Little is known about John Bowman. Born in Roane County, Tennessee November 20, 1831, he was a farmer who married twice. We do not know the name of his first wife, but he married second to Caroline Marney in Roane County on January 4, 1859. He enlisted  for service in the 2nd Tennessee Infantry at Kingston in Roane County on August 10, 1861 and mustered in at Camp Dick Robinson as Captain of Company A on August 20.  About November 3, 1861 at Somerset, Kentucky he contracted typhoid fever but was able to return to the regiment at Flat Lick, Kentucky on March 1, 1862. He suffered a relapse, but again returned to the regiment at Cumberland Ford on April 1, 1862. On April 3, 1862 he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, replacing Daniel C. Trewhitt who had resigned due to poor health. Bowman's own health deteriorated until he was diagnosed with heart disease about June, 1862. He never fully recovered and was eventually discharged at Charleston, Virginia on October 18, 1862.

John Bowman was about six feet tall with a dark complexion, dark eyes and black hair. There are no known children from his first marriage, but he had at least three children from his second marriage: Thurston, James H. and John W. John Bowman died in Roane County of heart disease January 29, 1913 and is buried at the Bowman-Bowers Cemetery.
 

Just about all the information about John W. Bowman is from his pension file at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.