Fort Lowell—Origin of Name

Fort Lowell was established Tucson in 1886. The military authorities named the fort after Colonel Charles Russell Lowell, Jr. 

Lowell was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1835. He graduated from Harvard at 15.  He served in the Union Army during the Civil War.  He was killed during the Battle of Cedar Creek in 1864. 

The Nature of Sacrifice by Carol Bundy, "a biography of Union general Charles Russell Lowell, Jr., chronicles the career of the aide to General McLellan as he formed a black regiment, fought Colonel Mosby's guerrillas, and executed a ruthless war against Virginia, before being mortally wounded in 1864 at Cedar Creek."

Source:

"City’s Fort Lowell owes its name to feisty colonel." Arizona Daily Star. October 19, 2005. Page B3.


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