Home : Armed Forces : The Army :

Jim Bowie

James Bowie (1796 - March 6, 1836), aka Jim Bowie, was a 19th century pioneer and soldier who took a prominent part in the Texas Revolution and was killed at the Battle of the Alamo. Stories of his frontier spirit has made him one of the most colorful folk heroes of Texas history. Jim Bowie's grandfather, also named James, came to the British American colonies in 1742. In 1745 he married Sarah Whitehead and then moved to Georgia. They had a son named Rezin, who was named for a warrior king of Israel and who fought in the American Revolution. During the revolution, Rezin marries Elve Jones in 1782 and had ten children. They left Georgia and headed to present day Tennessee. On September 8, 1793 Rezin Bowie Jr. was born. Rezin Sr. then moved his family to Kentucky where James Bowie was born on or about April 10, 1796. Another son, Stephen, was born a year later.

Bowie was born in Kentucky but spent most of his childhood in Louisiana. He was the child of Rezin Bowie and Elve Ap-Catesby Jones, who had previously settled in what is now called Catahoula Parish. During his early years, Bowie did a lot of hunting and fishing, and popular folklore says that he roped alligators, tamed wild horses, and trapped bears. In 1803 Rezin Sr. moved his family to St. Laundry Parish, Louisiana. The brothers James and Rezin Jr. signed up in the Louisiana militia company of Col. Colman Martin to fight the British at New Orleans. James and his brother arrived too late, the battle was over. The Treaty of Ghent officially ended the War of 1812. Rezin married Margaret F. Neville in 1814 and the couple had five children. Their father, Rezin Bowie Sr. died in 1821. Rezin would die on January 17, 1841.

After the war, Bowie and his brother headed to the Texas coast and met up with the infamous French pirate Jean Lafitte to buy and sell illegal slaves. The U.S. government had passed a law in 1808 outlawing the importation of slaves into the U.S. James and Rezin, Jr. became quite wealthy from the several trades that happened afterwards, stopping when they had made $65,000, a considerable sum at that time. After quitting the illegal slave importation business, Bowie moved on to illegal land speculation. He settled in Rapides Parish, Louisiana in 1814.

During the period before the Texas Revolution, Bowie had all sorts of adventures, including his famous search for the silver mines of San Saba, which proved unsuccessful. Also during this time, he became embroiled in many fights and was known for his fiery temper. Bowie is known for the style of knife he carried, which came to be known as the "Bowie knife". The Bowie knife designed by Colonel James "Jim" Bowie and was originally created by James Black. The historical Bowie knife was not a single design, but was a series of knives improved several times by Jim Bowie over the years.

The shape and style of blade was chosen so that the Bowie knife could serve usefully as a camp and hunting tool as well as a weapon. The most famous version of the Bowie knife was designed by Jim Bowie and presented to Arkansas blacksmith James Black in the form of a carved wooden model in December of 1830. Black produced the knife ordered by Bowie, and at the same time created another based on Bowie's original design but with a sharpened edge on the curved top edge of the blade. Black offered Bowie his choice and Bowie chose the modified version.

Bowie returned, with his knife, to Texas and was involved in a knife fight with three men who had been hired to kill him. Bowie killed the three erstwhile assassins with his new knife and the fame of the knife was established. Legend holds that one man was almost decapitated, the second was disemboweled, and the third had his skull split open.

Bowie's first famous display of courage was participating in a brawl near Natchez, Mississippi where several people died and he himself was wounded. This fight, called the Sandbar Fight, snowballed from a duel between Samuel Levi Wells III and Dr. Thomas Maddox. The two men shot at each other with no ill effect. An onlooker, named Alexander Crain, fired at another bystander, Samuel Cuny, who was hit. Bowie then shot at Crain, but missed hitting him. A local banker named Norris Wright fired and hit Bowie in the lower chest. Bowie, ignoring the injury, was said to have chased Wright with his Bowie Knife. During the skirmish, several people assaulted Bowie with their knives, but Bowie with his long blade stabbed them back. It was here that he got his reputation for being a superb knife-fighter. Not surprisingly, his large blade became known as very formidable weapon. Men all over Texas were asking blacksmiths to make knives for them that were like Bowie's.

Bowie's personal life was fraught with tragedy. He was rumored to be engaged and married to Cecelia Wells (1805-1829), but she suddenly died on September 7, 1829, just two weeks before their wedding was scheduled. Bowie's mother and brothers had settled on 2,100 acres in Bayou La Fourche near Thibodaux, Louisiana. On September 30, 1830 Bowie moved to Texas and was granted Mexican citizenship under Decree No. 159. Once in Texas, he met and married 18 year-old Maria Ursula de Veramendi, daughter of Juan Marin de Veramendi-mayor of San Antonio, and goddaughter of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna on April 25, 1831 in the San Fernando Church in San Antonio. Bowie was 35 yrs old.

The couple had two children: Maria Elve on April 18, 1832 and James Veramendi Bowie on July 18, 1833. During a outbreak of cholera in Monclova, Bowie's wife and two children died in September 1833. The entire Veramendi family died too as well as Stephen F. Austin's brother.

Bowie retained the rank of colonel from the time he served in a Texas Ranger company. He was never officially appointed to this rank by the provisional government of Texas. He saw action at the Battle of Concepcion on 28 October 1835 alongside James Fannin and took part during the siege of Bexar (December 1835) as Austin's aide-de-camp. Bowie was also engaged in the controversial Grass Fight on 26 November 1835. After the siege was over, Bowie almost led the doomed Matamoros Expedition. On 19 January 1836, Bowie arrived at San Antonio with Sam Houston's orders to take what munitions he could and evacuate the crumbling former mission. Bowie decided to stay and fight along with Col. J.C. Neill. On 12 February 1836, Bowie was elected commander of the all-volunteer forces within the Alamo and William B. Travis had the command of the regular army. Bowie became ill on or about 24 February and handed over total command to Travis. However, according to a young boy who survived the Alamo massacre, Enrique Esparza, the ailing Bowie occasionally had his bed brought out into the main plaza in order to encourage his men.

It was after Bowie's illness, and his confinement to bed, that one of the most famous pieces of folklore in Texas history occurred, involving Bowie, and his being brought into the main plaza in his bed. This was the "line in the dust" story, which supposedly took place prior to the last days of the Alamo. Dr. William Pierce writes in "Attack!" that "As the dusk gathered in the early evening of March 5, 1836, William Travis mustered the 183 men under his command on the dusty plaza of the Alamo, a fortress-like former Spanish mission. As the assembled Texans listened intently, the lanky officer outlined the situation. He made explicit what everyone already knew: there was little hope of surviving the onslaught of the 4,000-strong Mexican army which surrounded the fortress. They could hope for no further relief. Then he did something strange. As the men watched curiously, Travis drew his sword and traced a line in the dust along the front of the first rank." The story went on to say he offered the men a choice. If there was anyone among them who had been deceived as to the gravity of their circumstances – if there was anyone who wanted to make a break for it – they might leave without infringing their honor. But let those who would stand and die with Travis cross the line. While a few men lept over at once, the remainder did not come until Bowie, lying ill in a cot, cried out to be carried over, Once this happened, the rest came at once. This account is carried in numerous Texas histories, including Steven Kellerman's The Yellow Rose of Texas, the Journel of American Folklore, and numerous other histories of the time. A moving account of this "line in the dust" story and Bowie's being carried over in a cot can be found online in a city guide to San Antonio and the Alamo shrine. True or not, it reflects the reputation for enormous personal courage which Bowie carried with him his entire adult life, and into death.

At the siege's end Bowie was confined to his room near the south main gate of the three-acre Alamo compound and was either already dead or near death when the Mexican troops entered his room during the final assault of the Alamo on 6 March 1836. However, there are numerous accounts in Texas history that he fought from his bed, (firing pistols at the Mexican soldiers entering his room), even though he was too weak to stand.

top of page

back a page