This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: COWDEN Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/nFQ.2ACEB/235 Message Board Post: I have recently received documents from the Navy Department supporting that Charles Cowden, The Hermit of Chautauqua Lake served in the Navy, Civil War, on the gunboat USS General Thomas in the Mississippi Squadron. He was Captain of the Hold at the time the boat was decommissioned in 1865.