John S . Bowen John Stevens Bowen ( October 30 , 1830 – July 13 , 1863 ) was a career United States Army officer and a general in the Confederate States Army , a commander in the Western Theater of the American Civil War . He fought at the battles of Shiloh , Corinth , and the Vicksburg Campaign . He is often said to have died just as his abilities were gaining attention . Early life . Bowen was born in Bowen ' s Creek , Georgia . He attended the University of Georgia in Athens ( UGA ) in the early 1840s where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Literary Society , but left before graduating . He later entered the United States Military Academy in 1848 , but was suspended in March 1851 , for a year . He graduated 13th of 52 cadets in the class of 1853 . Among his classmates were future Confederate generals Henry Brevard Davidson , John Bell Hood , and John R . Chambliss , Jr . . He subsequently was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the U . S . Regiment of Mounted Rifles . He was first assigned to the army cavalry school at Carlisle , Pennsylvania until 1855 , when he was transferred to the Jefferson Barracks in St . Louis , Missouri ; while in St . Louis , he met and married Mary Kennerly . He eventually became acting adjutant of the U . S . 2nd Cavalry Regiment ; then in early 1855 , he was reassigned to Fort McIntosh , Texas . While there , he decided to resign from the army due to loneliness and moved to Georgia , becoming an architect . He became a lieutenant colonel in the Georgia militia , but then moved to Missouri in 1857 . There he became active in the Missouri Volunteer Miltia ( MVM ) . In 1861 he was appointed as lieutenant colonel commanding the MVM ' s Southwest Battalion , patrolling Missouri ' s western border against raids by bands of Kansas Jayhawkers . Civil War . In early May , 1861 Bowen was ordered to St . Louis where he took command of the new 2nd Regiment MVM , largely composed of members of the pro - secessionist Minutemen paramilitary organization . While serving as the Colonel of the MVM ' s 2nd Regiment and Chief of Staff to Brigadier General Daniel M . Frost on May 10 , 1861 , Bowen was captured at Camp Jackson by Union Army Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon . As he waited to be exchanged , he was commissioned a colonel in the Confederate States Army on June 11 , 1861 . After arriving in Memphis , Tennessee he set about recruiting for and organizing the 1st Missouri Infantry . He was reportedly officially exchanged on November 1 and became a brigade commander , serving at Columbus , Kentucky , under Major General Leonidas Polk . Bowen was promoted to brigadier general on March 14 , 1862 , and his brigade was assigned to Major General John C . Breckinridge ' s Reserve Corps of the Army of Mississippi . He distinguished himself in command of his brigade at the Battle of Shiloh , where he was severely wounded by an artillery shell . After his recovery he was given a brigade command in Mansfield Lovell ' s division of the Army of West Tennessee and took part in the Second Battle of Corinth . On the first day , Bowen ' s brigade helped overrun the initial Union positions but Lovell refused Bowen ' s repeated requests to make further attacks . The following day , Bowen advanced his brigade to within sight the Union fortifications but failed to overrun the Union lines due to the artillery fire and to Lovell ' s orders not to advance any further . During the Confederate retreat from Corinth , his brigade served as part of the rear guard and held off part of the Union army along the Tuscumbia River for an entire day . Once the army reached Ripley , Mississippi , Bowen brought charges against army commander Earl Van Dorn for failing to make a proper reconnaissance of the Union positions before the battle , " marching the troops in a hastily and disorderly manner " , failing to attack early on the second day , and neglecting the wounded . The court - martial cleared Van Dorn of all charges . Van Dorn was relieved of command in December and John C . Pemberton was put in his place commanding the Vicksburg , Mississippi garrison . Bowen was assigned to fortify the post of Grand Gulf with a brigade of infantry . Over the next several weeks , he constructed naval batteries along the river . After becoming convinced that Grant would land near Grand Gulf , he repeatedly requested Pemberton for additional supplies and men but each request was refused . At the Battle of Port Gibson , Bowen , despite being severely outnumbered , managed to delay Ulysses S . Grant ' s Army of the Tennessee for most of a day and he personally led two counterattacks . For his stand , he was promoted to major general on May 25 , 1863 , although his nomination was never approved by the Confederate Congress . Despite pleas for reinforcements , Pemberton and General Joseph E . Johnston failed to react quickly and Grant was able to resume his march through Mississippi . After uniting with the rest of Pemberton ' s army , Bowen was given a division . He next fought at the Battle of Champion Hill , where a counterattack by his division almost split Grant ' s army in half . When the rest of the army failed to support his attack , Bowen was forced to retreat . After battle Pemberton retreated to Vicksburg and he ordered Bowen to cover the retreat . He suffered defeat at the Battle of Big Black River Bridge on the Big Black River . He took part in the final defense of Vicksburg , helping in the defeat of Union assaults , but grew ill with dysentery during the siege . Early in the siege , Bowen tried to negotiate surrender with Grant , a friend from the antebellum days , but was turned away ; he did help ease the negotiations that led to the July 4 surrender . After being paroled , he succumbed to dysentery and died near Edwards , Mississippi . He was at first buried near where he died in Mississippi but his body was later transferred to the Confederate States Army Cemetery in Vicksburg . Following his death , he was praised by his contemporaries as being one of the best generals of the Western Theater and referred to by one biographer as being the real " Stonewall of the West " . Other contemporaries also believed that Bowen , " was not second to any Major General then in the Confederate Service " . An attempt after to war to erect a monument to Bowen failed due to a failure to raise the necessary funds .