The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-02-10
h Memorial r. (. BtWshs
Pieken's SentineI-JournaI:

son College to memorial services in
honor of Col. r. E. Bowen. Address.
es appropriate to the occasion were
made by President Nell and PROBES.
sors Riggs, Morrison and Furrnan.
Prof. Morrison's address was as fol-
lows:
MI. President, fellow members of the
Faculty and young gentlemen OF the
Institutions
stand here for one single purpose
to show respect for, and do honor to,
80 far as I may be able, the memory
of our dead friend and official.
Robert Elsi Bowen was born near
Georges Greek, Pickens county, S. G..
Sept. 8, 1890. His parents were of
Irish and Welsh descent, and came
from Virginia, and settled near the Sa-
luda river, in the hill country of Caro-
lima, very soon after the close of the
American Revolution.
r. E. Bowen grew up on his fathers
farm, getting in the common schools
of the day a knowledge o fthe English
branches, and learning surveying
from his father.
He went on horseback to Texas in
1853, and remained in that state about
a year, teaching school five months,
aud spending the balance of the time
in travelling over the state.
In the fall of 1854, he came back
home and managed he fathers farm
for several years
On the 18th day Of October, 1857, he
married Miss Martha Oliver. of An
derson, s. c., and a few months later
the young couple set up their hous :
hold goods on the farm, which for al.
most half q century was their home OF
happiness.
In November, 1861, R. E. Bowen
entered the Confederate army a first
Lieutenant in the Second South Caro-
lima regiment. BY the close Of the
year 1868 he had risen to the rank oil
colonel, in which capacity he served
until the 9th day of April, 1866, when
he surrendered with Lee at Appomat-
tox. His few surviving comrades all
bear glad witness to his %unfiinching
courage, and his unfailing kindness to
his men, at all times.
In one of the battles near Chatta,
nooga Col. Bowen was wounded, and
was in consequence two months in
the hospital and at home.
In the battle of the Wilderness q
cannon ball cut off part of his coat,
without bodily injury.
From Appomattox he rode his army
horse home and resumed his work as
q farmer.
In 1872 he was chosen q member OF
the house of representatives, and two
years later he was elected senator from
his native county.
Col. Bowen took an active part IN
the great struggle for the preservation
of "the civilization of the Cavalier and
Puritan;" and in 1877 was appointed
chairman of the special committee to
investigate the frauds perpetrated by
scalawags and carpet-baggers and their
negro associates during the dark days
of Reconstruction. The report of this
committee Is a most valuable contri-
button to the records of the history of
our commonwealth.
An incident, unpublished and given
me in q private conservation, illus-
trates the cool courage and devotion
of our departed friend. When Wal
lace, speak r, and Mackey, speaker so
called, were occupying chairs on the
speakers stand in the hall Of the
house of representatives, when a
bloody riot seemed imminent, when a
hasty word, or blow, or shot might
precipitate slaughter in the state
house, and civil war outside Col.
Bowen quietly walked from the SEN
ate chamber and stood behind Col.
| Wallace's chair, towards which be
knew il aIy shots were fired the very
first would be directed. Calm and un-
moved, as Regulus, the Roman, be-
fore the mob at Carthage, he stood
there until he heard Mackey say, in
low tones, to his so-called s~ergeant-at-
arms. "Ask Gen. Wallace to please
vacate that chair; "but be sure not to
Law your hand Oh him." Assured then
that no fighting would follow, Col.
BoWen.went back to his duties in the
senate.
Our friend was interested In build
ing railroads into and beyond the
mountains. He was two years presi-
dent of the Atlantic & French Broad
R. r. Co., and later a director and
president of the Carolina, Cumber-
land Gap & Chicago Co. His efferts
in this direction, like those of Robert
Y. Hayne, were unsuccessful.
MI. Clemson, in bis will, named r.
E. Bowen as one of the seven life trus-
tees of our institution. Two of his
colleagues-both like him soldiers OF
the Southern Confederacy-sD. K.
Norris and J. E. Bradley, went before
him to the rest under the shade of the
trees on the other side of the river.
Col. Bowen was a Christian, and
was for years an elder in the Presby.
terrain church near bis birthplace and
his lifelong home.
About sunrise, In the home of a rel.
alive at Fair Forest, S%partanburg
county, Monday, Jan. H., 1909, he
quietly fell asleep. When loved ones
went to wake him they found him in
bis bed, but sleeping
1.-THE sleep that knows not breaking.
Morn of toll, nor night of waking
Viewing him in all life's relations,
we are constrained to declare
His life was gentle, and the ele'
ments so mixed in him,
That nature might stand up and say
to all the world
This was q man."
Suffer me, in conclusion, to lay upon
the fresh earth that covers his mortal
remains q garland, gathered and WOW