The Forgotten Stonewall of the West

The Forgotten "Stonewall of the West" for the first time rightly places Major General John Stevens Bowen into top ranking as one of the best division commanders who fought for the Confederacy. The case is made repeatedly throughout this book that Bowen, even more than General Pat Cleburne, was entitled to a lofty reputation - more indeed than any other Confederate general in the West. This book parallels the lives of Bowen and General Ulysses S. Grant. Bowen and Grant were West Pointers and St. Louis neighbors who faced each other both before the war and on some of the great battlefields during the war. Because General Bowen died of disease in July 1863 immediately after the fall of Vicksburg, his story, until now, has been almost forgotten. From Shiloh to Vicksburg, General Bowen was the type of bold commander - whether commanding a regiment, brigade, or division - who led his men at the head of the charge. In his first battle, for example, Bowen's closest brush with death came when he led his brigade's charge at Shiloh. And, like General Grant, Bowen's aggressive, hard-hitting style continued as he rose in rank, reaching a climax during the decisive Vicksburg campaign. While the legend of General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson made the Stonewall Brigade famous, Bowen played a key role in molding the First Missouri Confederate Brigade into a lethal fighting machine, which had a better combat record than the immortalized Virginians. But because the Missouri Brigade has for so long been ignored by historians, Bowen's reputation has likewise suffered in the historical memory.