James Bowie

James "Jim" Bowie (1796-6 March 1836) was a colonel of the Texas Army during the Texas Revolution and the early Wild West era. A legendary brawler known for his invention of the "Bowie knife", Bowie was killed during the Battle of the Alamo in 1836.

Biography

James Bowie was born in 1796 in Logan County, Kentucky, United States, the son of an American Revolutionary War veteran and slaveholder. In 1802, his family moved to Louisiana, which was then under the rule of Spain. Bowie became fluent in French and Spanish in addition to English, and he learned how to survive on the frontier. Bowie learned how to rope alligators from a Native American friend, and he sold planks and lumber for a living during the 1810s. In 1819, he joined James Long's failed attempt to create an independent republic of Texas, leaving for Louisiana before the Spanish Army quelled the uprising. In 1827, he became a legend for using the famous "Bowie knife", a long and thick knife, in the "Sandbar fght" against a sheriff. He was wounded, but he managed to kill his opponent and become a celebrity.

Settler in Texas

Bowie at the Alamo in 1836

In 1828, Bowie decided to move to Texas with his friend Finlay McNab and his son Otto McNab at the invitation of Zave Campbell, who worked for empresario Stephen F. Austin. Bowie converted to Catholicism and became a Mexican citizen in 1830, building cotton and wood mills in Saltillo, Coahuila. However, he became involved with the Texan independence movement in 1832, taking part in a skirmish with the Mexican Army at Nacogdoches. In 1835, he joined the Texas Army and led guerrilla warfare against the Mexican Army, defeating the Mexicans at Concepcion.

However, he was not allowed to raise a regiment, as he was not an officer. His rise to power was also blocked by Stephen Austin, who did not believe that a drunkard like Bowie should be in command of troops due to his overconfidence. In March 1836, Bowie became one of the leaders of the Texans at the Alamo mission in San Antonio, and Bowie was one of the men involved in its defense. However, Bowie was struck down by fever, and he was forced to stay on a cot, using only his knife for self-defense.

When the Mexicans stormed the Alamo, he stabbed a few of the attackers to death with the Bowie knife before being impaled by several bayonets and being shot repeatedly in the head.

Gallery:

Jim Bowie fighting off the Mexican Army.

Jim Bowie moments before his last stand.

Jim Bowie being killed at the Alamo.

Jim Bowie circa February, 1836.