Digital Scholarship and Initiatives

In this letter to the editor, Taukchiray addresses his topic by referring to evidence presented in W. McKee Evans' meticulously documented study of Henry Berry Lowry, To die game. Taukchiray notes that, at present, many people believe Lowry wasn't arrested, tried and sentenced because “he was in with the White people someway” and Whites did not make a strong attempt to capture him. Evans documents that federal officers didn't start pursuing Lowry until summer, 1871--after the gang had been active for seven years. Federal officers left Robeson County on October 15, 1871. Taukchiray also notes that:

• Lowry and his gang were trapped but managed to escape, Houdini-like, many times. 
• Although some information about what the whites were doing made its way from white supporters to the Indians, no information about activities of Lowry and his gang leaked from the Indian community to whites. 
• Lowry was actually arrested twice: at his wedding (December 7, 1865) and in December 1868, when he turned himself in, seeking a political remedy to his situation.
• Lowry was pursued twice with too-large posses of over 150 men. 
• Col. Frank Wishart quit pursuing the gang, for health reasons, on May 2, 1872; but Lowry disappeared in February 1872 and was not seen (verifiably) after then. 
• Lowry was seen, during the Lowry War period, on train platforms and as a passenger on trains; but no written record exists to verify that he left Robeson County for good via train.