Background
Richard Johns Bowie was born on June 23, 1807, in Georgetown, D. C. He was the son of Colonel Washington Bowie and Margaret (Johns) Bowie.
Richard Johns Bowie was born on June 23, 1807, in Georgetown, D. C. He was the son of Colonel Washington Bowie and Margaret (Johns) Bowie.
Richard Bowie received a classical education under Dr. Carnahan and was a student at the university in Georgetown. He studied law under Clement Cox and was admitted to the bar of the District of Columbia when but nineteen.
At the age of twenty-two, Bowie was admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. In the same year, he moved to Rockville, Montgomery County, Maryland, where he immediately took an active interest in public affairs and rose to prominence in his profession. A man of brilliant intellect, combined with much legal learning, he soon became a leader in his party.
In 1835-36-37, he was elected to the Maryland Senate. In 1845, he became a prosecuting attorney for Montgomery County and held that office for four years. From 1849 to 1853, he was a representative in Congress.
In 1854, the Whigs nominated him for governor of Maryland.
The Whig party had split asunder over the slavery question and that year was practically destroyed. The Democratic candidate was elected and Bowie suffered his first political defeat.
At the election of 1861, he was chosen to succeed Judge LeGrand as chief justice of the court of appeals. During the four years of civil war, when citizens were illegally arrested, civil courts often disregarded, and martial law held sway, the court over which he presided remained above suspicion or reproach. He remained on the bench of that court until his death, with the exception of a slight interval after the adoption of the constitution of 1867, when the judicial system of the state was again changed.
In 1871, occurred the next general election and Judge Bowie was restored to the judicial seat by popular vote. In 1876, as he was approaching the age limit of seventy years, the legislature extended his term until the expiration of the period for which he had been elected. This great tribute was paid to a Republican judge by a Democratic legislature with only three dissenting votes.
Bowie died at his residence "Glenview" after a few days of illness and was buried in Rockville cemetery.
Bowie's main professional achievement was in his service as chief judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals from 1861 to 1867. In 1863, he was detained by Confederate general J. E. B. Stuart near Rockville, Maryland, but was released soon thereafter. He later served as chief judge of the sixth judicial circuit of Maryland, and as such also an associate judge of the court of appeals of Maryland, from November 7, 1871 until his death.
In his political affiliation Bowie was a Whig, so he was the Whigs nominated him for governor of Maryland in 1854.
He was a staunch Unionist, and with the unswerving honesty and moral courage that marked the man, he opposed secession and tried to avert the war which he feared was inevitable.
Bowie was an eloquent, forcible, and convincing speaker and always actively interested in any important measure brought before Congress during his four years in the House. His private life was as irreproachable as his public career.
Richard Johns Bowie was married in 1833, to Catherine L. Williams, of Hagerstown, Maryland.
