Wiley William Fowler Jr 

Mexican - American War

1846 - 1848
Mexican War Military Service Discharge 

If you are grand child to  Newton & Emma Francis [Foster] White
then Wiley  is a distant Uncle of yours... he was a Great Uncle to Emma White 

Provided by: Helen Allen
Story Below

Center Ridge Cemetery Maud Bowie Co TX

Wiley W. Fowler
Corp. Co. C - 1st Ala Vols
Mexican War 
1824 - 1904
Provided by: Marlene Walker

Battle Palo Alto - US/Mexican War - About 13,000 Americans killed in this War 1846-1848

Militia:

History of Coosa County, Alabama, 
(Coosa County, Alabama), p. 139, 140.
Source Text:
p. 140 Lieutenant Wiley Fowler was in the Coosa County Militia on 21 Jul 1847.
p. 139 Captain W. W. Fowler was in the Coosa County Militia on 13 Mar 1849.

Record Information provided by:
Mrs. Helen Allen

Buried: Center Ridge Cemetery Maud Bowie Co TX
'Mexican War Service Marker'
Corporal in Capt W G Coleman's
Co C - 1st Regiment Alabama Vol.
Served  from June 15th, 1846  
Honorably Discharged Tampico Mexico 
April 1847 - Certificate of Disability issued
Served at:   Tampico Mexico
Received Bounty Land for his service, in Bibb County AL.

Notes: 
There may be a memorial Grave Stone of Wiley at:
Legal Cemetery Pinetucky Perry Co AL, where Nancy,
his wife is buried, this is unclear to me at this time.

Story of Wiley's Mexican American War Service as told
by Mrs. Helen Allen, a Fowler descendant.  

     I do have Wiley's Mexican War record. It is not a pension application which would have included a lot more valuable information. What I have includes his application for bounty land which he received in Bibb County, and some information on his service at Tampico, Mexico, his discharge and several other papers. A couple of them are almost impossible to read because the copies are so weak, I think they are affidavits.  He was a good friend of James Wilson Stanley and they served in the Mexican War together, each making signed affidavits for the other's file. James Wilson Stanley is also my ancestor. An interesting thing in James Wilson Stanley's file is the affidavit that Wiley swore to.  He said that his correct name was William Wiley Fowler, but his Mexican War record and discharge is recorded as Wiley W. Fowler.

     You order them from the National Archives. Their address is:
National Archives and Records Administration, Eighth and Pennsylvania
Avenues, Washington, D. C. 20408. You have to order a form first (be sure
to include a SASE), which you fill out with what information you have.
His Certificate # was 15154, Military Act of 1847, and the name is listed as
Wiley W. Fowler, Alabama.

     Wiley also served in the Civil War according to my mother's recollections of
family oral history, and I have found 2 records for W. W. Fowler from the
right location, but since there was at least one other W. W. Fowler in Bibb
and Perry Co., I don't know if it is him for sure.

Helen Allen

Where the records are:

National Archives and Records Administration
(address and ordering procedures below)

ORDERING FROM:

 http://www.nara.gov/research/ordering/milordr.html#nara

Use NATF Form 85:  (For Wiley's type of record)

"Veterans Records = Claims files for pensions based on Federal military service, 1775 - 1916 and Bounty land warrant application files relating to claims based on wartime service, 1775 - 1855"

How to get forms:

1) Provide your name and postal mailing address 
    Specify the form number  (ie - NATF Form 85)
2) State the number of forms you need (limit 5 per order) 
or
3) In an email addressed to inquire@nara.gov 
or
4) In a letter addressed to the National Archives and Records Administration, Attn: NWCTB, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20408-0001

 Civil War Service of

1st Sgt. Wiley W Fowler Jr (CSA)

Civil War Service Records
4th Regiment Alabama Militia
Capt Moore's Company, Byrd's Regt
(Perry County Home Guards)

Civil War:

Sergeant W. W. Fowler enlisted: 
April 10th, 1862 at Marion Alabama
Served: 90 days
Ranks: 3rd Sgt. 10 Apr   1862
             2nd Sgt. 13 May 1862
             1st  Sgt. 13 Jun   186?
Card No. 44516462
Unit: 4th Regiment AL Militia
 

Roster - Perry Guards

"Muster Roll of Perry Guards."
A company organized for Ninety days in Perry County Ala.
on the 10th of April 1862 under the Governor's Proclamation.

1. John Moore, Captain
2. J. S. Blackburn, 1st Lieut.
3. W.M.L. Johnson, 2nd Lieut.
4. D. T. Vincent, 1st Sergt.
5. Wm. Deason, 2nd Sergt.
6. W. W. Fowler, 3rd Sergt.
7. Allen Lagrone, 4th Sergt.
8. James Russell, 1st Corp.
9. B. W. townsend, 2nd Corp.
10. L.D.N. Huff, 3rd Corp.
11. A. C. Curb, 4th Corp.

Provided by Marlene Walker

Cousin Marlene Walker last visited Wiley's resting place in September of 2003, and had this to share about the condition of the Grave Stone:

"The stone was broken in half, Luther Caudle put the top part back on while I was there, but it won't stay. The name is just barely readable.  Since I have been home the Mexican War Marker has been  put on his grave, Thanks to Helen Allen.  Wiley served in the Alabama Militia and Civil War besides the Mexican War."

UP^     Civil War Service Records      UP^
1st Sgt Wiley W Fowler - Capt Moore's Co, Byrd's Regt 4th Alabama Militia

Wiley W Fowler was not in the Eutaw Co. D
but in Company C of the same Regiment, they 
served in some of the same places and thus I am
posting that information below:

A Brief History of the "Eutaw Rangers"

On May 25, 1846, shortly after war was declared against Mexico, Judge Sydenham Moore enrolled a company of volunteers in this law office, which still stands on a corner of the courthouse square in Eutaw, Alabama. On June 2, they left Finche's Landing on a steamboat bound for Mobile. At Mobile, the company was mustered into service for 6 months but owing to a Congressional requirement that all volunteers serve for no less than 12 months, they were disbanded and re-enrolled for the longer period of time.

On June 29, 1846, as part of Colonel John R. Coffey's 1st Regiment of Alabama Volunteers, the Eutaw Rangers departed Mobile aboard the steamboat Fashion. They arrived at Brazos Santiago Pass, Texas, near the mouth of the Rio Grande, on July 4, 1846. After camping for a short time on barren, windswept Brazos Island, the regiment moved to Camp Belknap, a rattlesnake infested hillock overlooking the Rio Grande. Here, they camped until late August, when they were transferred upriver by steamboat to Camargo, Mexico.

When General Zachary Taylor's army departed Camargo for Monterey in September 1846, the Alabamians were left behind to look after sick soldiers. They resented not being allowed to fight and protested in vain to General Taylor. In November they were sent back up the Rio Grande and transported to Tampico, to form part of the garrison of that town, recently captured by the U.S. Navy. They arrived shortly before Christmas, 1846.

On March 9, 1847 the Eutaw Rangers were among the 10,000 troops landed at Vera Cruz as General Winfield Scott began his invasion of Central Mexico. For three weeks the Americans laid siege to the city, bombarding it with cannon fire day and night. (See picture, left.) On March 29, 1847, Vera Cruz capitulated.

Afterward, under the command of General Quitman, the Alabama Volunteers were sent on an expedition to Alvarado, to find fresh horses and cattle for Scott's army. As a result, they arrived back at Vera Cruz after the bulk of the army had departed. They missed the Battle of Cerro Gordo by a day.

After briefly forming part of the garrison at Jalapa, the Alabamians, along with several other volunteer regiments, were marched back to Vera Cruz, where they boarded vessels bound for the United States. The Alabama Volunteers arrived at New Orleans in late May and were mustered out of service. The Eutaw Rangers returned to Greene County on the evening on June 2, 1847, one year from the day they had left. A few days later these "Heroes of '46" were feted by the citizens of Eutaw at a grand barbecue.

During the Civil War, both Sydenham Moore and Stephen Hale led troops in battle as officers in the Confederate Army. Both were killed in action. Hale County is named for Stephen Hale, who is buried in Eutaw's Mesopotamia Cemetery. Sydenham Moore is buried in the New Greensboro Cemetery in Greensboro, Hale County, Alabama. Since the Civil War, Greene County's contribution to the Mexican War has been largely forgotten.

Wiley, was originally, a private in Company C (Coleman's Company), First Regiment of Alabama Volunteers, which was formed in Perry County, AL in May 1846 and subsequently mustered into federal service at Mobile on June 15, 1846. 

Although the company was mustered out of service at New Orleans on May 27, 1848, Fowler became ill while serving in Mexico and was discharged from service earlier. This occurred at the hospital in Tampico about April 4, 1847. 

This information is from the book, "Alabama Volunteers in the Mexican War," which was published by the Descendants of Mexican War Veterans, an organization you can join (prospective members may have either a direct or collateral relationship to a veteran). To learn more, see: http://www.dmwv.org/

The Mexican-American War was the first major conflict driven by the idea of "Manifest Destiny"; the belief that America had a God-given right, or destiny, to expand the country's borders from 'sea to shining sea'. This belief would eventually cause a great deal of suffering for many Mexicans, Native Americans and United States citizens. Following the earlier Texas War of Independence from Mexico, tensions between the two largest independent nations on the North American continent grew as Texas eventually became a U.S. state. Disputes over the border lines sparked military confrontation, helped by the fact that President Polk eagerly sought a war in order to seize large tracts of land from Mexico.

          DATES OF CONFLICT:

BEGAN: April 25, 1846--The first battle between the Mexican and U.S. armies.

ENDED: February 2, 1848--The signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

RELATED CONFLICTS:

PREDECESSOR: The Texas War of Independence (1835-1836), Texas-Mexico Border Conflict (1837-1845?), U.S. Seizure of Monterey (1842)

CONCURRENT: The Bear Flag Revolt in California (1846), Apache War in New Mexico (1847), Taos Rebellion (1847)

CAUSES OF CONFLICT:

     The war between the United States and Mexico had two basic causes. First, the desire of the U.S. to expand across the North American continent to the Pacific Ocean caused conflict with all of its neighbors; from the British in Canada and Oregon to the Mexicans in the southwest and, of course, with the Native Americans. Ever since President Jefferson's acquisition of the Louisiana Territory in 1803, Americans migrated westward in ever increasing numbers, often into lands not belonging to the United States. By the time President Polk came to office in 1845, an idea called "Manifest Destiny" had taken root among the American people, and the new occupant of the White House was a firm believer in the idea of expansion. The belief that the U.S. basically had a God-given right to occupy and "civilize" the whole continent gained favor as more and more Americans settled the western lands. The fact that most of those areas already had people living upon them was usually ignored, with the attitude that democratic English-speaking America, with its high ideals and Protestant Christian ethics, would do a better job of running things than the Native Americans or Spanish-speaking Catholic Mexicans. Manifest Destiny did not necessarily call for violent expansion. In both 1835 and 1845, the United States offered to purchase California from Mexico, for $5 million and $25 million, respectively. The Mexican government refused the opportunity to sell half of its country to Mexico's most dangerous neighbor. 

     The second basic cause of the war was the Texas War of Independence and the subsequent annexation of that area to the United States. Not all American westward migration was unwelcome. In the 1820's and 1830's, Mexico, newly independent from Spain, needed settlers in the under-populated northern parts of the country. An invitation was issued for people who would take an oath of allegiance to Mexico and convert to Catholicism, the state religion. Thousands of Americans took up the offer and moved, often with slaves, to the Mexican province of Texas. Soon however, many of the new "Texicans" or "Texians" were unhappy with the way the government in Mexico City tried to run the province. In 1835, Texas revolted, and after several bloody battles, the Mexican President, Santa Anna, was forced to sign the Treaty of Velasco in 1836 . This treaty gave Texas its independence, but many Mexicans refused to accept the legality of this document, as Santa Anna was a prisoner of the Texans at the time. The Republic of Texas and Mexico continued to engage in border fights and many people in the United States openly sympathized with the U.S.-born Texans in this conflict. As a result of the savage frontier fighting, the American public developed a very negative stereotype against the Mexican people and government. Partly due to the continued hostilities with Mexico, Texas decided to join with the United States, and on July 4, 1845, the annexation gained approval from the U.S. Congress. 

     Mexico of course did not like the idea of its breakaway province becoming an American state, and the undefined and contested border now became a major international issue. Texas, and now the United States, claimed the border at the Rio Grande River. Mexico claimed territory as far north as the Nueces River. Both nations sent troops to enforce the competing claims, and a tense standoff ensued. On April 25, 1846, a clash occurred between Mexican and American troops on soil claimed by both countries. The war had begun.