Bowman was educated at the Canajoharie academy and graduated from the State and National Law School in Ballston Spa, New York in 1850.

[2] Bowman was an alternate delegate from Wisconsin to the 1860 Republican National Convention, which nominated Abraham Lincoln.

[1][3] For a time, Bowman was very disappointed that the convention did not nominate William H. Seward, but he later became a great admirer of Lincoln.

[1][3] In his legislative career, he worked to get approval for a dam on the Wisconsin River at Kilbourn City to improve the industry of the area with water power.

[2] After leaving the legislature, he served as an attorney for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company in a dispute with the city of La Crosse, Wisconsin, over the location of a railroad bridge over the Mississippi River.