Robert Cowdin was born 18 September 1805, in Jamaica, Vermont. Prior to the war he was in the lumber business, and the Massachusetts Militia. On 25 May 1861, he was mustered in as colonel of the 1st Massachusetts Infantry, and participated in First Bull Run and the Peninsula Campaign. He was appoint brigadier general 26 September 1862, but Congress failed to confirm his appointment, which expired 4 March 1863. He resigned from the service 30 March 1863.

After the war he served several terms on the council and board of aldermen in Boston, and died 9 July 1874, in Boston, and is buried in Mount Auburn cemetery (Asphodel Path, Lot 2921), Cambridge, Mass.

---

Sources:

Not listed in Revised Roster.

Warner's "Generals in Blue," pp. 96-7

Links:

Gravestone

Photographs

Bibliography

Cowdin, Robert. "Gen. Cowdin and the First Massachusetts Regiment of Volunteers." Boston: J. E. Farwell and Co., printers, 1864.