Andrew Cowan (artillerist)

Andrew Cowan served as a Union artillerist in the American Civil War. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Gettysburg and the Battle of Sayler's Creek.

Andrew Cowan was born in Ayrshire, Scotland on September 29, 1841, and he migrated to the United States as a boy. He married his first wife, Mary Asdit, in upper New York State where she bore a son, Albert Andrew Cowan, in August 1867 but she died the following month most likely from complications from childbirth.

Andrew Cowan had seen service in Virginia before becoming an officer in an independent battery.

The 1st New York Battery was recruited by Capt Terance J. Kennedy, mostly in Cayuga County, beginning on October 18, 1861. The battery was organized at Auburn, New York. Andrew Cowan was commissioned as the unit's first lieutenant. The battery was mustered into the service as a volunteer unit for a term of three years on November 23. The battery left for the Washington, D. C., arriving on December 4. Officially designated the 1st New York Battery three days later, it was assigned to BG William F. Smith's division of the Army of the Potomac in January 1862. The division joined IV Corps in March of, 1862. The division joined VI Corps in May 1862, serving in the Peninsula Campaign. By that time, Lt Cowan was in charge. He was promoted to the rank of captain during the Peninsula Campaign.

The 1st New York Battery served at the Battle of Yorktown and the Battle of Williamsburg under the division's senior artillerist Capt Romeyn B. Ayres. It took part in Seven Days Battles, the Battle of South Mountain at Crampton's Gap, the Battle of Antietam and the Battle of Fredericksburg. In the Chancellorsville Campaign, the battery served in the Second Battle of Fredericksburg, covering the crossing of VI Corps into the town of Fredericksburg. It then supported the division of BG Albion Howe at the Battle of Salem Church.

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