When a prisoner of war took the Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America, it meant that he would never again take up arms against the United States, and he would be released. 

Letters from Confederate prisoners of war in northern prisons suggest that some of them were humanely treated and well fed. However, there were other prisons where their treatment was particularly atrocious such as Andersonville in Georgia and Elmira in New York. The reason was mainly because neither side was prepared for prisoners. They did not anticipate the war to last very long. Besides that, prison camps were the last considered when it came to equipment and supplies. 

Elijah was sent to Fort Columbus (now Governor's Island), New York Harbor, where he was received on September 19. He was "Released on Oath of Allegiance Sept. 23 to 25, 1863." Upon his release he did not go back to South Carolina. He remained in New Jersey.

For the next 35 years Elijah lived in New Jersey with Rachel, and then Louisa, and had eight children. These marriages are difficult to reconcile after reading in his letter of his continued love "until death," and the other promises he had made to Amanda.

There were some troubling problems that he probably realized he had to come to grips with. Maybe going "home" would help to resolve them. He had disappointed his wife, his family and his friends. He had deserted the army but more than that he had deserted his wife and children. He had been taken as prisoner of war. He took the Oath of Allegiance to the United States, in essence betraying his own state and nation, as well as his family and friends. He married when he was already married, making him a bigamist. 

Elijah told his New Jersey family he was going to visit relatives. He gave no indication they were his own children. His South Carolina family thought he had been killed in the war. During the years 1899 to 1914, he traveled to South Carolina, and throughout the South, and then back again to New Jersey. He made the round trip three times looking for his children and other relatives to give him a home. 

While he was in South Carolina, Elijah wrote letters to the family in New Jersey. The person carrying the letters to the Post Office asked who these people were and he said it was "just nobody." That person copied a name and address from an envelope, and wrote to find out who they were. And the connection was made, and the obvious was revealed. 

Elijah had no place to go. His own family rejected him. He always wanted his family to accept him. He became frustrated and became often gruff and mean. Family in both the North and the South wrote that he hit babies on the head, much to the dismay of the mothers. He kept moving around trying to find someone who would accept him and give him a home. 

He wrote, in a letter to his daughter, Mary, who had moved to Texas, "i have ben gone so long every place and every body is strange." Elijah had no close bond to his sons in South Carolina and a daughter, now in Texas, who had never known him. He wandered from cousin to cousin around the South Carolina and Georgia area, and back and forth to New Jersey, for over a decade. Three of Elijah's brothers had moved to Georgia, just north of Atlanta before the War Between the States. Elijah was living with a nephew, Pinkney in 1900. Since Elijah rarely spoke of the war and his life following the war, many cousins knew nothing of his family in New Jersey. 

He spent much of the time while he was in New Jersey with his son, Charles, and his family. He wrote to his son, Edward, in Cleveland about coming to live with him, but he never did. The last time he left New Jersey he wrote that he had to get out of there because he "was not wanted there." 

Mrs. David Bowen, who lived on Bowen St., Anderson, South Carolina in 1989 remembered Elijah from a time when she was about eight years old (about 1900). She said that Elijah was about 5 ft. 6 in. tall and about 135 lbs. with a white beard. He liked to sing a hymn called "Come Angel Band Around Me Stand." He liked to eat corn meal mush with ham gravy and hot biscuits. 

He hated flies and said, "I wish that fly was the size of a dog so I could kill it with this axe." Elijah left one day, in a winter snow storm, without a word to anyone. One of his grandsons, who knew him, said that Elijah was mean and cursed like a sailor. 

A thin man with a white beard he would walk from place to place with just a knapsack and a hymn book, from which he would sing songs. 

William Bowen, oldest of the New Jersey family, who at that time lived in Hartford, Connecticut, visited Anderson in the mid-1920s in search of Elijah. 

Since Elijah rarely spoke of the war, many cousins knew nothing of his family in the north until the visit from William. 

So what happened to Elijah? On January 26, 1914, he was at the home of his grandson Elijah Bowen (son of Whitner Bowen) He "came here from Texas wanting to go north." This is the last record of him. 

Harmon of Anderson, South Carolina said that he remembered that when he was young, Elijah stayed at his father's house sometime in 1914. One day Elijah left and they never heard from him again. 

Once when Elijah left South Carolina he said he was going back to some place the family thought was "Sunset." This puzzled his family. He probably said he was going to Somerset (which sounds something like "Sunset"). Somerset County, and maybe the city of Somerset, was his home in New Jersey. According to one account he apparently was trying to get back to his family in New Jersey by using the resources of the Salvation Army. He was 78 years old then. He was never heard from again.

They believed it was an honor to have been born in Carolina, though their ancestors had come from eastern Pennsylvania. They were Carolinians first, Southerners second, and after that they were citizens of the United States. But as citizens of the United States, what they had voted consent to form they could also vote to "unform." South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union on December 20, 1860. It was in South Carolina that fired the first shots of the War Between the States at Fort Sumter. 

Those Bowens were cotton farmers, political and religious. They were "complicated and simple and proud and religious and family-loving, a divorceless, Bible-reading murdersome lot of folks, rich in ancestry, steeped in tradition and emotionally quick on the trigger." 

They were forthright and outspoken, plain people with plain houses. The Bowens believed in self-reliance, self-improvement. Honor was the base of personal attitude toward life. It was not defeat they feared as much as loss of their intimate honor. 

The Bowens were always a restless kind of people. They could be caught up in work and pleasure and living and forget time and be contented, and "when the old restlessness will stir again, like a wind traveling, and we have to travel. High winds and lonesome sounds disturb us, something within makes us go. We must see what is going on." But it was also always good to know there was a place to come back to, a permanent home, maybe the greatest comfort of all on earth. 

They knew that they were their brother's keepers and it was their duty to promote the welfare of others about them. They would not attempt to buy cheap or sell dear, nor to profit by another man's labor. They stood humbly in the sight of God, but among the earthly they showed no meekness. They felt they were born the equal of any person. They were taught "we are ourselves, we are to be ourselves, and except to ourselves we owe no obligation to any one or anything except the Almighty, the government, and our fellow men. . . . We have never wished to be like everybody else. We have tried all our lives to be ourselves, to be different if the spirit so moved us." 

They always felt they alone were responsible to God for salvation. The Bible was the only absolute standard of faith.

Most accounts of Elijah show him to be a man with few principles. It doesn't seem as though he had much self-esteem. He appears cowardly, making excuses and finding reasons to not have to face difficulties. He looks like a malcontent. It seems as though he was afraid to fight and that he was afraid not to fight. He leaves the impression that he avoided responsibilities at home by joining the army. It appears that he escaped going into battle by going to the hospital. He deserted one unit to join another for the bonus, when he told his wife he was not going to. He falsified facts to his wife concerning his military commitment. 

He took the Oath of Allegiance, betraying his own army. He did not go home when they released from prison. He did not tell his New Jersey family about his family in South Carolina. He was a bigamist. It seems that he was always trying to conceal something. He apparently decided to avoid publicity and public records, because it has been very difficult to find records of marriage and birth certificates. I have yet to find very much in his life that I would care to try to live up to. 

But he was my great-grandfather and his biological seed is in me. I want to know whatever I can find about him. It is very interesting to me to note that I see in myself some characteristics observed in Elijah. 

My grandfather, also displayed some social and moral shortcomings. My father turned that all around when he became a born again Christian. This event turned his life in the right direction. He influenced his father, and later his children, to have a Godly direction in their lives. For this I will always be grateful, and thank God. 

Milford E. Bowen, Jr.

1858 Lawrence Whitner Bowen born (oldest child of Elijah and Amanda)(Elijah was 23 years old) 

30 Sep 1860 Mary Bowen born to Elijah and Amanda 

20 Dec 1860 South Carolina the first state to secede from Union. Pickens is named governor 

4 Feb 1861 CSA Constitution 

18 Feb 1861 Jefferson Davis inaugurated 

4 Mar 1861 Abraham Lincoln inaugurated 

12 Apr 1861 Fort Sumter 

May 1861 Richmond became CSA Capitol 

21 Jul 1861 1st Battle of Bull Run 

8 Dec 1861 Eugene Milford Bowen born to Elijah and Amanda 

17 Jan 1862 E.M. Bowen enlisted: Co. G 22nd SC Inf Pvt (Elijah was 26) 

Mar 1862 Beginning of Peninsular Campaign 

11 Apr 1862 Union took Fort Pulaski (Savannah) 

15 Apr 1862 Letter from Elijah to Amanda 

22 Apr 1862 Letter from Elijah to Amanda about bounty 

1 Jul 1862 Union driven from Peninsula 

30 Aug 1862 2nd Battle of Bull Run 

17 Sep 1862 Battle at Antietam 

17 Sep 1862 E.M. Bowen in hospital in Richmond 

24 Oct 1862 E.M. Bowen furloughed from hospital 

13 Dec 1862 Battle at Fredericksburg 

20 Dec 1862 New governor for SC: Brig. Gen. Bonham 

Jan 1863 Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation 

Jan 1863 E.M. Bowen deserted 

7 Feb 1863 Elijah M. Bowen enlisted: Co. H, 1 Regt SC Arty (27 yrs old) 

1 May 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville 

27 May 1863 Elijah M. Bowen on detached service to Morris Island 

Jul 1863 Battle of Gettysburg 

10 Jul 1863 Morris Island falls to Union forces 

10 Jul 1863 Elijah M. Bowen captured at Morris Island 

14 Jul 1863 Elijah M. Bowen listed as a prisoner of war turned over to the Provost Marshal at Hilton Head SC 

5 Sep 1863 Elijah M. Bowen as one of the prisoners of war in custody of Provost Marshall at Hilton Head SC who have taken the Oath of Allegiance. Released on oath without date of release and never received at Ft. Columbus (New York Harbor). 

19 Sep 1863 On roll of prisoners at Fort Columbus received from Hilton Head 

25 Nov 1863 Battle of Chattanooga 

1 Jan 1865 Elijah married Rachel Vanderhoof in NJ 

4 May 1866 Letter to Amanda from the Army stating they had no record of Elijah or his whereabouts if he were alive. 

19 Apr 1867 William Jeremiah Bowen born to Elijah and Rachel (Elijah was 32 years old.) 

30 May 1870 Charles Ephraim Bowen born to Elijah and Rachel 

1872 Amanda died 

17 Jan 1874 John Henry Bowen born to Elijah and Rachel 

23 May 1877 Edward Ellsworth Bowen born to Elijah and Rachel 

26 Feb 1878 Rachel died (Elijah was 42 years old) 

1878 - 1880 Elijah married Louisa May 

1880 Martha Bowen born to Elijah and Louisa 

Nov 1886 Florence Bowen born to Elijah and Louisa 

June 1892 Isabella Bowen born to Elijah and Louisa 

June 1896 Walter Bowen born to Elijah and Louisa 

1896 - 1900 Elijah and Louisa divorced 

1899 Elijah went back to SC for the first time since the war 

1900 Elijah was living with a nephew Pinckney in GA 

15 Jan 1905 Elijah living with Charles Bowen in Wortendyke NJ 

25 Feb 1905 Elijah living with Charles Bowen in Wortendyke NJ (Had been there for "some time.") 

1 Aug 1905 Elijah living with Charles in NJ. He wrote to his son Edward in Cleveland from there. 

1 Jan 1907 Elijah had been at Charles' for 4 or 5 days over Christmas of 1906 and left 

Nov 1912 Elijah returned to Charles' after an absence of about 4 years to go south 

8 Apr 1913 Elijah left Charles' who never heard from or about him again 

26 Jan 1914 Elijah was at the home of his grandson Elijah Bowen (son of Whitner Bowen) He was 78 years old. 

My father was Milford Edward Bowen, Sr., born in Cleveland OH 31 May 1905. He died in Battle Creek MI on 25 Jul 1988 from colon cancer and heart failure, and was buried at Lawrence MI. He spent his entire life as a minister in what is now known as the United Methodist Church. When he died he had 19 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren. 

My mother was Merva Christine White Bowen, born in Chesning MI on 23 Apr 1907. She died in Palm City FL on 10 Mar 1975 and was buried in Lawrence MI. My father remarried on 23 Aug 1980 to Ruth Walkinshaw, who still lives in Battle Creek. 

My grandfather was Edward Ellsworth Bowen born at Lincoln Park, NJ 23 May 1877. His grave- stone says 1879, which was just a guess at that time. He never knew the year of his birth. We now know he was born 23 May 1877. His father was Elijah Milfred Bowen. His mother died 26 Feb 1878. Her name was unknown until recently. It was Rachel Vanderhoof. 

Edward died 22 Feb 1944 while visiting our home in Carson City MI. He died of cardiac arrest complicated by anemia. He would not go to a doctor. He was buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Lansing MI. 

Edward married Elizabeth Frey from Mainz, Germany, born 1 Jan 1882. They were married in Cleveland OH on 7 Dec 1904, five months before my father, Milford Edward Bowen, was born. They had two children, my father and Emily Clara, who married George Aaron. Emily and George still live in Venice FL. In a letter from Alice Bowen (John's wife) to Elizabeth (Edward's wife) in 1909 there is reference to Elizabeth having a third child. My father (Milford Sr) remembered seeing her with an infant when she visited him in an orphanage where she had taken him for adoption. (His father intervened in the adoption and raised his children by himself.) 

I have in my possession a copy of the birth certificate of Alice Ethel Bowen, born to Edward Ellsworth Bowen and Elizabeth Frey Bowen on April 5, 1909, at St. Clair Hospital in Cleveland OH (Cuyahoga County). She is listed as their third child. 

Of course this means that my father and Aunt Emily had another sister they never knew about, until now. It had only been suggested in the letter mentioned above. When Edward and Elizabeth divorced in 1910/11 the children would have been ages 5 or 6, 3 or 4 & 1 or 2. They stayed with their mother a short time. Emily stayed there longer. She told me there never was a baby around. 

Elizabeth remarried. Emily said she visited her mother when she was about 17. Alice would have been about 15. There were 2 small children but no child the age Alice would have been. 

What happened to Alice? Did she die? Was she put up for adoption? Or what? Maybe someday we will know. 

Edward said his occupation was head waiter, or building superintendent, or insurance salesman. On Alice's birth certificate lists his occupation as "Collector." This probably refers to his job with Prudential Life Ins. Co. Insurance companies used to have collectors who did house-to-house collection of the insurance premiums weekly. 

He was also known to have "bummed around" the Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit area. He never learned to read or write very well. His formal schooling reached about 4th grade level. 

Edward and Elizabeth divorced in 1910 or 1911. She remarried to a Mr. Morris, had two children Georgeana and Haliburton? (nicknamed "Hap" or "Happy"). She died about 1960 probably in Albuquerque NM.

There are plenty of records of soldiers on both sides who allowed themselves to be captured. It allowed them to avoid the confrontation of the battlefield. 

--MEB