Oden Bowie

Background

Oden Bowie was born on November 10, 1826, and was the eldest son of William D. and Mary Eliza (Oden) Bowie, was born and spent most of his life on his father's estate "Fairview" in Prince Georges County, Maryland.

Education

Bowie's first instruction was received at home under a tutor, but upon his mother's death, when he was only nine, he was sent to the preparatory school attached to old St. John's College, Annapolis.

After three years there, he entered St. Mary's College, Baltimore, from which he graduated in 1845. Shortly after leaving college he enlisted as a private in the Baltimore and Washington Battalion and left for the Mexican border.

Career

At the battle of Monterey, Bowie's commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Watson, was mortally wounded. In imminent peril of his life, young Bowie stayed with the dying colonel until he received from him important messages and papers. Almost surrounded by the enemy, he mounted his horse and made a desperate and successful dash for safety. For this gallant action, he was promoted to a lieutenancy and later commissioned a captain in the Voltigeur Regiment.

The Maryland legislature passed a set of complimentary resolutions expressing "The thanks of his native State for distinguished gallantry displayed during the three days' siege of Monterey". Illness, due to the climate of Mexico, compelled him to return to Maryland before the close of the war. From his father, who had served in both houses of the legislature, Bowie inherited a keen interest in politics.

Almost immediately after his return from Mexico, he became a candidate for the legislature. He was under age at the time but would have arrived at his majority before the legislature convened, a fact, however, which was not generally known. His opponents, who talked much of his youth, succeeded in raising a doubt as to his eligibility and Bowie was defeated by ten votes.

In 1849, he was again a candidate for the House of Delegates and had the honor of being the only Democrat elected that year in his county. A few years later he was elected state senator, but in 1861, when a candidate for the same office, he was defeated by Federal military interference at the polls. In 1860, he was chosen the president of the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad, then but recently organized, and filled that office until his death. It was largely due to his management and unflagging perseverance that the railroad finally achieved success.

Bowie's sympathies were with the South, although he did not approve of the radical course of the secessionists. He used every effort to preserve the organization of the Democratic party and it was largely due to him that that party regained control of the state. He was chairman of the state central committee during the war, and in 1864 was sent as a delegate to the Chicago convention which nominated General McClellan for the presidency. The Democratic nominee for lieutenant-governor in 1864, he was defeated by the Union candidate, Cox; but in 1867, he was elected governor of Maryland by the largest majority ever given by the state to any candidate.

He did not become governor de facto until January 13, 1869, and remained in office until January 10, 1872. The settlement of the dispute with Virginia regarding oyster-beds, the collection of arrears from the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad due to the state, and the collection from the United States government of money loaned by Maryland for war purposes were among the many questions settled during his able administration.

Four years later, he died at "Fairview" and was buried in the family graveyard a short distance from his home.

Achievements

• Elected as Maryland's 34th Governor, Oden Bowie served from 1869 to 1872. He later became president of both the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad and the Baltimore City Passenger Railway Company. Bowie was active in the organization of the Maryland Jockey Club and was long its president. He owned many famous racehorses, and it was a keen grief to him when in 1890, on account of failing health, he was compelled to part with them. The city of Bowie, Maryland was founded as Huntington in 1870 at a junction of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad. The town was renamed Bowie in the 1880s after Governor Oden Bowie. Bowie also received resolutions from the Maryland Legislature expressing "the thanks of his native State for distinguished gallantry displayed during the three days’ siege of Monterey. " Odenton, Maryland began as a junction of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad and the Annapolis and Elk Ridge Railroad, named after Oden Bowie in 1872. A 1, 800-home subdivision, Fairwood, was built on the land of Oden Bowie's thousand-acre plantation, Fairview, in Prince Georges County, Maryland. The Fairwood community, which was approximately 73 percent African American in 2015, was heavily impacted by the Subprime mortgage crisis of 2007-2008, despite its affluence. Bowie descendants lived in the large Federal-style plantation house until 2015.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Communication From the President of the Balt; And Potomac Railroad, in Response to an Order of the House (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Communication From the President of the Balt...)

  • Report of the Committee on Labor and Immigration

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • Message of Gov. Oden Bowie to the General Assembly of Maryland, at Its Regular Session, January, 1870 (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Message of Gov. Oden Bowie to the General As...)

Politics

In his political affiliation Oden Bowie was a member of the United States Democratic Party.

Membership

Bowie was a member of the National Democratic Committee from Maryland.

Interests

• Oden Bowie was an avid horseman who used to breed Thoroughbred racehorses at his Fairview Plantation.

• Sport & Clubs

  A horse racing enthusiast, Bowie was a president of the Maryland Jockey Club and one of the founders of Pimlico Racetrack.

Connections

Oden Bowie was married in 1851 to Alice, daughter of Charles H. and Rosalie Eugenia (Calvert) Carter.

Father:

William Duckett Bowie

1803 - 18 July 1873

Mother:

Mary Eliza Oden Bowie

13 January 1819 - 8 March 1873

Half sister:

Catherine Duckett “Kate” Bowie Swan

24 January 1828 - 8 November 1883

Brother:

William Duckett Bowie

27 September 1831 - 2 February 1888

Wife:

Alice Carter Bowie

3 April 1833 - 20 May 1905

Daughter:

Alice Bowie Roberts

4 July 1852 - 19 September 1898

Daughter:

Annette Carter Bowie Roberts

8 March 1863 - 14 May 1938

Son:

Calvert Bowie

3 April 1860 - 19 April 1861

Son:

Oden Bowie, Jr

9 May 1856 - 20 August 1904

Son:

Washington Booth Bowie

25 July 1874 - 8 August 1939

Son:

Carter Lee Bowie

25 July 1872 - 21 June 1948

Son:

William Duckett Bowie

26 July 1854 - 1 January 1931

References

• Governors of Maryland: from the revolution to the year 1908
• The Bowies And Their Kindred: A Genealogical And Biographical History