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Samuel Bowman was born at Lexington, Massachusetts, December 2, 1753, the eighth child of Capt. Thaddeus Bowman. He was one of the minute-men on Lexington Common, April 17, 1775, when they were fired upon by the British troops. The next month, as a drummer in Capt. John Parker's Lexington Company of Massachusetts militia, he was in service five days at Cambridge by order of the Committee of Safety. In June, 1775, as a private in the same company, he was again in service at Cambridge.

Early in 1776, Samuel Bowman enlisted as a private in Capt. John Bridge's Company of Col. Eleazar Brooks' regiment of Massachusetts infantry in the Continental service, and in March, 1776, was stationed with his company at Roxbury, Mass. His term of service in this organization expiring in, the latter part of 1776, he immediately enlisted in Capt. Abraham Watson's Company in the 3d Massachusetts Regiment, Continental Line, commanded by Col. John Greaton. Soon thereafter he was promoted Sergeant, and some months later was appointed Sergeant Major.

Upon the recommendation of Col. Greaton, Sergeant Bowman was commissioned Ensign by the Massachusetts Council March 4, 1780, and was assigned to Capt. J. Summer's Company of the 3d Regiment.

In September, 1780, Ensign Bowman was with his regiment in camp at Tappan, on the Hudson-River. On the 23rd of September, Major John Andre, the British spy, was captured and brought into the American camp at Tappan. Having been tried, convicted and sentenced to be hanged on October 2, 1780, Major Andre met his fate at Tappan on that day. During the last twenty-four hours of Major Andre's life Ensign Bowman was one of his special guards and was one of the two officers who marched arm in arm with him to the place of his execution. A year or two before his death Samuel Bowman wrote an interesting account of the last hours of Major Andre.

April. 22, 1782, Ensign Bowman was promoted to a lieutenancy in the 1st Massachusetts Regiment, Continental Line, commanded by Col. Joseph Vose, which promotion was approved by the Massachusetts Council July 2, 1782. Lieutenant Bowman became a member of the Society of the Cincinnati soon after its organization, May 13, 1783.

Upon the conclusion of peace between the United States and England, and the disbanding of the Continental army, Lieutenant Bowman returned to his home at Lexington, where he remained until the latter part of 1786, when he removed to Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, and settled on a tract of land just northeast of the Village of Wilkes-Barre, which bears the name of Bowman's Hill. This tract or plot, which contained between three and four acres of land, lay at the northwest corner of the present North Main and West North Streets in the City of Wilkes-Barre. Originally it formed a part of what was denominated the "50-acre lot" in the Susquehanna Company's survey of the lands lying within the bounds of the township of Wilkes-Barre. In 1773 this four-acre plot was set apart by the proprietors of the township for a public burial ground, but was used as such for only a short time.

Near the northeast corner of this plot, on the northwesterly side of Main Street, about four hundred and thirty feet from North Street, Lieutenant Bowman erected a modest frame house for his occupancy, and to it, in November, 1787, he brought his bride, Eleanor Ledlie, daughter of William and Elizabeth Ledlie, of Philadelphia. A few years later Lieutenant Bowman became the owner of some five hundred acres of land lying near his home lot-chiefly on the easterly side of Main Street-and in 1810 or 1811 he built a new dwelling house on his home lot, some two hundred feet nearer North Street than his original house stood.

In 1794, during what is known in Pennsylvania history as the "Whiskey Insurrection," Samuel Bowman raised a company of light infantry at Wilkes-Barre, and marched thence in command of the same, about October 1st, to join the corps of Pennsylvania militia which had been organized and ordered into service by direction of the Governor of the Commonwealth to quell the "Insurrection.' Captain Bowman's company was stationed at Sunbury for some time, but eventually joined the main body of the Commonwealth's troops at Bedford-being attached to the battalion commanded by Major George Fisher. The "Insurrection" having been quelled and order restored, Captain Bowman and his company returned to their homes early in December, 1794.

In the year 1797 the difficulties between the United States Government and France, consequent upon the ratification of Jay's treaty with Great Britain, reached a point a little short of war. In 1798 additions were made to the regular army of the United States, and further additions were provisionally authorized. General Washington was appointed Commander- in-Chief, with the rank of Lieutenant General, and Alexander Hamilton was appointed Inspector General, with the rank of Major General.

During the years 1798 and 1799 there was great excitement throughout the country, and the patriotic impulses of the citizens were everywhere and on all occasions encouraged and stimulated. A general meeting of the militia officers of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, was held in the Court House at Wilkes-Barre, July 3, 1798, "for the purpose of taking proper action upon the subject of enrolling and organizing the militia for active service." Gen. Simon Spalding, of Sheshequin, in what is now Bradford County, presided over the assemblage, and, with great fervor, resolutions were passed which, among other matters, declared that "no sensations of gratitude, no relics of enthusiasm remain to distract us from our duty as American citizens to our country." The officers present then proceeded formally to offer their services to the State.

January 25, 1799, Samuel Bowman was commissioned by President Adams a Captain in the Provisional Army of the United States, and immediately he set about enlisting recruits and organizing a company to be attached to "Maj. John Adlum's battalion of the 11th Regiment of Infantry."

In July, 1799, Captain Bowman was ordered to march his company to Union Camp, New Jersey, where it was attached-as the 3d Company to the 11th Regiment, U. S. Infantry, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Aaron Ogden, of Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Captain Bowman and his company remained in camp in New Jersey until September, 1800, when, satisfactory arrangements having been made with France, the Provisional Army was disbanded. During the last two months of his military service Capt. Bowman was detached from his company and served as an aide on the staff of General Hamilton, who, on the death of General Washington in December. 1799, had succeeded to the command in chief. General Hamilton was at that time President of the Society of the Cincinnati, and, Capt. Bowman being a member of the Society, a close friendship sprang up between the two officers, which ended only with the untimely death of Hamilton in 1804.

Captain Bowman returned to his home and family at Wilkes-Barre September, 1800, and from that time forward until the day of his death he lived quietly on his farm on North Main Street, except from 1807 until the latter part of 1811, when he occupied a small farm which he owned south of the borough of Wilkes-Barre. During this period he built his new home on North Main Street, and to it he removed in the latter part of 1811. There he died June 25, 1818.

Capt. Samuel and Eleanor (Ledlie) Bowman were the parents of nine children, six of whom grew to maturity; and of these, two became prominent- one in the Church and the other in the Army.

(from The Story of Bowman's Hill, Wilkes-Barre, Pennylvania by Charles Bowman Dougherty)