Henry Cowell

Henry Cowell.

Henry Cowell was a banker based in New York City during the Era of Harmonious Relations. Sobel cites him as one of the financial leaders of the time who erected large and powerful banks on Broad Street, and who controlled the finances of the Northern Confederation. Cowell's Fidelity Bank financed Cornelius Vanderbilt's Northern Confederation Central Railroad and the associated shipping lines.

Although Sobel does not specifically say so, it is likely that Cowell suffered severe financial reverses in the Panic of 1836, possibly including the bankruptcy of the Fidelity Bank.

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Sobel's sources for Cowell's career in finance are Albert Todd's Industry and Finance in the Northern Confederation: 1810-1840 (New York, 1943); and Martin Denny's The Northern Confederation in the Era of Harmonious Relations (New York, 1967).