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John Bryan Bowman

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John Bryan Bowman THE BOWMANS A Pioneering Family in Virginia, Kentucky and the Northwest Territory BY JOHN W. WAYLAND Author "A History of Rockingham County, Va.," "A History of Shenandoah County, Va.," "A History of Virginia for Boys and Girls," "Virginia Valley Records," "The Pathfinder of the Seas," "World History" (with Carlton J. H. Hayes and Parker T. Moon), "Historic Homes of Northern Virginia," "Stonewall Jackson's Way,'1 etc. FROM Taz Puss OF THE McCLURE. COMPANY, INC. STAUNTON, VA. 1943 COPYRIGHT. 1943 BY JOHN W, WAYLAND BOWMAN MEMORIAL GATE AND TABLET Ereckd 1926, in the City Park, Harrodsburg, Ky., to four brothers, Revolutionary officers: Col. John Bowman ( 1738-1784), Quartermaster in the Cherokee Expedition, 1776, and first County Lieut. of Kentucky; Col. Abraham Bowman ( 1749-1837), com­ mander of the 8th Virginia Regiment and Kentucky official; Major Joseph Bowman ( 1752-1779), second in command to George Rogers Clark in the conquest of the Northwest Territory; and Capt. Isaac Bowman (1757-1826), Master of Horse in the l]]inois Regiment. FOREWORD This is the story, primarily, of four brothers: John, Abraham, · Joseph, and Isaac. Colonel John Bowman was the first county­ lieutenant and mi1itary governor of Kentucky; Colonel Abraham Bowman commanded the 8th Virginia Regiment, one of the out­ standing fighting units of the Revolution; Major Joseph Bowman was a captain in Dunmore's War and the efficient leader, with George Rogers Clark, in the conquest of the Northw-~st (Illinois) Territory, an achievement without parallel in the buUding of our nation; Captain Isaac Bowman was Master of Horse in the Illinois Campaign, a captive three years among the Indians, and an im­ portant man of affairs in Kentucky and Virginia. All were active and prominent in civil as well as military service in the colonial and Revolutionary period. Altogether their combined services give them a unique distinction in American history. It has been stated by good authority that they were the only four brothers who were high-ranking officers in the Revolutionary War. It may be asserted with confidence that no other four brothers made a greater contri­ bution to the cause of independence or to the subsequent expansion and wealth of the nation. The narrative herein presented has been compiled mainly from official records, manuscripts preserved in the Bowman family, and the Draper MSS. owned by the State Historical Society of Wis­ consin, supplemented from numerous well-known publications, not­ ably the monumental work by Hon. William H. English, "Conquest of the Country Northwest of the Ohio River/' published in two large volumes in 1898; the two volumes of George Rogers Oark Papers, published by the trustees of the Illinois State Historical Library, one in 1912, the other in 1926; bulletins of the Filson Club and the Kentucky State Historical Society; historical items in the catalogues of Transylvania College and the University of Kentucky. · To these sources, to various other historical works, and to the special communications of individuals, grateful acknowledgment is made here and in appropriate connections throughout this volume. At intervals will be found illustrations from photographs and a number of maps drawn specially for this work. iii OUTLINE OF CONTENTS Chapter I. The Centaurs of Cedar Creek................................................ " 1 II. A Baron in the Background ........................ _................... -10 III. In the French and Indian War............................................. -23 11 IV. John on the "Roan Oak ...............................................................32 V. Joseph on the Ohio............. m ........................................................- ..41 VI. John Against the Cherokees ......................................................... 48 VII. Abraham Answers in Freedom's Name........................ 53 VIII. The Dr.rk and Bloody Ground................................................... 63 IX. The Illinois Epic........... ----...................... '" ........................... _ ..... 70 X. Two Colonels in Kentucky.................................................... "100 XI. Heir at Law under British Law.......................................... 114 XII. A Light in the Clearing.......... 1.................................................. 121 XIII. Isaac Captain and Captiv~...................... _ ...... ---129 XIV. Abraham Host to Lafayette-.................................................. 136 XV. John Bryan Bowman .. ·--·-··................................................. l43 XVI. Indianapolis Episode ...... - ....... _ ....... ___......... 147 XVII. The Baron of Sunset Hills...................................................... 149 Appendix ·--.. - ................................................................................. 157 Index .................................... - ....................................... - ........... - .... 179 ILLUSTRATIONS The Bowman Gate in Harrodsburg (Frontispiece) The George Bowman House on Cedar Creek. ......... _...................................... -8 The Hite House on Opequon Creek. ............................................................................ .10 Major Isaac Hite, Aide to General Muhlenberg................................................ 20 Mrs. Isaac Hite, Sister to President Madison, and Her Son ............... 22 Bellevue. Home of Colonel John Bowman of the Revolution ... -...... 112 Where Transylvania University Began............................... -................................. 122 South Elkhorn (Helm Place), Home of Col. Abram Bowman...... 136 Linwood, Built by Colonel John Bowman, War of 1812, and inherited by his son, Abram Hite Bowman ...................................... .144 Aspen Hall, Built by John Bryan Bowman......................................................... 146 Sunset Hills, Home of A. Smith Bowman. .......................................................... .150 A. Smith Bowman, as Master of the Hunt.. ................... '" ................................. 154 V LIST OF MAPS The Cedar Creek Country ..... __............. _............ '" ............... - .......................................... 5 Bowman Homes and Mills on Cedar Creek........ - ............................................. .15 Defense of Charleston, S. C., June 1776 .................................................................. 58 The Fa1ls at Louisville and Corn Island _____.. _,.,___ .--72 The Campaign Against Kaskaskia and Vincennes ......... ____,. ................. 75 Old Kaskaskia and Environs.-... - ... --·-.. "'·---.. -~.. -·........ __,_ ........... 79 Landmarks of Old Vincennes.·-----·--·-.. ····" .................... __....... - ..........90 Harrodsburg and Fort Bowman._ __________125 Lexington and South Elkhorn......---·----·----·---.139 APPENDIX 1. Will of Baron Jost Hite--------.. - .............................. 157 2. Will of George Bowman, Sr. ...:.. ... _ .................. _ ................................. .158 3. Will of George Bowman, Jr,-·----------·-............... -160 4. Will of Colonel John Bowman ...... --------............................. 161 5. Will of Colonel Abraham Bowman---·--·-·-·---··-·-.......... _..... l62 6. Will of Captain Isaac Bowman ... _ .................... _____, ........................... 165 7. .Bowman Family Records ......... - ................................... _ ................................... .171 8. Bowman Entries of Land in Kentucky ........................................................ .175 9. In the World War, 1943 ....... - .. _,........................................................... _........ 177 vi THE BOWlMANS A PIONEERIN·. J'AMILY IN VIRGINIA, KENTUCKY, AND 1'.liE NORTHWEST TERRITORY vii CHAPTER I THE CENTAURS OF CEDAR CREEK This title, "The Centaurs of Cedar Creek," is not altogether fanciful. George Bowman and his sons, as well as many of their descendants and other kinsmen in different parts of the country, owned numerous horses and were bold and skilful riders, whether in the dales and woodlands of the Shenandoah Valley, in the Blue-Grass regions of Kentucky, on the ranches and polo fields of Canada, or in the fox-hunting areas of eastern Virginia. These facts will appear as we proceed with our story. For the purposes of this narrative we have not thought it necessary to trace the lineage of George Bowman and his wife Mary Hite back farther than _her father, Baron Jost Hite, con­ cerning whom pertinent facts are given in a subsequent chapter. George Bowman as a young man evidently came to Philadelphia or its vicinity prior to 1731, where Jost Hite was then located; met Rite's oldest daughter Mary and married her; and with his wife and oldest child was a member of Hite's colony that migrated from Pennsylvania to the Shenandoah Valley of Vir­ ginia in 1731 or 1732. The Opequon and Cedar Creek region, where they located, was then a part of Spotsylvania County, Virginia. In 1734 it was included in the new county of Orange; in 1738 an act of the Virginia General Assembly provided for that part of Orange west of the Blue Ridge to be erected into the counties of Frederick and Augusta, but courts for Frederick were not organized at \,Vinchester until 1743 or for Augusta at Staunton until 1745. Accordingly, the Hite-Bowman settlement was in Spotsylvania County until 1734; in Orange from 1734 until 1743; thereafter in Frederick altogether until 1772, when Dunmore ( now Shenandoah) County was cut off from the south­ west side of Frederick. Thereafter George Bowman's
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