Bowden was born in 1815 in Williamsburg, Virginia, and graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1831-1832.

[1] As an adult, Bowden settled in Williamsburg and practiced law there.

[4] During the American Civil War Bowden served as mayor of Williamsburg, Virginia from 1862 to 1863 in a region occupied by Federal troops.

[5] Bowden died on January 2, 1864, of smallpox while in office at Washington, D.C. and he is buried in the Congressional Cemetery there.

[6] Bowden's son, Thomas Russell Bowden, served as Attorney General of Virginia in both the Restored Government and the post-war Reconstruction era government, and his nephew, George E. Bowden, represented Virginia's 2nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1887 to 1891.