James Bowie

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James "Jim" Bowie

James "Jim" Bowie (born April 10, 1796 in Kentucky , † March 6, 1836 in Fort Alamo , San Antonio , Republic of Texas ) was an American pioneer and soldier in the 19th century. He became known for his participation in the Texan War of Independence , in the course of which he fell during the siege of the Alamo Mission at the Battle of Alamo .

He was born in Kentucky and spent most of his life in Louisiana before moving to Texas to join the Texas Revolution . Bowie is also known for the knife he carried with him, the " Bowie knife ". He is revered as one of the heroes in a variety of tales and stories about the Wild West.

Early years

Bowie was born in Logan County , Kentucky (now Simpson County ), but spent most of his childhood in Louisiana. He was the son of Rezin (or Reason) Bowie and Elve Ap-Catesby Jones (or Johns). The family moved to Madrid, what is now Missouri, in 1800 before settling in Catahoula Parish , Louisiana, in 1801 . Eight years later, Rezin bought 256 acres of land on the Vermilion River in Attakapas County .

Bowie spent a lot of time hunting and fishing. According to tradition, he is said to have caught alligators with a lasso, tamed wild horses and caught bears. As a young man in Avoyelles Parish and Rapides Parish , he is said to have brought logs through the bayous to the market as a raftsman .

During the war of 1812 , Bowie and his brother Rezin Jr. joined forces. the Louisiana militia under the command of Colman Martin , in which they fought against the British near New Orleans . After the war ended, they initially stayed in New Orleans and did not return home until 1815. Although the US Congress had officially banned the import of slaves seven years earlier , the Bowie brothers got into the slave trade. They illegally bought slaves from pirate Jean Laffite and resold them in St. Landry Parish . When they had earned $ 65,000, they stopped the slave trade and began speculating on land.

Bowie knife

In addition to his sudden wealth, Bowie was also known for his unbridled temperament. In 1826 he challenged Norris Wright, the sheriff of Rapides Parish, to a duel . Wright was the local banker in addition to serving as sheriff and had refused Bowie a loan. With luck, Bowie survived the duel as the bullet fired from close range was deflected. His brother Rezin Jr. then gave him a large knife for safety, which Bowie always carried with him from now on. This knife, later known as the Bowie knife , had a very large and wide blade, 23.5 cm long and about 4 cm wide.

The following year, Bowie received renewed attention when he was involved with his knife in a fight known as the "Sandbar Fight" on a sandbar near Natchez , Mississippi . Several people lost their lives, and Bowie was also injured. The dispute had its origins in a tie between Samuel Levi Wells III and Dr. Thomas Maddox, whose shots hadn't hit. A spectator of the duel then shot and met another spectator. Then Bowie shot the shooter, but missed him. Norris Wright, who was also present, shot Bowie to settle old bills and this time hit him in the stomach area. Despite his injury, Bowie attacked Wright with his knife. Several other people in attendance came to the aid of Wright with their knives, and a knife fight ensued, which Bowie was able to win by the size of his knife. He injured and killed some of his opponents. This fight cemented Bowie's reputation as a fine knife fighter in the south, and soon many men at the blacksmith's shop wanted a Bowie-style knife to be made.

Late 1820s

In the late 1820s, Bowie focused primarily on his real estate businesses in southern Louisiana and settled in New Orleans. In 1829 he became engaged to Cecilia Wells, but she died two weeks before the wedding on September 29, 1829 in Alexandria . Together with his brother Rezin jr. He then built a 720 hectare sugar plantation in Acadia near Thibodaux , on which they operated the state's first steam-powered sugar mill.

Texas

On January 1, 1830, Bowie and his friend Isaac Donoho left Thibodaux for Texas . They accepted an invitation from Thomas F. McKinney , one of the first colonists in Texas. Records show that they stopped over in Nacogdoches at Jared E. Groce's farm on the Brazos River. Their way led them on via San Felipe to San Antonio . There they settled and Bowie started real estate business again. He also tried to supplement his income by gambling, but often only accumulated debts. In late 1830, Bowie converted to Catholicism and was baptized. He also became a Mexican citizen and bought a textile factory in Coahuila . The following year he married Ursula Maria de Veramendi, daughter of the Texas governor, after misrepresenting his fortune and age.

San Saba Mine

Shortly after his marriage, Bowie heard the story of the forgotten Los Almagres Mine , which was supposed to be somewhere west of San Antonio near the ruins of the Santa Cruz de San Sabá Mission. He quickly obtained permission from the Mexican government to lead an expedition to Indian land to look for the legendary silver mine. On November 2nd, he broke up with his brother Rezin Jr. and nine men to San Sabá. Six miles from their destination they noticed that they were being followed by a group of belligerent Indians. They stopped and wanted to negotiate with the Indians. This failed, and Bowie and his men had to fight for their lives for the next thirteen hours. When the Indians finally withdrew, Bowie had lost only one man, while over 40 Indians were killed and 30 others wounded. Bowie withdrew to San Antonio to start another attempt from there. In January 1832 he went out again with a larger group. After two and a half months of unsuccessful search, he had to cancel the expedition again.

Texas' independence

Meanwhile, tensions had arisen between the largely US population of Texas and the Mexican authorities. As Bowie in July 1832 in Natchez ( Mississippi ) was, he heard that the Mexican commander of the Texas Nacogdoches , José de las Piedras , called on all residents to surrender their weapons. Thereupon Bowie returned to Texas and led 300 armed men to Nacogdoches, where he besieged the Mexican garrison . In the ensuing battle , Piedras lost 33 men, and the Mexican army then fled under cover of night. Bowie and 18 of his companions pursued them, arrested them and brought them back to Nacogdoches as prisoners. Piedras, however, had managed to escape.

The following fall, Bowie was recovering from yellow fever in Natchez when he learned that his wife Ursula, their daughter, and their parents had died of cholera . As a result, Bowie became a drinker .

General Santa Anna

After the Mexican government passed new laws to allow property speculation again in 1834 , Bowie returned to the area. He was appointed by the government as land manager and marketed the area that John T. Mason had bought. His activity ended in May 1835 when General Santa Anna overturned the Coahuila -Texas government and ordered all Texans who did business in the Monclova area to be imprisoned. Bowie was one of them. Bowie fled Mexico and went to the San Felipe -Nacogdoches region of Texas.

Santa Anna was preparing for war and sent large troops to Texas, where the Americans now also called for war. Bowie worked with William Travis , leader of the war advocates, to find more supporters. He even visited some Indian villages in East Texas and tried to persuade the tribes to fight Mexico.

In September 1835, Stephen F. Austin was appointed commander of the volunteer army that would fight for Texas independence . Bowie joined this army with some friends from Louisiana and was made a colonel by Austin . On behalf of Austin and General Sam Houston , who commanded the regular Texas Army, Bowie and Captain James W. Fannin were sent to the area south of Bexar to conduct reconnaissance . On October 28th, Bowie and his 92  horsemen were attacked by 300 Mexican horsemen and 100  infantrymen . By the end of the fight , Bowie had only lost one man, while the Mexicans had 16 dead and 16 injured.

After this battle, Bowie resigned his command because he wanted to take part in combat if necessary, but did not want to be part of a formal military organization. In November 1835, however, he returned to the army when he and 40 horsemen attacked a supply train of the Mexican army. The train was supposed to bring cattle to the Mexican garrison and was guarded by Mexican troops . This incident came to be known as the Grass Fight .

Alamo

Fort Alamo near San Antonio

In January 1836, Bowie and 30 men arrived in Bexar to demolish the fortifications there according to orders. However, he wrote to the governor that Fort Alamo should be preserved as a strategically important point. Bowie and his men joined the 79 men already gathered there to defend the Alamo. In the next few weeks William Travis appeared with 30 men and Davy Crockett with twelve others. After the commandant of the fort, Colonel James C. Neill , left the mission, the remaining men chose Bowie as their leader. That was a reason for Bowie to get drunk. Because of his again obvious drunkenness, Bowie finally agreed to share command with Travis.

The Mexican army appeared in Bexar in late February with 1,500 horsemen and asked the Texans to surrender. Bowie refused, but was unable to command the command due to an attack of advanced tuberculosis on February 24th. From then on he was bedridden. The fighting for the Alamo lasted until March 6, when Bowie was killed like all other defenders.

The mayor of Bexar, Francisco Ruiz, identified Bowie's body on behalf of Santa Anna , because Santa Anna wanted to be sure that Bowie was really dead.

Others

James Bowie was a Freemason and a member of the Texan “Holland Lodge No. 1".

Literature on Jim Bowie

  • Randy Lee Eickhoff and Leonard C. Lewis: Bowie. A novel. 2000
  • Kerry Newcomb: Red Ripper. 2000
  • Gilbert Morris: Deep in the Heart. 2003
  • Orson Scott Card: The Crystal City. 2003
  • Paul Wellman: The Iron Mistress (novel)

Reception in music and film

David Robert Jones, a rising rock star in the 1960s, feared that his name would be too similar to that of Davy Jones , a member of the then famous band The Monkees . He then took the stage name "Bowie" after Jim Bowie and called himself David Bowie from then on .

The punk rock band The Dickies wrote a song about Bowie called Jim Bowie .

Bowie is often mentioned in country songs dealing with the Alamo: The Ballad of the Alamo by Marty Robbins , The Sons of San Antone by Michael Shane Borden, Remember The Alamo by Jane Bowers (sung by the Kingston Trio , Donovan and Johnny Cash ) and in many songs from KR Woods album Fathers of Texas .

Jim Bowie is referred to in the 2004 film The Punisher . The villain Howard Saint, played by John Travolta , kills his best friend Quentin based on a murder that Jim Bowie allegedly committed after playing cards on a cheater. Saint tells the story of "Bowie who died at the Alamo" .

The 1950 film In the Land of the Comanches by George Sherman takes up Bowie's character.

swell

  • Joseph Joshua Peatfield, Hubert Howe Bancroft, Henry Lebbeus Oak, William Nemos: History of the North Mexican States. AL Bancroft and Company, 1889, p. 175.
  • William Kennedy: Texas. The Rise, Progress, and Prospects of the Republic of Texas. R. Hastings, 1841, pp. 122-128.
  • JR Edmondson: The Alamo Story - From History to Current Conflicts. Republic of Texas Press, ISBN 1-55622-678-0
  • Clifford Hopewell: James Bowie - Texas Fighting Man. Eakin Press, ISBN 0-89015-881-9

Web links

Commons : James Bowie  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files