Lowry War

Lowry War
Part of the American Civil War and the Reconstruction era
Wishart brothers with dead Lowry Gang member Tom Lowry, c. 1872[1]
Date 1864 – February 1874 Location Robeson County, North Carolina and surrounding area Result Lowry Gang disbanded
Belligerents
1864–1865: Confederate States of America North Carolina 1865–1874: United States North Carolina Vigilantes Bounty hunters	Lowry Gang
Commanders and leaders
James Brantly Harris † Owen Clinton Norment  † Evan Thomas Roderick McMillan Francis M. Wishart †	Henry Berry Lowry (MIA)
Strength
	6–30
Casualties and losses
22 killed	1 executed 5 killed 1 missing 2 arrested and released

The Lowry War or Lowrie War^[a] was a conflict that took place in and around Robeson County, North Carolina, United States from 1864 to 1874 between a group of mostly Native American outlaws and civil local, state, and federal authorities. The conflict is named for Henry Berry Lowry, a Lumbee who led a gang of Native American, white and black men which robbed area farms and killed public officials who pursued them.

Banditry in Robeson County emerged during the later stages of the American Civil War, as free persons of color hid in local swamps to avoid being conscripted for labor to support the war effort and stole food to survive. In 1864 and 1865 local Confederate officials came into conflict with the prominent Lumbee Lowry family, and two of the former were murdered. A Confederate Home Guard detachment subsequently executed two Lowrys for alleged possession of stolen goods and arrested Henry Berry Lowry on murder charges. He later broke out of jail and avoided the authorities by hiding in swamps with a group of associates which became known as the Lowry Gang. The gang was a somewhat fluid group of American Indian, white and black men, but many of its predominant members had kinship ties to Lowry. New public officials brought in during Reconstruction initially sought a peaceful solution to the problem, but this ended after the gang killed a former sheriff during a robbery in 1868.

Over the following years the gang committed various robberies, often targeting plantations. Declared outlaws by the state government, they were pursued by posses and county militiamen, typically eluding them in swamps and killing some of their pursuers. Some gang members were captured but successfully escaped detention. The state of North Carolina ultimately placed large bounties on the core gang members, with a reward of $12,000 being offered for the capture or killing of Lowry. Elements of the 4th Regiment U.S. Artillery were dispatched on several occasions to assist the local authorities. Following a major robbery in Lumberton in February 1872, Lowry disappeared, and over the next two years bounty hunters tracked down the remaining active gang members. Over the course of the conflict, the Lowry Gang was implicated in the deaths of 22 people, while one of its members was arrested and executed and several others killed. The affair attracted significant regional and national media attention. His fate still unknown, Lowry became a folk hero for the Lumbee people and his exploits have a prominent place in Lumbee folklore.

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