Background
Theodore Shelton Bowers was born on October 10, 1832 in Hummelstown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. He was the son of George and Ann Maria Bowers. His early life was spent in extreme poverty.
Theodore Shelton Bowers was born on October 10, 1832 in Hummelstown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. He was the son of George and Ann Maria Bowers. His early life was spent in extreme poverty.
As a boy, Bowers removed to Mt. Carmel, Illinois, learned the printer's trade, and eventually became editor of the local newspaper, the Register.
Bowers entered the volunteer army in October 1861 as a private in the 48th Illinois Infantry. In January 1862, shortly before the advance against Forts Henry and Donelson, he was detailed as a clerk at General Grant's headquarters, where he soon came to the favorable notice of the commanding general. He was appointed a first lieutenant in March, and soon after was regularly assigned as an aide to General Grant.
Faithful and efficient in the performance of his duties, and attached to his chief with a semi-feudal devotion, Bowers became one of that little official family which the great commander kept with him in all his campaigns, east or west. He was promoted to captain in November 1862, and major in February 1863. He was captured in Van Dorn's raid on Holly Springs, Mississippi, in December 1862, but made his escape in a few hours.
Soon after the taking of Vicksburg, he succeeded Rawlins as Grant's adjutant-general and was made a lieutenant-colonel. In that capacity, he served through the Virginia campaigns of 1864 and 1865 and was present at the surrender at Appomattox. After Grant's assignment to the command of all the armies, he obtained Bowers's appointment as a captain in the quartermaster department of the regular army.
This insured that he would be retained in the service after the volunteer forces should be mustered out, but he never actually served under this commission, nor under a later regular-army appointment as major in the adjutant-general's department, for he died before his discharge from his volunteer commission as lieutenant-colonel. His death occurred at Garrison, New York, as he was returning, with General Grant, from a visit to West Point.
Bowers left the train to attend to baggage, and in trying to board it again fell under the wheels. He was buried at West Point.
Prior to the Civil War Theodore Bowers started his career as a newspaper editor and then shifted to the Union army beginning his service as a private. Detailed to General U. S. Grant's headquarters as clerk, he was soon commissioned as 1st lieutenant in the 48th Illinois Infantry. He became captain and aide-de-camp to General Grant where he was a trusted member of Grant's military family. He subsequently served as Judge Advocate of the Army of Tennessee with the rank of major and lieutenant colonel and assistant adjutant general on the staff of Lt. General Grant. His services were recognized by the award of no less than four brevets, the last being as brigadier-general. He was brevetted Brigadier General, US Volunteers on April 9, 1865, for "gallant and meritorious services in the field during the war". His career was determined in the first place by the accident of his attracting Grant's attention, and later by his own merits and the mutual loyalty of his chief and himself. The G. A. R. post at Mt. Carmel was named for him.
Quotes from others about the person
"Gallant little Bowers, " Charles King calls him, and a better description of him would be hard to find.
