History of Lt. Robert D. Powel (Powell)
1825-1861*
Lt. Powel (Powell) enlisted in the Hawkins County Company of the Nineteenth Tennessee Infantry on May 10, 1861. He was never married and his mother later filed a claim and received $174.00 after he was killed at Barboursville, Kentucky, on September 19, 1861. He was the brother of George R. Powel and Eliza Fain, The 1850 Census places Robert in Hawkins County and described his occupation as attorney. He was thirty-five years old in the 1860 Hawkins County, Tennessee Census and was listed as living with his brother George. Lt. Powel (Powell) was the former editor of the Rogersville newspaper and was the first man lost from Hawkins County (F. Shumaker). He was also the first Confederate soldier to be killed outside of Virginia (Military Annals of Tennessee). His body was brought back to Rogersville for burial in the old Presbyterian Church Cemetery on Washington Street.
Lt. Powel's (Powell's) parents were the Honorable Samuel Powel (Powell)and Mary C. "Polly" Rutledge Powel (Powell), the daughter of General George Rutledge of Blountville, Tennessee. Samuel's brother, Benjamin Powel (Powell) married Mary's sister Nelly and they moved to West Tennessee. It was said that on coming to Tennessee, the brothers made a slight change in the spelling of the family name, omitting the final "l" from Powell. In this way, the families have kept up with each other.
The Powels were of Welsh Quaker stock. Samuel Powel was appointed to a judgeship at the early age of thirty-two and held this position, with the exception of a period in which he served in the state legislature, until his death in 1844. He was stricken in the court room and was carried to the home of his physician, Dr. Billy Walker. Samuel died at Dr. Walker's home. Samuel had received a large acreage in Caney Valley (Hawkins County, Tennessee) for a law fee. He purchased and entered into other land, thus acquiring a large farm. Upon this land, Samuel built a home and raised a family of seven sons and two daughters; most notably among his children are Lt. Robert D. Powel (Powell), Nineteenth Tennessee Infantry and Col. Sam Powel (Powell) Twenty-Ninth Tennessee Infantry.
The Powel family must have surely developed a true fondness for Hawkins County as many of their members went to great lengths to return for burial. When Robert was killed near Barboursville, Kentucky, he was brought back to the family plot in Rogersville only two days later. A Reverend Campbell preached the sermon and a Mr. Heiskell delivered an address (from a diary in the McClung Collection, Knoxville, TN). Robert's brother, who later resided in Mississippi, as well as his mother, who died in Illinois, were also returned to Rogersville to accompany their relatives in the region they so loved.
* This information was gathered from
In Memory of Robert D. Powel 1825 - September 19, 1861.
