Joseph Bowman was a Virginia militia

Virginia Militia

The Virginia militia is an armed force composed of all citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia capable of bearing arms. The Virginia militia was established in 1607 as part of the British militia system. Militia service in Virginia was compulsory for all free males...

 officer during the American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

. He was second-in-command during George Rogers Clark

George Rogers Clark

George Rogers Clark was a soldier from Virginia and the highest ranking American military officer on the northwestern frontier during the American Revolutionary War. He served as leader of the Kentucky militia throughout much of the war...

's famous campaign to capture the Illinois country

Illinois Country

The Illinois Country , also known as Upper Louisiana, was a region in what is now the Midwestern United States that was explored and settled by the French during the 17th and 18th centuries. The terms referred to the entire Upper Mississippi River watershed, though settlement was concentrated in...

, in which Clark and his men seized the British-controlled towns of Kaskaskia

Kaskaskia, Illinois

Kaskaskia is a village in Randolph County, Illinois, United States. In the 2010 census the population was 14, making it the second-smallest incorporated community in the State of Illinois in terms of population. A major French colonial town of the Illinois Country, its peak population was about...

, Vincennes

Vincennes, Indiana

Vincennes is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Indiana, United States. It is located on the Wabash River in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 18,701 at the 2000 census...

, and others. Bowman was injured in an accidental gunpowder explosion after the campaign, and subsequently died of his wounds. He was the only American officer killed during the Illinois campaign. Bowman kept a daily journal during the trek from Kaskaskia to Vincennes, which is one of the best primary accounts of the event.

Early life

Bowman was the son of George Bowman and Mary Hite Bowman. His maternal grandfather was Jost Hite, a German immigrant credited as the first European colonist to settle west of the Blue Ridge Mountains

Blue Ridge Mountains

The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. This province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap. The mountain range is located in the eastern United States, starting at its southern-most...

. In 1732, Hite led his extended family, including daughter Mary and her husband George Bowman, to the Shenandoah Valley

Shenandoah Valley

The Shenandoah Valley is both a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , to the north by the Potomac River...

, near present Winchester, Virginia

Winchester, Virginia

Winchester is an independent city located in the northwestern portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the USA. The city's population was 26,203 according to the 2010 Census...

. Hite distributed land to his family and to other settlers—claims which would later be contested in Hite v. Fairfax

Hite v. Fairfax

Hite v. Fairfax, 8 Va. 42 was a case decided by the Supreme Court of Virginia that upheld the original title of land granted to Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron over what was known as the Northern Neck of Virginia, a large tract of land located between the headwaters of the Potomac and...

, a landmark Virginia land case. Joseph Bowman was born at his parents' house near what is now Strasburg, Virginia

Strasburg, Virginia

Strasburg is a town in Shenandoah County, Virginia, United States, which was founded in 1761 by Peter Stover. It is the largest town, population-wise, in the county and is known for its pottery, antiques, and Civil War history...

.

In 1774, Bowman served in the Virginia militia during Dunmore's War

Dunmore's War

Dunmore's War was a war in 1774 between the Colony of Virginia and the Shawnee and Mingo American Indian nations....

. Other Virginians in the war who would be important in Bowman's activities in the next several years included George Rogers Clark and Leonard Helm

Leonard Helm

Leonard Helm was an early pioneer of Kentucky, and a Virginia officer during the American Revolutionary War. Born around 1720 probably in Fauquier County, Virginia, he died in poverty while fighting Native American allies of British troops during one of the last engagements of the Revolutionary...

. Soon after Dunmore's War, Bowman moved to Kentucky with other British colonists who were seeking to settle there. He was living in Harrodstown

Harrodsburg, Kentucky

Harrodsburg is a city in and the county seat of Mercer County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 8,014 at the 2000 census. It is the oldest city in Kentucky.-History:...

 in Kentucky by 1777. On 11 September 1777, 37 men from the area gathered at Bowman's property to shell corn and were attacked by Indians. One settler was killed and six others were wounded before the attackers were driven off.

American Revolution

Bowman and three of his brothers served in the American Revolutionary War. Joseph Bowman is sometimes confused with his brother Colonel John Bowman

John Bowman (pioneer)

John Jacob Bowman was an 18th century American pioneer, colonial militia officer and sheriff, the first appointed in Lincoln County, Kentucky. In 1781 he also presided as a justice of the peace over the first county court held in Kentucky...

, a prominent leader of the Kentucky militia during the war.

Joseph Bowman served as a Captain during the Illinois campaign and was present at the capture of Fort Gage at Kaskaskia

Kaskaskia, Illinois

Kaskaskia is a village in Randolph County, Illinois, United States. In the 2010 census the population was 14, making it the second-smallest incorporated community in the State of Illinois in terms of population. A major French colonial town of the Illinois Country, its peak population was about...

 on 4 July 1778. He then led a combined American and French force to capture Prairie du Rocher

Prairie du Rocher, Illinois

Prairie du Rocher is a village in Randolph County, Illinois, United States. Founded in the French colonial period in the American Midwest, the community is located near bluffs that flank the east side of the Mississippi River along the floodplain often called the "American Bottom".Prairie du...

, Fort de Chartres

Fort de Chartres

Fort de Chartres was a French fortification first built in 1720 on the east bank of the Mississippi River in present-day Illinois. The Fort de Chartres name was also applied to the two successive fortifications built nearby during the 18th century in the era of French colonial control over...

 and Cahokia

Cahokia

Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site is the area of an ancient indigenous city located in the American Bottom floodplain, between East Saint Louis and Collinsville in south-western Illinois, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri. The site included 120 human-built earthwork mounds...

, where he remained for a time as commander of the renamed Fort Bowman.

When Fort Sackville and Captain Leonard Helm

Leonard Helm

Leonard Helm was an early pioneer of Kentucky, and a Virginia officer during the American Revolutionary War. Born around 1720 probably in Fauquier County, Virginia, he died in poverty while fighting Native American allies of British troops during one of the last engagements of the Revolutionary...

 were captured by British Lt-Gov Henry Hamilton in late in 1778, Captain Bowman marched with Colonel Clark in February 1779 across 180 miles (289.7 km) to lay siege to the British forces at Vincennes

Vincennes, Indiana

Vincennes is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Indiana, United States. It is located on the Wabash River in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 18,701 at the 2000 census...

. He also participated in the negotiations for their surrender. The American flag was raised in the renamed Fort Patrick Henry on 24 February 1779. In celebration, thereafter, a six-pound cannon was fired on 25 February. Some nearby cannon cartridges ignited, wounding Captain Bowman, Captain Worthington, four privates, and a British soldier.

Within days, a dispatch from the Governor of Virginia arrived, with commissions promoting Clark to general, and Bowman to major. For his services rendered, Major Bowman was granted a total of 4312 acres (17.5 km²) in land north of the Ohio River

Ohio River

The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...

 known as "Clark's Grant."

Oddly enough, Clark makes no mention of the cannon accident in his memoir. However, he does describe Major Bowman leading soldiers as late as June 1779.

Major Joseph Bowman's health deteriorated, and he died at Fort Patrick Henry on 14 August 1779. The last page of his journal is blank, except for an anonymous notation: "God save the commonwealth, this 15th day of August, 1779." A bronze grave marker with the date of 18 August was later placed in the St. Francis Xavier cemetery, adjacent to the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park

George Rogers Clark National Historical Park

George Rogers Clark National Historical Park, located in Vincennes on the banks of the Wabash River at what is believed to be the site of Fort Sackville, is a United States National Historical Park. A classical memorial here was authorized under President Calvin Coolidge and dedicated by President...

, though he was buried somewhere along the Wabash River

Wabash River

The Wabash River is a river in the Midwestern United States that flows southwest from northwest Ohio near Fort Recovery across northern Indiana to southern Illinois, where it forms the Illinois-Indiana border before draining into the Ohio River, of which it is the largest northern tributary...

.

External links

• Online memorial to Joseph Bowman by the Indiana SAR
  Sons of the American Revolution
  The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution is a Louisville, Kentucky-based fraternal organization in the United States...
  
  .
• Online excerpts from Joseph Bowman's journal, courtesy of the Indiana State Library.
• "The Forgotten Long Knife", article about Bowman from the Early American Review, 2003.
• "Fort Bowman", historical marker near the house where Joseph Bowman was born.