Date Died: August 9, 1897

Place Buried: Upper Long Cane Cemetery in Abbeville, SC

Samuel McGowan was born on October 19, 1819 in the Laurens District, parents names not currently known. He graduated from the South Carolina College (later the University of South Carolina) in 1841. He read law under T.C. Perrin, who immediately took him into partnership and invited him to share equally in his large practice.

In 1846, filled with patriotism, Samuel McGowan joined the famous Palmetto Regiment and headed off to the Mexican-American War as a private soldier. Soon after joining, President James Knox Polk appointed him on the Quartermaster's staff with the rank of Captain, first under General John A. Quitman, then General William J. Worth and General David E. Twiggs of the regular army.

After the war, Samuel McGowan returned to his law partnership with Mr. T.C. Perrin in Abbeville, SC.

Samuel McGowan married Susan Caroline Wardlaw, daughter of Judge David Lewis Wardlaw and Sarah Rebecca (Allen) Wardlaw; they had seven known children.

In 1850, Samuel McGowan was first elected as one of five men to represent the Abbeville District in the SC House of Representatives of the:
- 39th General Assembly that met from 1850 to 1851
- 40th General Assembly that met from 1852 to 1853
- 41st General Assembly that met from 1854 to 1855
- 42nd General Assembly that met from 1856 to 1857
- 43rd General Assembly that met from 1858 to 1859
- 44th General Assembly that met from 1860 to 1861

Upon the secession of South Carolina, Governor Francis Wilkinson Pickens appointed Samuel McGowan to lead one of the early South Carolina volunteer brigades, and he assisted General P.G.T. Beauregard in the capture of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861.

When the SC forces were brought into the Confederate Army, his commission lapsed, and he then joined the staff of Major General Milledge Luke Bonham as his Aide-de-Camp. He was at the battles of Bull Run and Manassas. He then returned to South Carolina and he was appointed Lt. Colonel in the 14th SC Volunteers. In the Spring of 1862, his commanding officer, Col. James Jones, resigned, and he was promoted to Colonel and given command of his regiment.

The 14th SC Volunteers Regiment was then assigned to Brig. Gen. Maxcy Gregg's brigade in A.P. Hill's Light Division. After Brig. Gen. Gregg was killed in the Battle of Fredericksburg, McGowan was promoted to Brigadier General on January 17, 1863, and he took command of the Light Division's South Carolina brigade. Except for when wounded, Brig. Gen. Samuel McGowan commanded this brigade for the rest of the war, surrendering with it at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.

After the war, Samuel McGowan returned to Abbeville and resumed the practice of law, this time with the partner William H. Parker. This partnership continued until 1879.

Samuel McGowan was a member of the Reconstruction Convention, which met in Columbia in September of 1865. He was elected to the U.S. Congress twice, but both times was refused his seat in Washington, DC.

In 1878, Samuel McGowan was again elected as one of five men to represent Abbeville County in the SC House of Representatives of the:
- 53rd General Assembly that met from 1878 to 1880

On December 11, 1879, Samuel McGowan was elected as an Associate Justice of the SC Supreme Court, replacing Associate Justice Alexander Cheves Haskell, who had resigned. He then resigned from the SC House of Representatives on December 15, 1879. He remained an Associate Justice until he retired in July of 1894.

On August 9, 1897, Samuel McGowan died, and he was buried in the Upper Long Cane Cemetery in Abbeville, SC.