Hello, everyone.

I'm looking for biographical information about Lt. Col. John Bowles, who served as an officer with the 1st Kansas Volunteer Infantry (Colored). I have reason to believe he is the grandfather of someone about whom I'm writing a biography. According to his descendants, the Col. John Bowles in my subject's family was a white Southern landowner who felt strongly enough about abolition to fight in the Union army as the commander (family embellishment?) of an African-American regiment, and who later wrote a novel. I now know that a Col. John Bowles wrote a book called "The Stormy Petrel," published in the early 1890s, which is a romance-adventure about the Civil War in the Indian Territory. According to one of my subject's descendants, the family's Colonel enlisted out of Virginia, but if that's so, I'm not sure how he would have ended up in a Kansas regiment.

So I have some intriguing pieces that I'm trying to put together. Is the Lt. Col. John Bowles of the 1st Kansas Volunteer Colored Infantry my subject's grandfather? And is he also the author of "The Stormy Petrel"? I would very much appreciate some help in making (or ruling out) these connections. I'm a film scholar, not a Civil War historian, and am not all that well versed in the subtleties of military research.

And to prove it, here's one piece of information that I've gleaned so far: According to the Adjutant General's report, Lt. Col. John Bowles was "Mus. out per S.O. No. 335. W.D., dated June 1, '65, to take effect Dec. 17, '64." I'm embarassed to say that I don't know what the abbreviations mean. (Standing Order? War Department?) Why would a mustering out order take effect six months before it's issued? Is it possible to find out where he was mustered out, or where he went after the war? Any way to chase him down through the novel (a bibliography of Civil War literature, perhaps)?

Your information and insights would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Susan Delson