Thomas M. Bowen

Thomas Mead Bowen (October 26, 1835 – December 30, 1906) was a state legislator in Iowa and Colorado, a Union Army officer during the American Civil War, a justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court, briefly the Governor of Idaho Territory, an elected judge in Colorado and a United States senator from Colorado. Biography Bowen was born near the present site of Burlington, Iowa, in what was then Michigan Territory, on October 26, 1835. He attended the public schools and the academy at Mount Pleasant, Iowa. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1853 and began practicing law. He was married to Margaretta T. Bowen. Career Bowen moved to Wayne County, Iowa, in 1856 and was a member of the Iowa House of Representatives that year. In 1858, he moved to Kansas. During the American Civil War, Bowen served in the Union Army. On June 11, 1861, he was appointed captain of the 1st Nebraska Infantry Regiment, later redesignated 1st Nebraska Cavalry Regiment. He resigned from the volunteers on February 5, 1862. He rejoined the Union Army on July 11, 1862, as first lieutenant of the 9th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry and was promoted to captain, July 30, 1862. Bowen was appointed colonel of the 13th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Infantry, September 20, 1862. Bowen was temporary commander of brigades in the Department of the Missouri and the Department of Arkansas from October 1862 to March 21, 1864. He commanded Brigade 1, Division 1, VII Corps (Union Army) in the Department of Arkansas from March 22, 1865, to June 24, 1865. Bowen was appointed a brevet brigadier general, to rank from March 13, 1865. He was discharged from the volunteers on June 28, 1865.