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Thomas M. Bowen

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For other people named Thomas Bowen, seeThomas Bowen.
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Thomas M. Bowen
United States Senator
fromColorado
In office
March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1889
Preceded byHorace Austin Warner Tabor
Succeeded byEdward Oliver Wolcott
4th Governor ofIdaho Territory
In office
1871 – 1871 (one week)
Preceded byDavid W. Ballard
Succeeded byThomas W. Bennett
Personal details
BornOctober 26, 1835
Burlington,Michigan Territory(nowIowa)
DiedDecember 30, 1906(1906-12-30)(aged 71)
Pueblo, Colorado
Resting placeRoselawn Cemetery in Pueblo, Colorado
Political partyRepublican
ProfessionAttorney
Military service
Branch/serviceUnited States Army
Union Army
Years of service1861–1865
RankColonel
BrevetBrigadier General
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War

Thomas Mead Bowen(October 26, 1835 – December 30, 1906) was a state legislator in Iowa and Colorado, aUnion Armyofficer during theAmerican Civil War,a justice of theArkansas Supreme Court,briefly theGovernor of Idaho Territory,an elected judge in Colorado and aUnited States senatorfromColorado.

Biography

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Bowen was born near the present site ofBurlington, Iowa,in what was thenMichigan Territory,on October 26, 1835.[1]He attended the public schools and the academy atMount Pleasant, Iowa.[1]He studied law and was admitted to thebarin 1853 and began practicing law.[1]He was married to Margaretta T. Bowen.[2]

Career

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Bowen moved toWayne County,Iowa, in 1856 and was a member of theIowa House of Representativesthat year.[1][3]In 1858, he moved toKansas.[1]

During theAmerican Civil War,Bowen served in theUnion Army.On June 11, 1861, he was appointedcaptainof the 1st Nebraska Infantry Regiment, later redesignated 1st Nebraska Cavalry Regiment.[1]He resigned from the volunteers on February 5, 1862.[1]He rejoined the Union Army on July 11, 1862, asfirst lieutenantof the9th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalryand was promoted to captain, July 30, 1862.[1]Bowen was appointedcolonelof the13th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Infantry,September 20, 1862.[1]Bowen was temporary commander of brigades in theDepartment of the Missouriand theDepartment of Arkansasfrom October 1862 to March 21, 1864.[1]He commanded Brigade 1, Division 1,VII Corps (Union Army)in the Department of Arkansas from March 22, 1865, to June 24, 1865.[1]Bowen was appointed abrevetbrigadier general,to rank from March 13, 1865.[1]He was discharged from the volunteers on June 28, 1865.[1]

After the war, Bowen found himself inArkansasand decided to stay there. He was a member and president of theconstitutional conventionof Arkansas in 1866;[4]he was also aReconstruction erajustice of theArkansas Supreme Courtfrom 1867 to 1871.[1][5]

Bowen, who made a large fortune in business, was appointed governor ofIdaho TerritorybyU.S. PresidentUlysses S. Granton April 19, 1871, but resigned on September 27, 1871, and returned to Arkansas.[1][6]He moved toColorado Territoryin 1873 and resumed the practice of law.[1]Bowen was elected judge of the Fourth Judicial District Court in Colorado, a position which he held from 1876 until 1880, when he suddenly resigned.[1]

Bowen was a member of theColorado House of Representativesin 1882[1]and resigned soon thereafter upon his election as aRepublicanto theUnited States Senate.He served in that body from March 4, 1883, to March 3, 1889.[1]While in the Senate, he was chairman of the Committee on Mining (in theForty-eighth Congress), Committee on Enrolled Bills (Forty-ninthandFiftieth Congresses).

Death

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Bowen engaged in mining in Colorado and resided inPueblo,where he died on December 30, 1906, at the age of seventy-one.[1][5]He is interred at Roselawn Cemetery in Pueblo.[1]

See also

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References

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  1. ^abcdefghijklmnopqrstuEicher, John H., andDavid J. Eicher,Civil War High Commands.Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001.ISBN978-0-8047-3641-1.p. 138.
  2. ^"Thomas M. Bowen"(PDF).American National Biography.RetrievedSeptember 14,2012.
  3. ^"Representative Thomas Mead Bowen".Iowa General Assembly.RetrievedMay 24,2024.
  4. ^"Thomas M. Bowen".The Political Graveyard.RetrievedSeptember 14,2012.
  5. ^ab"Thomas M. Bowen".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.RetrievedSeptember 14,2012.
  6. ^Another source, Limbaugh, Ronald H. (1982).Rocky Mountain Carpetbaggers: Idaho's Territorial Governors, 1863–1890.Moscow, Idaho: University Press of Idaho.ISBN0-89301-082-0.page 92 states that Bowen did not like the looks of the landscape, so he decided to stay only a few weeks until July 15, 1861; his successor did not take office until December 1871, page 103.
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U.S. Senate
Preceded by U.S. senator (Class 2) from Colorado
1883–1889
Served alongside:Nathaniel P. Hill,Henry M. Teller 		Succeeded by
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