The History of the 13th Regiment Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry reports "Death of Benjamine and Reece Bowers: They were the sons of Rev. Valentine Bowers, a highly respected Baptist minister. They had two brothers, William C. and Joseph P. Bowers. Both father and sons were Union men. Reese and Benjamin were active in piloting Union men and refugees to Ellis. On the day previous to their death they learned that there were refugees who were wanting a man to pilot them. These men left their homes in the Neck, crossed the mountain to a point near the Fish Spring. A company of rebel soldiers had made a raid down in the vicinity of Elizabethton, and opened fire on them as they ran towards the hills near by. The soldiers pursued and overtook them. It was told to us that Reese prayed and begged for his life, while Benjamin fought and cursed them with his dying breath; but the fate of each was the same." Reece had married Mary Johnson in 1845 and had seven children. His burial in the Bowers Cemetery, Charity Hill Road, Carter, TN is confirmed by an index of the USGenWeb Tennessee Tombstone Transcription Project.
The History of the 13th Regiment Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry reports "Death of Benjamine and Reece Bowers: They were the sons of Rev. Valentine Bowers, a highly respected Baptist minister. They had two brothers, William C. and Joseph P. Bowers. Both father and sons were Union men. Reese and Benjamin were active in piloting Union men and refugees to Ellis. On the day previous to their death they learned that there were refugees who were wanting a man to pilot them. These men left their homes in the Neck, crossed the mountain to a point near the Fish Spring. A company of rebel soldiers had made a raid down in the vicinity of Elizabethton, and opened fire on them as they ran towards the hills near by. The soldiers pursued and overtook them. It was told to us that Reese prayed and begged for his life, while Benjamin fought and cursed them with his dying breath; but the fate of each was the same." Reece had married Mary Johnson in 1845 and had seven children. His burial in the Bowers Cemetery, Charity Hill Road, Carter, TN is confirmed by an index of the USGenWeb Tennessee Tombstone Transcription Project.
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