Cowles Miles Collier

Cowles Miles Collier was born 10 September 1838 in Hampton, Virginia, the son of Charles Miles Collier Jr. and Sarah Ann Cowles. He grew up in coastal Virginia and received a military education at the Hampton Military Institute. In 1856 he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point but resigned from the academy the following year. After leaving West Point he pursued maritime service and by the late 1850s was serving at sea, including duty aboard the United States Navy steam frigate USS Wabash. His service carried him to foreign waters in the Mediterranean where American naval vessels regularly operated during that period.

When Virginia seceded from the United States in 1861, Collier returned to his home state and entered Confederate service. On 20 May 1861 he received a commission as a second lieutenant under General Joseph E. Johnston. During the early months of the war he was involved in the construction and supervision of defensive works at Winchester, Virginia, including the fortification later known as Fort Collier. His abilities with artillery and military engineering soon led to additional responsibilities. He served with Confederate artillery units in northern Virginia and later transferred to ordnance work, where he was placed in charge of important manufacturing and supply operations for the Confederate government. In 1863 he was promoted to the rank of captain. His later wartime service included assignments connected with Confederate ordnance production and supply before declining health led him to request relief from field duty during the final year of the war.

On 10 September 1863 he married Hannah Celeste Shackelford, daughter of James Shackelford and Harriette Cowdrey of South Carolina. The couple had four children: Charles Miles Collier, Georgia Shackleford Collier, Euphan Marshall Collier, and Barron Gift Collier.

By Cowles Miles Collier

After the Civil War, Collier turned increasingly toward artistic pursuits. He became known as a painter, particularly for watercolor scenes of ships, sailors, and maritime life that reflected his years at sea. By the end of the nineteenth century he was exhibiting artwork in New York and was regarded as a skilled marine painter. Some of his work appeared in exhibitions in Manhattan around 1900 and he contributed paintings to charitable exhibitions held in the city.

During his later life Collier and his wife resided in New York City, while also spending time in coastal New England. He died 14 September 1907 in Gloucester, Massachusetts, four days after his sixty ninth birthday. He was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York..