Alf Bowden was a Missouri Unionist who served with a unit of "Redleg" irregulars during the American Civil War.
Biography[]
Alf Bowden was born in Lexington, Lafayette County, Missouri, the son of George Bowden. While George father was an Unconditional Unionist on the eve of the American Civil War and refused to take up arms against his fellow Southerners, Alf joined the Union Army and serve in a unit of irregular "Redlegs" on the Kansas-Missouri border. In 1862, he was captured by the Confederate 1st Missouri Irregulars, but his former neighbor Jake Roedel arranged for him and three other Union prisoners to be exchanged for two captured Confederate bushwhackers. On his release, Bowden headed straight back to Lexington and murdered Jake's father Otto Roedel, despite Otto being a Unionist.
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