James Robb Cowles, student 1857-1861

James R. Cowles enlisted in Co. E of the 12th Virginia Infantry as a private on July 22, 1861. Cowles was the younger brother of Henry Brown Cowles, Jr., who served in the same unit, and son to Rev. Henry Brown Cowles, an influential Methodist minister and agent for Randolph-Macon College. He was wounded on August 1, 1863 at Brandy Station, VA. He was given light duty in September 1864 when he was detailed to the Quartermasters Department. Cowles surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.

He attended the University of Virginia after the war and then moved to Texas, where he became a lawyer and judge. Tragically, an article in the February 10, 1883 issue of a newspaper published in McKinney, TX, states "Our people will regret to learn that Hon. J. R. COWLES, of Sherman, has become hopelessly insane, through induration [sic] of the brain. He had gone to Hot Springs, Ark., in the hope of finding relief, but dispatches from that place report his case hopeless. His friends will have him sent to the Asylum at Austin." He died in 1895 and is buried in West Hill Cemetery in Sherman, TX.