George Rutledge Cowan (September 22, 1837 – October 14, 1904) was a farmer, real estate investor, Confederate officer and politician from Russell County, Virginia.
George Sr. had represented Russell County in the Virginia General Assembly intermittently since 1825, first as a delegate and beginning in 1831 as a state senator, and his family had settled in the area before the American Revolutionary War.
[4] They had five daughters, as well as two sons who reached adulthood: Charles, Joseph, Lucy, Mary, Ellen, Sarah Cowan Laban and Nancy.
Simeon Hunt having resigned to lead the local militia, Robert E. Cowan was elected captain of what became Company I of the 37th Virginia Infantry in the Confederate States Army.
Confederate forces had been routed at Phillipi in early June, then at Rich Mountain, before retreating to Monterey, Virginia, by July 20, 1861.
Private George Cowan received a hip wound in March 1862 during the First Battle of Winchester, but continued fighting in Jackson's Valley Campaign.
[8] Shortly before Congressional Reconstruction began, Cowan received a presidential pardon, but his application failed to mention his Confederate military service.
After the war, in addition to farming, Cowan also married and bought and sold real estate in Russell and surrounding counties.