Countelow M. Bowles (born c. 1840) was a cooper, soldier, and state legislator.[1] He served in the Mississippi House of Representatives and Mississippi Senate.[2] He was a Republican and African American.[3][4][5]
Born in about 1840 in Virginia he lived in Cleveland for a few years leading up to the American Civil War.[6]
Bowles joined the 38th United States Colored Infantry Regiment just before the end of the American Civil War in March 1865.[7] He was soon promoted to Corporal before being discharged the following year.[1]
He was elected onto the board of the Bolivar County police in 1869.[6]
Bowles was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives for the 1870-1871 session, and then served in the Mississippi Senate from 1872 until 1874 and again 1877-1878.[6] He had been removed from his position in 1874 as he had not been in Mississippi for over four months.[8]
See also[]
- African-American officeholders during and following the Reconstruction era
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Countelow M. Bowles – Against All Odds". https://much-ado.net/legislators/legislators/c-m-bowles/.
- ↑ The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi. Department of Archives and History. 1904. p. 155. https://books.google.com/books?id=V1WjAAAAMAAJ&dq=C+M+Bowles&pg=PA155.
- ↑ History of Bolivar County, Mississippi. Reprint Company. 1976. ISBN 9780871522306. https://books.google.com/books?id=5AQSAQAAIAAJ&q=senator+bowles+mississippi+bolivar.
- ↑ Reconstruction in Mississippi. Macmillan. 1901. https://books.google.com/books?id=W4ATAAAAYAAJ&dq=senator+bowles+mississippi+bolivar&pg=PA269.
- ↑ From Cotton Field to Schoolhouse: African American Education in Mississippi, 1862-1875. UNC Press Books. April 2012. ISBN 9781469601335. https://books.google.com/books?id=ROPkbu5VjtgC&dq=senator+bowles+mississippi+bolivar&pg=PA181.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Foner, Eric (1 August 1996) (in en). Freedom's Lawmakers: A Directory of Black Officeholders During Reconstruction. LSU Press. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-8071-2082-8. https://books.google.com/books?id=oO62QgAACAAJ. Retrieved 11 December 2025.
- ↑ "Civil War Enlistment Record – Against All Odds". https://much-ado.net/legislators/legislators/c-m-bowles/bowlesmilitary/.
- ↑ "Exit Bowles". The Clarion-Ledger. 9 April 1874. pp. 2. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109295530/exit-bowles/.
The original article can be found at Countelow M. Bowles and the edit history here.