 Born on December 10, 1839, in Yazoo City, Yazoo County, Mississippi, Boarman lost his parents in infancy and was raised by relatives in Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana.He attended the common schools of Shreveport and Kentucky Military Institute in Franklin, Kentucky, graduated from Kentucky University (now Transylvania University) in 1860 and read law in 1860.At the outbreak of the American Civil War, he enlisted in the Confederate States Army and served as lieutenant of the Caddo Rifles.