Alexander Hamilton Bowman was born on May 15, 1803, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to Samuel Bowman and Eleanor Ledlie. His father was a farmer who died in June 1818. He graduated third in his class from West Point in 1825, and he received an appointment as a 2nd lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. He spent a year working as an assistant professor of history, geography, and ethics at West Point. 

 

Bowman worked as an engineer on the Gulf Coast, and he helped construct a military road between Memphis, Tennessee, and Little Rock, Arkansas. He was promoted to 1st lieutenant in 1835, and he married Mary Louisa Collins that same year. They had at least seven children: Charles, born around 1837; Mary, born around 1843; Walter, born around 1845; Eulalie, born around 1845; Louisa, born around 1847; Eliza, born around 1849; and Alexander, born around 1852. He worked on engineering projects throughout the South during the 1840s, and he helped expand the Treasury Building in Washington, D.C., in 1853. He was promoted to major in 1857.

 

He remained in the army during the Civil War, and he replaced P. G. T. Beauregard as West Point's superintendent in 1861. In 1863, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the Corps of Engineers. He remained in his superintendent position until 1864, and he spent the following year as a member of the Board of Engineers. He died on November 11, 1865, at his family home in Wilkes-Barre. He is buried at Hollenback Cemetery in Wilkes-Barre.

 

Image: Alexander H. Bowman (courtesy Wikicommons)

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