PHILIP W. LOWRY, ENS, USN
Philip Lowry '63
Lucky Bag
The Lucky Bag was first published in 1894.
Philip Wager Lowry was admitted to the Naval Academy from Pennsylvania on September 22, 1859 at age 14 years 6 months.
Loss
Philip died of phthisis (pulmonary tuberculosis or a similar progressive systemic disease) on February 12th, 1866, at Fort Hamilton, New York. The Commandant of the New York Navy Yard reported that he was on sick leave at the time.
He is buried in New York. He was survived by his mother, Caroline Tilghman; he did not marry. His mother applied for a mother's pension in 1890, but it was not granted before her death in 1893.
The Navy Report from 1867 gives his date of death as February 12, 1866, as does the Commandant's letter. However, this genealogy gives February 10. It also gives his date of birth (March 10, 1845).
Career
From the Naval History and Heritage Command:
Acting Midshipman, 22 September, 1859. Ensign, 16 September, 1862. Died 12 February, 1866.
In 1865 he was an Ensign aboard the 2nd rate ship Sacramento — though as of December 1864 he had been detached "and placed on sick leave." Another publication also reported on his sick leave in February 1865.
The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.
The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.
The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.
Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.
January 1860
Acting Midshipman, Fourth Class, Naval Academy
Others at this command: Acting MIDN James Tayloe '60, Acting MIDN George Ryan '61, Acting MIDN Odillion Hobbs '61, Acting MIDN William Stewart '61, Acting MIDN Charles Zimmerman '62, Acting MIDN Samuel Preston '62, Acting MIDN Benjamin Porter '63, Acting MIDN Daniel Carroll '63, Acting MIDN David Wemple '63, Acting MIDN Edward Hazeltine '63, Acting MIDN John Anderson '63, Acting MIDN John Bradley '63, Acting MIDN John Reed '63, Acting MIDN William Hutter '63, and Acting MIDN William Jackson '63.
September 1861
Acting Midshipman, Frigate St. Lawrence
January 1863
Ensign, Steam Frigate Wabash
Others at this command: LT Alexander MacKenzie '59 and LT Samuel Preston '62.
Note
A special thank you to Kathy Franz, a historian who located Philip's cause of death.
Class of 1863
Philip is one of 14 members of the Class of 1863 on Virtual Memorial Hall.
