Civil War Veteran – Thomas C. Bowie – Browns Grove Cemetery, Burdett, Pawnee County, Kansas

At the age of 18, Pvt. Thomas C. Bowie enlisted in Co. B 76th OH Infantry. He received a gunshot wound in his hip during the Battle of Fort Donelson. Pvt. Bowie also spent nine months as a prisoner of war in Andersonville and Columbia prisons.

Thomas Calvert Bowie was born in Virginia on November 6, 1842. The Bowie family moved to Ohio when Thomas was a child. It was there that Thomas enlisted in the Ohio Infantry. Thomas returned to Ohio after the war where he attended the Eclectic Medical College in Cincinnati, Ohio.

While practicing medicine in Ohio, Dr. Bowie married Lois Shearer in 1889. The couple moved to Hodgeman County, Kansas, shortly after their marriage. They settled in Marena Township in Hanston, where their four sons were born. Dr. Bowie’s services were needed as he was the only physician in Hodgeman County and the surrounding counties for some time.

Dr. Bowie was a prominent figure in the Hodgeman County Republican Party. In 1892, he was elected to the Kansas legislature from the 38th district. He was also the president of the Hanston State Bank.

Thomas and Clarissa’s oldest son, John, died in 1892. He was twenty-two years old. The cause of his death is unknown. Thomas died on December 28, 1919, and was buried in Browns Grove Cemetery. Lois passed away in 1937 and is buried beside her husband and their son, John.

Note: The Battle of Fort Donelson took place in Tennessee on February 13-16, 1862. It was a Union victory.

Note: Confederate officials wanted to move Union prisoners from Richmond, Virginia, to a more secure facility. Andersonville, Georgia, was chosen, and construction began in 1864. The prison only existed for fourteen months and housed more than 450,000 Union soldiers. Almost 13,000 died from disease, poor sanitation, malnutrition, overcrowding, or exposure to the elements.1

1Andersonville Prison | American Battlefield Trust (battlefields.org)

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