Iron MIstress

The original Bowie knife was two inches wide and a quarter inch thick with the blade being about 12 inches long.   The back of the blade had a soft metal inlaid to catch the opponent's blade during a scrape.   Razor sharp was the top edge of the clip point.   In order to protect the hand a brass quillon was in place. 

It Was During the Riverboat Gambling Heydays that an Interesting Story Occurred in 1832

On a Mississippi steamboat four men were playing poker, three of which were professional gamblers, and the fourth, a hapless traveler from Natchez. Soon, the young naïve man had lost all his money to the rigged game. Devastated, the Natchez man planned to throw himself into the river; however, an observer prevented his suicide attempt, and then joined the card game with the "sharps.”

In the middle of a high stakes hand, the stranger caught one of the professionals cheating and pulled a knife on the gambler, yelling, "Show your hand! If it contains more than five cards I shall kill you!” When he twisted the cheater’s wrist, six cards fell to the table. Immediately, the stranger took the $70,000 pot, returning $50,000 to the Natchez man and keeping $20,000 for his trouble.

Shocked, the Natchez man stuttered, "Who the devil are you, anyway?” to which the stranger responded, "I am James Bowie.”

Jim Bowie
1796 - 1836

 Jim Bowie and the Bowie knife have almost become synonymous.   In the early 1800's it was common place for men to carry a knife as a sidearm but it wasn't until 1830 that the famous Bowie knife was made and forever carved a niche in history.

     The actual making of the Bowie knife was a progression of knife designs.   The first knife was claimed to be designed by his brother Rezin in Avoyelles Parish in Louisiana and made by a blacksmith Jesse Clift in order to protect his younger brother from some of the company he was keeping.

     This knife was referred to by many as Bowie's butcher knife and was used at the Sandbar Fight.   Another rendition of the story according to Jim's older brother John was that a blacksmith named Snowden, made a hunting knife for Jim which was used during the duel.   Either way the prototype and the legend had begun.

     In 1827 the famous duel occurred across from Natchez, Mississippi on a Mississippi River sandbar.   As a second in the duel, Bowie found himself in the middle of the ruckus armed with a butcher knife.   In the events that followed Bowie found himself badly beaten, shot and stabbed but before him laid one man cut to ribbons and another one disemboweled.

     In 1830 in Texas, Jim Bowie armed with the famous Bowie knife made by James Black, was attacked by three men hired to kill him.   The stories flourished as Bowie wielded the heavy knife against his attackers.   In the end, one man was almost beheaded, another was disemboweled and the third had his skull split open. 
 

Vidalia Sandbar Fight - One of the Earliest Records of Jim Bowie Using his Renowned Knife

Bowie was a slave trader and land speculator who became an instant legend when he and his ferocious butcher knife emerged victorious from a fight in 1827.

Jim Bowie's Vidalia Sandbar Fight, Account in Niles Weekly Register, November 17, 1827. Under the headline of "Terrible Rencontre" the Register recounts an "eye witness" account of the events that defined the legend of Jim Bowie and the knife that bears his name.

Long standing political and personal animosities led to a September 1827 duel by Samuel Wells and Thomas Maddox on a sandbar in the Mississippi River between the states of Louisiana and Mississippi. Both men brought their pistols and their seconds for the confrontation. After the requisite formalities, both men fired without anyone being hit. Another shot was fired by the men, again, without the bullets finding their mark. The duel ended without bloodshed, but the assembled onlookers, men loyal to both Wells and Maddox, drew guns on each other and shots were fired.

One of the men firing was Jim Bowie, a friend of Wells. In the ensuing violence Bowie was hit in the side and killed another man. Bowie shouted, "You have shot me, I'll kill you if I can" and lunged at his attackers. He then, "...drew a large butcher-knife and endeavored to put his threat into action." Two men set upon Bowie, one with a gun and the other with a sword cane. The newspaper account states, "Bowie stabbed Wright through the arm in two places, he then left him and went to Alfred Blanchard --- made three stabs at him, one of which struck him in the left side: he then returned to Wright, and gave him a stab in the breast, which went to his heart --- he died instantly."

James Bowie

          Davy Crockett

The Century Magazine in 1884
"The last one of the garrison went down under the violence of the Mexicans. Colonel Bowie, who was sick in bed at the fall of the fort, fired from his bed until his last shot was gone and he had a wall of dead about him; the Mexicans dared not approach, but shot him from a window, and, as the enemy came to his bed, nerving himself for a last effort, the dying Bowie plunged the deadly knife which bears his name to the vitals of the nearest foe, and expired. The original Bowie knife was never found.

General Castrillon took Colonel Crockett, who stood alone in an angle of the fort, the barrel of his shattered gun in his right hand, in his left his huge bowie-knife, dripping blood. There was a fearful gash across his head, and at his feet a cordon of nearly twenty foemen, dead and dying. His captor, who was brave and not cruel, took his silvery-haired prisoner to Santa Anna, who flew into a rage, and at his command a file of soldiers shot down the dauntless Crockett. Santa Anna had given the most imperative orders that no prisoners should be taken".

General Antonio López de Santa Anna

What exactly happened on March 6, 1836 at the Alamo?
In 90 bloody minutes, the battle for the dominion of the Alamo was over. Various published and unpublished accounts of the battle provided by survivors from both sides, tell of the aftermath of the fighting. Within each of these accounts there is a wealth of conflicting information.

Jim Bowie's Death Fight at the Alamo

When Bowie's mother was informed of his death, she calmly stated, "I'll wager no wounds were found in his back."

On the final day of the 13-day siege, legend claims that it was Crockett who stole into Bowie’s room and gave the sick man two pistols to be used for defense.