Joseph Bowman

Joseph Bowman
Born
Joseph Lawrence Bowman

c. (1752-03-08)March 8, 1752 March 8, 1752
DiedAugust 15, 1779(1779-08-15) (aged 27)
Cause of deathburn wounds from gunpowder explosion
Resting placeSt. Francis Xavier Cathedral Cemetery, near George Rogers Clark National Historical Park
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)frontiersman, hunter, farmer, soldier, state militia officer
Parent(s)George Bowman and Mary Hite, Anglicized from Hans Georg Baumann and Marie Elisabetha Hite
RelativesJost Hite (grandfather)
Jacob Bowman (brother)
John Bowman (brother)
Isaac Bowman (brother)
Abraham Bowman (brother)
Military career
Allegiance United States
Service/branchVirginia Militia
Years of service1774, 1778-1779
Rank Major
Battles/warsLord Dunmore's War
American Revolutionary War

Joseph Lawrence Bowman (c. 1752 – 15 August 1779) was an American frontiersmen and military officer who fought during the American Revolutionary War. He was second-in-command during Colonel George Rogers Clark's 1778 military campaign to capture the Illinois Country, in which Clark and his men seized the key British-controlled towns of Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes. Following the campaign, Bowman was critically injured in an accidental gunpowder explosion and subsequently died of his wounds. He was the only American officer killed during the 1778-1779 Illinois campaign.[1] Joseph Bowman kept a daily journal of his trek from Kaskaskia to Vincennes, which is one of the best primary source accounts of Clark's victorious campaign.

  1. ^ English, Conquest of the Country, 1:108.