Pleasant Reid Rowe

ROWE, PLEASANT REID (1838~1925) Pleasant Reid Rowe, Confederate veteran, was born in November of 1838, in Talbot County, George to Samuel A. and Mary A. Weathers Rowe. Shortly after Pleasant Rowe's birth in 1839, Samuel Rowe moved his family to the Republic of Texas. With his wife, mother-in-law, Sarah Weathers, and four children, the Rowes settled near the community of Colita on Long Tom Creek in Polk County.

Samuel Rowe, a farmer, also served as the Postmaster of Colita in 1853 and laid out the town of Kickapoo. On February 3, 1854, he was appointed a commissioner to purchase land for an Alabama Indian tribe. This land is now a part of the Alabama Coushatta Indian Reservation.

At the age of 22, Pleasant Rowe enlisted in the Confederate Army on April 30, 1862, in Hempstead. Two days later he was mustered into Captain James H. McCardell's Company of the Texas Infantry, which became Company E of the 20th Texas Infantry.

The 20th Texas Infantry was officially organized in the summer of 1862 at Galveston and was assigned to the Trans-Mississippi Department. The men of the regiment spent their time in Texas as guards along the coast from Galveston to the Sabine River. At the end of the War, the 20th was included in the surrender on June 2, 1865. Rowe spent the majority of his service on guard duty in Houston and, according to his military records, was said to have been five feet seven inches tall with blue eyes, light hair and a fair complexion.

Rowe returned to Polk County after the War where he worked as a farmer. Having never married and suffering from rheumatism, he moved to the Austin Lunatic Asylum (Austin State Hospital) on July 19, 1902. He remained at the Hospital until October 3, 1904, when he was moved into the Confederate Men's Home in Austin.

In 1906, Rowe was interviewed by the Polk County Enterprise; the interviewer wrote Rowe was one of the oldest residents of Polk County having moved there prior to statehood. Rowe, who lived around the community of Moscow for most of his life, was a favorite among the citizens, and he was called "Uncle Pleas." He was also known to have a keen wit and a talent for composing spur-of-the-moment poetry, according to the article.

Shortly after moving into the Home, Rowe returned to the Asylum and was discharged on August 15, 1907. He lived at the Confederate Home until his death.

Rowe died on May 10, 1925, and was buried in the Texas State Cemetery.

Rowe listed two men as correspondents while he was in the Home a nephew, P. R. Rowe, and a P. R. Rowe. His nephew lived in Livingston, Texas, while the other man was lived in Austin.

Information taken from: materials provided by Edward L. Williams; Rowe Cemetery webpage, http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~polkcountytxconnections/RoweCem.html; Compiled Military Service Record, National Park Service website, http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss; Hospital Records from the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation; and Confederate Home Roster.