one term.

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Since the war, he has raised a large family of children, and in their education has expended over $9,000. The names of his children are as follows: Charles L., foreman of Sullivan Lumber company, Wallace, Ala.; James, general manager of Sowell, Foshee & Co.'s mills at Hammac Station; John L., telegraph operator, Dothan, Ala.; Mary L.; Preston B., merchant at Hammac Station; Annie; Julia, wife of Richard Parks, of Pollard; Samuel; Daisy; William W., deceased, and Sanford.   

Additional Comments: from "Memorial Record of Alabama", Vol. I, p. 998, 999-1001 Published by Brant & Fuller (1893) Madison, WI   

Charles Lewis Sowell (seated) with unnamed family members