After two years Bowen returned home and began practice of law in
Gallatin, Tennessee and soon gained prominence. He was a colonel in the Continental Army. Bowen was elected to the
Thirteenth Congress, which lasted from March 4, 1813 to March 3, 1815, as a
Democratic-Republican. He then continued to engage in the practice of law in Gallatin until his death there. In 1815 Bowen married Elizabeth Allen. They had four children; two who died young, and two who reared large families. The eldest, Mary, married Judge Jacob S. Yerger of Greenville, Miss. a member of the famous Yerger family formerly of Lebanon. They had three sons killed in the Confederate army. Grant Allen Bowen married Amanda Yerger. They left two children John H. Jr., and Mary. ==Death and legacy==