Family biographies: Captain Charles Bowers (1812-1895) was born and died in Concord, Massachusetts. He married Lydia E. Hadlock on 13 March 1838 and they had three sons, including William and Charles E. Bowers, and five daughters, including Maria Augusta Hadlock Bowers (French). Captain Bowers was active in both temperance and anti-slavery causes. He served in the military from 1861 to 1865, the duration of the Civil War, and is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. William Bowers, the son of Captain Charles and Lydia Bowers, was born in Concord, Massachusetts in 1840. He was apprenticed as a printer before entering the newspaper business, working for the Boston Post and then the Boston Herald in 1859. He was the night editor at the Boston Herald and was later promoted to day editor, becoming a prominent member of Boston's newspaper community and a member of the Press Club. At the beginning of the Civil War he went out with the Fifth Massachusetts Volunteer Militia and was in the first battle of Bull Run. In 1867 William Bowers married Ellen F. Staples of Concord, the daughter of Sam Staples, who was legendary as the man who jailed Thoreau for non-payment of his poll tax. Charles E. Bowers, the son of Captain Charles and Lydia Bowers, was born in Concord, Massachusetts in 1844. He enlisted for military duty at the age of eighteen, serving for most of the duration of the war. Severely wounded at the Devil's Den during the Battle of Gettysburg, he wrote an account of his experiences during the fight. He was later employed in the wholesale boot and shoe business. -- Military biographies: Charles Bowers: 3rd Lieutenant, Company G, Fifth Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, (This company, the Concord Artillery, was the first to go from [Concord] to the Civil War. Left Concord April 19, 1861 as Co. A; became Co. G on arrival at Washington; in the battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861. Mustered out of the United States service July 21, 1861); Captain, Thirty-second Massachusetts Volunteers; mustered out 1 June 1865. William Bowers: Private, Forty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, Company K, Fifth Massachusetts Volunteer Militia; discharged for disability Feb. 7, 1863. Charles E. Bowers: 1st Sergeant and 2nd Lieutenant, Company B, Thirty-second Massachusetts Volunteers; wounded at Gettysburg July 2, 1863; 1st Lieutenant, 2nd Lieutenant, 26th New York Cavalry; 1st Lieutenant, Third Regiment of Cavalry, Massachusetts Volunteers (formerly Forty-first Massachusetts Volunteers); declined commission; discharged for disability 25 October 1864 as 2nd Lieutenant.
From the description of Bowers family papers, 1861-1974 (bulk 1861). (Concord Public Library). WorldCat record id: 62896682
