Robert Lowry (1826-1899)was one of the most important songwriters of the U.S. American Revival after the end of the Civil War. He at­tend­ed the Un­i­ver­si­ty at Lew­isb­urg (later re­named Buck­nell Un­i­ver­si­ty) in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, USA, where he be­came Pro­fess­or of Lit­er­a­ture. He was or­dained as a Bap­tist min­is­ter and pas­tored at West Ches­ter, Penn­syl­van­ia; Bloom­ing­dale Bap­tist Church, New York Ci­ty; Han­son Place Bap­tist Church, Brook­lyn, New York; First Bap­tist Church, Lew­is­burg, Penn­syl­vania; and Park Ave­nue Bap­tist Church, Plain­field, New Jer­sey. He al­so worked as a mu­sic ed­i­tor at the Big­low Pub­lish­ing Com­pany. He wrote about 500 Gos­pel tunes, and join­tly ed­ited vol­umes such as Happy Voic­es (1865) and Hymn Service (1871). Perhaps his best-known song is "Shall We Gather By the River?"