Isaac Bowman | |
---|---|
Born |
Ft Bowman on Cedar Creek (near Strasburg, Virginia) |
April 24, 1757
Died | September 9, 1826 Strasburg, Virginia |
(aged 69)
Nationality | German-American |
Occupation | Landowner, farmer and militia officer |
Known for | Officer under General George Rodgers Clark during the Illinois campaign and Northwest Indian War; held in two-year captivity by the Chickasaw before his eventual escape to Cuba. |
Home town | Strasburg, Virginia |
Spouse(s) |
Elizabeth Gatewood (m. 1782–90) Mary Chinn (m. 1792–1826) |
Children | 16 children |
Parent(s) | George Bowman and Mary Hite |
Relatives |
Jost Hite, grandfather Col Abraham Bowman, brother Maj Joseph Bowman, brother Col Johannes "John" Bowman, brother John Jacob Bowman, brother |
Isaac Bowman (April 24, 1757 – September 9, 1826) was an 18th-century American soldier and militia officer who took part in the American Revolutionary War and the Northwest Indian War. His capture and eventual escape from hostile Chickasaw led him on a two-year adventure before returning to the United States from Cuba in 1782.
His brothers, Colonel John Bowman (1738-1784), Colonel Abraham Bowman (1749-1837), and Major Joseph Bowman (c. 1752-1779), were also officers during the Revolutionary War, and all four were early frontiersman who were among the first to settle in Kentucky. Their father and grandfather, George Bowman and Jost Hite, respectively, were also prominent pioneers in the Colony of Virginia.
One of his patrilineal descendants, Alpheus Michael Bowman, was a successful Virginia businessman and politician during the late 19th century. Another of his descendants is William Irving Shuman, a banker and assistant U.S. Treasurer in Chicago, Illinois. Another descendant is Euday Bowman, composer of the 12th Street Rag.
The youngest child born to George Bowman and Mary Hite, Isaac Bowman grew up at Fort Bowman aka Harmony Hall on Cedar Creek, only two miles south of present-day Strasburg. He inherited part of the family estate, including the Bowman mansion, upon the death of his father in 1768. During the mid-1770s, he accompanied his cousin Isaac Hite and brothers Abraham, Joseph, and John to Kentucky where, in 1775, he and the other thirteen pioneers carved their names into a beech tree in Warren County, Kentucky. Isaac Bowman did not become a major landowner as his brothers did, most likely due to his age.