Career
Bowman volunteered for service in the United States. Navy and was assigned to the Union sloop-of-war United States Ship (1862). His enlistment is credited to the state of Maine. On January 15, 1865, the North Carolina Confederate stronghold of Fort Fisher was taken by a combined Union storming party of sailors, marines, and soldiers under the command of Admiral David Dixon Porter and General Alfred Terry.
Bowman was aboard the which directed its fire at Fort Fisher.