DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Jesse B. Bowman was born in Tennessee, somewhere around 1785, and if you'd watched his life unfold across the years, you might've guessed it was always heading somewhere big — though probably not somewhere quite that final.
By 1811 he was up in Illinois, where his son Joseph T. Bowman came into the world. A family man, a moving man — that's Jesse Bowman.
Illinois gave way to Ouichita County, Arkansas, and when that country started filling up with neighbors, the Bowmans moved on to Hempstead County. Some folks plant roots; some folks just keep looking for a little more horizon. In the 1830s, Jesse B.
Bowman loaded up again — this time alongside his brother and other family members — and they all came rolling into this corner of Texas. They settled in, they qualified for a league and labor of land, and for a spell, things must've looked just fine. Then came February 23, 1836.
That was the day Jesse Bowman answered the roll call at the Alamo garrison in Bexar. He was listed as a private and permanent volunteer, serving under the command of Jim Bowie. Now, you already know how this story ends — most everybody does — but knowing the ending doesn't make the telling any lighter.
On March 6, Jesse Bowman lost his life at the fall of the Alamo. His body, along with the bodies of the other Alamo defenders, was burned by the Mexican Army under General Santa Anna. A man who'd crossed Tennessee, Illinois, Arkansas, and Texas looking for the right place to stand — he found it.
He just didn't come home from it.
What the marker says
Alamo defender Jesse B. Bowman was born in Tennessee about 1785. By 1811 he was living in Illinois where his son Joseph T. Bowman was born that year. Bowman and his family settled in Ouichita County, Arkansas, until it became more populated and they moved to Hempstead County. In the 1830s Jesse B. Bowman and his family moved with his brother and other family members to this area of Texas, where they soon qualified for a league and labor of land. On February 23, 1836, Bowman answered the roll call at the Alamo garrison in Bexar. He was listed as a private and permanent volunteer under the command of Jim Bowie. On March 6, Jesse Bowman lost his life at the fall of the Alamo. His body and those of the other Alamo defenders were burned by the Mexican Army under General Santa Anna. (1999)