Nicknamed "The Great Western", she gained fame, and the title "Heroine of Fort Brown", as a camp follower of Zachary Taylor's army during the Mexican–American War.

Bowman is believed to have been born Sarah Knight sometime between 1812 and 1813 (the 1860 census indicates her birth may have occurred as late as 1818[3]) in either Tennessee or Clay County, Missouri.

Raised on the American frontier, she received no formal education, and is believed to have been illiterate due to her use of an X on business and census forms.

[4] Despite the inability to read and write, she was bilingual by her later years, with a priest near Fort Yuma noting she was the first American woman he had met fluent in Spanish.

Texas Ranger John Salmon Ford said of her, "She could whip any man, fair fight or foul, could shoot a pistol better than anyone in the region, and at black jack could outplay (or out cheat) the slickest professional gambler.

[12] The army remained encamped along the Nueces River till March 1846 when they received orders to advance to the Rio Grande.

[11] As the Americans approached the steep embankment, bugles rang out on the other bank accompanied by the warning, "Cross this stream and you will be shot!

"[13] Upon seeing the column halted, Bowman rode to the front and told the commander, "If the general would give me a strong pair of tongs, I'd wade that river and whip every scoundrel that dared show himself.

When Taylor withdrew the majority of his troops to confront the Mexican army near the coast, forces in Matamoros, stationed directly across the Rio Grande, responded by besieging the fort.

While most of the women in the fort retreated to the bunkers to sew sandbags, Borginnes remained at her cooking fire and served breakfast at 7 am.

[18] Legend claims she received a saber wound to her cheek while working a cannon position before slaying the Mexican soldier who cut her.

She responded by punching the private in the face and telling him "You damned son of a bitch, there ain't Mexicans enough in Mexico to whip old Taylor.

"[5] During the battle Borginnes learned that Captain George Lincoln, a friend that had joined the army at the same time as her husband, had been killed.

[21] Following her actions upon the field of battle, tradition maintains that General Winfield Scott ordered a military pension for Borginnes.

"[24] Eventually a dragoon named either Davis or David E. volunteered, on condition that a priest perform the marriage ceremony.

In the process she became known as El Paso's first Anglo woman and the town's first madam, gaining a reputation as a "whore with a heart of gold".

[2][29] In 1890, following the decommissioning of Fort Yuma, she was exhumed and reburied at San Francisco National Cemetery in a grave marked "Sarah A.