Bonham was born near Redbank (now Saluda), South Carolina, the son of Maryland native Capt.

Two other members of his regiment, Major Maxcy Gregg and Captain Abner Monroe Perrin, would also become generals in the Civil War.

A slaveowner,[2] Bonham served as the Commissioner from South Carolina to the Mississippi Secession Convention, and helped to persuade its members that they should also secede from the Union.

He fought in the First Battle of Manassas, commanding his brigade as well as two artillery batteries and six companies of cavalry in the defense of Mitchell's Ford on Bull Run.

On December 17, 1862, the South Carolina General Assembly elected Bonham as governor by secret ballot.

Bonham rejoined the Confederate Army as brigadier general of cavalry in February 1865, and was actively engaged in recruiting when the war ended.

Returning to politics, Bonham was again a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1865 to 1866 and a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1868.

He was appointed state railroad commissioner in 1878 and served until his death at White Sulphur Springs, North Carolina.