Illinois Country
Joseph Bowman served, as a captain, during George Rogers Clark's campaign, into the Illinois Country and was present, at the capture of Fort Gage in Kaskaskia, on July 4, 1778. Captain Bowman later, moved north, leading an ununiformed, combined American, mostly Virginian and locally-born, Illinois Country, French/transplanted French Canadien force, to capture Prairie du Rocher and Cahokia Fort de Chartres and Cahokia, where Bowman remained, for a time, as the commanding officer of the renamed Fort Bowman.