McDowell, Mary Gyla, 1869-1965

Mary Gyla McDowell was born in 1869, daughter of Private Marius King McDowell, who joined the 100th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment in 1861. She served as chair of the English Department at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pa., and was historian of the 100th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment veteran organization. She completed an unpublished regimental history titled, "The Roundhead's Own Story." Dr. McDowell died in 1965.

Colonel Daniel Leasure mustered the 100th Pennsylvania "Roundhead" Regiment in southwest Pennsylvania. Roundheads fought for four years in Sherman's Expedition to South Carolina (1861), the Battle of Fredericksburg (1862), Burnside's "Mud March" (January 1863), the march from Covington, Ky. to Cairo, Ill. (June 1863), the Sieges of Vicksburg, Jackson, and Knoxville in 1863 and Petersburg in 1864 and 1865. They pursued Lee to Appomattox in April before mustering out July 24, 1865. The regiment suffered 248 casualties in the four-year conflict.