General Francis Loring Bowman

Major US Army. Organized the Wyoming Artillerists and was an officer in the Mexican War.

Company I, 1st Regiment Wyoming Artillerists

The Wyoming Artillerists were recruited and organized in 1842 by Francis L. Bowman, who became their first commander. The first lieutenant was Edmund L. Dana. In a very short period this company became one of the leading uniformed militia units in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Quick to volunteer for service in the war with Mexico, the Artillerists departed from Wilkes-Barre on 6 December 1846. They reached Pittsburgh, and First Lieutenant Horace B. Field, 3rd U. S. Artillery, mustered the men into Federal service on 16 December.

During their year and a half away from home the Wyoming cannoneers helped besiege Vera Cruz, storm Cerro Gordo and defend Puebla, later garrisoning Mexico City.

The Artillerists were mustered out at Pittsburgh on 20 July 1848 by Major George Wright, 4th U. S. Infantry, and they arrived home in Wilkes-Barre on 30 July.

The Wyoming Artillerists continued to exist as an active military organization after the war. In 1861 they became part of the 8th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, and in 1862 were redesignated Company C of the 143rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment. They became part of the state’s National Guard establishment in the early 1870’s.

A total of 111 men served in the company during the war, and there were only two desertions. Fifteen new recruits joined the Artillerists in Mexico. Ten men sustained battle injuries, from which two died. In all, twenty-three deaths were recorded during the war. Twenty-eight got discharged before muster out.

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From 1849 to 1855 he was brigadier general of the 2nd Brigade, 9th Division, Pennsylvania Militia, the position and rank formerly held by his father. In 1855, through the friendship of Jefferson Davis, then U.S. Secretary of War, he was commissioned captain in the 9th Infantry. He perished in an Oregon wilderness in 1856. Source: Newspaper clipping in scrapbook belonging to grandson Henry Bowman Douglas

According to the Oregonian newspaper clipping, (see sources), Capt. Bowman went insane, (possibly from cholera), and escaped from friends who were escorting him. His body was eventually found and returned to Pennsylvania for burial.

WIckipedia History of the 9th Infantry:

Oregon and Washington Territory Indian Wars Between March and November 1855, the 9th Infantry Regiment was again organized under Colonel George Wright at Fortress Monroe, Virginia. It has remained in continuous existence since then; the lineage of the currently active regiment is traced back to this organization.[3] Silas Casey was its Lieutenant-colonel, and Edward Steptoe, and Robert S. Garnett were its Majors. In December 1855 the regiment was ordered to the Pacific Coast, via Panama, arriving in the latter part of January 1856. The headquarters and Companies A, B, C, E, F, G, I and K, took station at Fort Vancouver, Washington Territory. Lieutenant-Colonel Casey with Companies D and H going to Fort Steilacoom, and was plunged into operations against the Nisqually, Muckleshoot, Puyallup, and Klickitat in the Puget Sound War.

From March 1856, Colonel Wright with companies from Fort Vancouver were fighting the Yakima War.