Bowles Edward Armistead was born on April 26, 1838, in Fauquier County, Virginia, to Walker and Elizabeth Armistead. His father was a soldier in the United States military who died on October 13, 1845. He grew up and attended school in Fauquier County, Virginia.

 

He enlisted in the Confederate army on July 24, 1861, and he mustered in as a corporal in Company A of the 6^th Virginia Cavalry later that day. The regiment took part in the Seven Days’ Battles, the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Overland Campaign, the siege of Petersburg, and the Appomattox campaign. He was promoted to 1^st lieutenant on April 20, 1862. He was wounded at least three times: in the Battle of Cold Harbor on June 1, 1864; on October 19, 1864; near Five Forks, Virginia, on March 31, 1865.

 

He returned to Fauquier County after the war, and he married Susan Lewis Marshall there on October 15, 1867. She died several years later, and he married her sister Elizabeth Lewis Marshall on November 23, 1871. They had at least ten children: Mary, born around 1873; Henry, born around 1875; Lewis, born around 1876; Stanly, born around 1878; Baylor, born around 1879; Eleanor, born around 1881; Elizabeth, born around 1884; Robert, born around 1886; Virginia, born around 1888; and Courtney, born around 1890. They lived in Scott, Virginia, and Armistead worked as an assessor. He died in Richmond, Virginia, on October 16, 1916.

SOURCES