After raising a unit which became the 22nd Virginia Cavalry, he fought for the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War, after which Bowen served in the Virginia House of Delegates, as well as the U.S. House of Representatives, first as a Readjuster, then as a Republican.

Born at "Maiden Spring," near Tazewell, Tazewell County, Virginia, Bowen was the son of Democratic Congressman Rees Bowen, nephew of Senator John Warfield Johnston (a postwar member of the Conservative Party of Virginia, and cousin of Tennessee's last Whig governor William Bowen Campbell.

Bowen farmed, then entered the Confederate Army in 1861 as a captain in Company H of the 8th Virginia Cavalry,[1] which fought with Payne's brigade, Lee's division, Army of Northern Virginia.

Upon being paroled on June 19, 1865, Bowen returned to his native county and resumed farming.

Bowen was elected and re-elected as one of Tazewell County's representatives in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1869 to 1873.