Norwood Penrose Hallowell

Norwood Penrose Hallowell
Hallowell as a captain in the Union Army, 1862
Born	(1839-04-13)April 13, 1839 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died	April 11, 1914(1914-04-11) (aged 74) Medford, Massachusetts
Place of burial	Mount Auburn Cemetery Cambridge, Massachusetts
Allegiance	United States of America
Years of service	1861 – 1863
Rank	Colonel
Unit	20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry
Commands held	55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry
Battles/wars	American Civil War - Battle of Ball's Bluff - Battle of Glendale - Battle of Antietam - Second Battle of Charleston Harbor

Norwood Penrose "Pen" Hallowell (April 13, 1839 – April 11, 1914) was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. One of three brothers to serve with distinction during the war, he and his brother Edward Needles Hallowell both became commanders of the first all-black regiments. He is also remembered for his close friendship with and influence upon future Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., who was his classmate at Harvard and his comrade during the war.

Hallowell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1839 to Morris Longstreth and Hannah (Penrose). Norwood and his brothers, Edward Needles and Richard Price, were raised in a household that was strongly Quaker, and strongly abolitionist; during the Civil War, their father opened his home as a hospital for wounded Union soldiers. He attended Harvard College, where he befriended Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.. He graduated in 1861 and was elected the Class Orator.

Hallowell's fervent abolitionism led him to volunteer for service in the Civil War, and he inspired Holmes to do the same. He was commissioned a first lieutenant on July 10, 1861, joining the 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry with Holmes. Hallowell fought in the Battle of Ball's Bluff on October 21, 1861, in which he distinguished himself by leading a line of skirmishers to hold off Confederate forces. Hallowell then swam across the Potomac River, constructed a makeshift raft, and made several trips to the Virginia bank to rescue trapped Union soldiers before his raft fell apart. Hallowell was promoted to captain on November 26, 1861. He was wounded in the Battle of Glendale on June 30, 1862, and suffered more severe wounds in the Battle of Antietam on September 17. His left arm was shattered by a bullet but later saved by a surgeon; Holmes was shot in the neck. Both took refuge in a farmhouse (a historic site now known as the Royer-Nicodemus House and Farm) and were eventually evacuated.