James Bowie (1795-1836)

Known for his famous "Bowie knife" and a sometimes reckless adventurer, Jim Bowie is now immortalized as one of the true folk heroes in early Texas.

Bowie was born in Kentucky in 1796. While still very young, he moved with his family, first to Missouri, then in 1802 to Louisiana, where he spent most of his youth. It was there that he first acquired a reputation for his bold and fearless disposition.

In 1827, Bowie participated in a bloody brawl near Natchez, Mississippi, where several men were killed and Bowie was wounded. Rezin Bowie, his brother, wrote he had the first Bowie Knife made at Avoyelles, Louisiana, for his brother James to defend himself, and that James used the Bowie knife in the sandbar duel.

After recovering from the wounds he received in the sanbar fight the following year, he moved to Texas.

Before the revolution in Texas, Bowie took part in many adventures. He spent considerable time cultivating friendships with Indians in his search for elusive silver and gold reported to be hidden in the interior of Texas. By some accounts, he is said to have found the fabled San Saba mines, also known as the Bowie mines, near the geographic center of present day Texas.

In the Texas Revolution, Bowie was a leading participant at the Battle of Concepcion and in the Grass Fight near San Antonio. He was in command of a volunteer force in San Antonio when William Travis arrived with regular army troops. The two men shared authority during much of the Siege of the Alamo, which caused some personal friction. But pneumonia disabled Bowie, and he was confined to his cot at the time of his death when the Alamo fell on March 6, 1836.