Colonel Owen is napping in his tent on the Virginia Peninsula, probably on a hot, muggy day. The tent flaps are pulled up to invite any passing breeze. I don’t know about you, but I can’t remember having ever seen another picture whose main subject is a soldier sleeping.

You’ll notice also he’s got company in the form of a bottle. It’s likely that that part of the picture is staged, as Owen was apparently the target of more than one prank while with the regiment, and there’s no indication of a drinking problem.

At the start of the War Samuel Owen commanded an independent cavalry company in Washington DC. His and other DC militia units were hurriedly mobilized for the defense of the Capital in that exciting April of 1861 before the arrival of the 7th New York Infantry and the many other regiments from the northern states that followed. He was then about 35 years old.

He accepted appointment as Lieutenant Colonel of the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry as that unit was completing its organization in Washington in August 1861. He served with the Regiment on campaign on the Peninsula and in Maryland, in command, as often as not, in the absence of Colonel Averell.

At Antietam he and his troopers accompanied General Hooker across the creek the afternoon before the great battle, and were among the first in combat in advance of the Federal First Corps that evening.

Ten days after Antietam Owen left the unit for Washington. He resigned his commission soon after that, in October 1862. Then his trail goes cold. He had a successful tailor business before the War and possibly returned to it. An 1890 Washington DC city directory lists only his widow, so he passed before then.

Samuel W Owen