Jim Bowie

{{cquote|Bowie was a legend&nbsp;– a gaudy legend of gaudy violence&nbsp;– before he died. No ''[[deus ex machina]]'' in [[Greek]] tragedy ever extricated a character from peril more neatly than the Alamo extricated Bowie from defeat in life and from tarnish on reputation. For the popular mind, particularly of posterity, the Alamo blotted out all but the heroic and noble from the records.|||Frank Dobie<ref>Frank Dobie. "James Bowie, Big Dealer." ''The Southwestern Historical Quarterly''. Vol. 60. No. 3 (Jan. 1957). p. 357. ([https://www.jstor.org/stable/30235302?read-now=1&seq=1 JSTOR entry])</ref>}}
[[File:Jimbowie.jpg|right|180px|thumb|The man, the myth, the legend.]]
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'''James "Jim" Bowie''' {{lived|c. 1796|1836}} was an [[American]] [[con artist]]<ref name="gaudy">"[https://shannonselin.com/2015/08/jim-bowie-before-the-gaudy-legend/ Jim Bowie Before the 'Gaudy Legend'"]</ref> and frontiersman who became famous for the infamous {{wpl|Sandbar Fight||.}} Bowie also fought (and [[died]]) at the {{wpl|Fall of the Alamo|Alamo|.}}

Bowie in his youth got involved with the [[slave trade]], but what Bowie became infamous for wasn't his con-artistry and slaving, but the Sandbar Fight and the big fucking knife he lent his name to. In all likelihood, however, Bowie only ''popularized'' the knife. He didn't invent it.<ref name="historybandits">"[https://thehistorybandits.com/2015/07/04/selling-the-sandbar-marketing-the-bowie-knife/ Selling the Sandbar: Marketing the Bowie Knife]" - ''The History Bandits''</ref> 

==Early life and associated scumbaggery==
===Youth===
Jim Bowie's birthplace was nine miles north of present day {{wpl|Franklin, Kentucky||.}} He was born in 1796 to Rezin Bowie, Sr and Elvira Catesby Jones. Rezin Sr was a veteran of the [[American Revolution]] and Elzira was a nurse who also served in the American Revolution. Jim's childhood was spent on the move. Bowie's family moved to [[Missouri]] in 1800, and then to [[Louisiana]] in 1802.<ref name="gaudy" /> Most of Jim and his siblings' childhood was spent on the frontier, or in the wilderness. To quote his older brother John:

{{quotebox|...raised mostly in remote and wild regions, and consequently grew up with but little education, or other advantages besides those inherited by natural endowment, or acquired from parental instruction.<ref name="gaudy" />}}

Bowie entered the [[War of 1812]] in 1814, in response to [[Andrew Jackson]]'s call for volunteers to fight in the {{wpl|Battle of New Orleans||.}} Bowie answered the call too late, however, and so settled down in Bayou Bouef, where he spent the next several years selling lumber.<ref name="gaudy" /> Bowie was a raging [[drunk]], frequently getting into violent brawls under the influence of liquor. According to his brother John, Jim had a "[[bullshit|good temper]], <u>unless aroused by some insult</u>."<ref name="gaudy" />

===Slavery===
{{main|Slavery}}
In 1819 Bowie started to partake in the slave trade, despite the (foreign) trading of slaves having been made illegal in 1808.<ref>{{wpa|Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves}}</ref> It was legal, however, to buy and sell slaves already in the [[United States|country]]. In particular, Jim and his brothers John and Rezin Jr, entered a partnership with [[French]] [[pirate]] and slaver {{wpl|Jean Laffite||.}} To quote William H. Sparks, an associate of the Bowie brothers:

{{quotebox|They despised a petty thief, but admired Lafitte; despised a man who would defraud a neighbor or deceive a friend, but would without hesitation co-operate with a man or party who or which aspired to any stupendous scheme or daring enterprise without inquiring as to its [[morality]].<ref name="gaudy" />}}

Laffite and his men would capture slaves by raiding slave ships in the {{wpl|Gulf of Mexico}} and then smuggle them either to Laffite's base in [[Texas]], or to an island in {{wpl|Vermilion Bay (Louisiana)|Vermilion Bay|,}} [[Louisiana]]. There the Bowie brothers would buy the slaves from Laffite, for a "dollar a pound," and then bring them to American customs authorities where they'd announce they found the slaves in the possession of smugglers.<ref name="gaudy" />{{efn|Well, they weren't wrong…}} Under United States law at the time, anyone who discovered and reported the illegal [[human trafficking|trafficking]] of slaves was to be paid a reward equal to half the proceeds at auction. The Bowies would then buy the slaves ''back'' at auction, and the authorities were obligated to pay the Bowies half the price they paid. The Bowies would then take the now legal slaves to New Orleans, where they'd sell them for "triple the cost."<ref name="gaudy" /> According to John:

{{quotebox|We continued to follow this business until we made $65,000, when we quit and soon spent all our earnings.<ref name="gaudy" />}}

Not many people could have found a way to successfully grift the slave trade, but Bowie was special like that.

===Land cons===
Starting in late 1820, the Bowie brothers started their hand in land speculation. Prices for land started to rise as settlers started to pour into Louisiana and Arkansas, and this was one [[free market|market]] the Bowies were ''keen'' to tap into.<ref name="gaudy" /> The Bowies did legitimately buy ''some'' land, including a [[sugar]] plantation in Louisiana.{{efn|Records indicate Rezin Jr lived there for a time. Eventually the Bowies sold it to a couple of men in 1831.}}<ref>"[https://louisianagraveyardrabbit.blogspot.com/2010/08/death-of-plantation-very-late-obituary.html Death of a plantation, a very late obituary]"</ref> However, most of their land speculation was fraudulent.<ref name="gaudy" />

As part of the deal purchasing the {{wpl|Louisiana Territory}} the US government was obligated to honor all [[Spanish]]-documented claims of land ownership. The Bowies forged fraudulent documentation claiming ownership of legally public land, and then transferred these claims from [[bullshit]] people to themselves for bullshit sums. They then would submit these bogus claims to the government for approval. Once they had laundered their land claims into something legitimate, they would sell off these claims to unwitting marks.<ref name="gaudy" />

All good things must come to an end, however, and all good cons must eventually come crashing down. In 1824 [[Congress]] gave [[Arkansas]] jurisdiction over claims of Spanish land ownership. By 1827, 150 claims{{efn|Respectively roughly fifty thousand acres.}} had come to the attention of the court, "all based on the same documentation."<ref name="gaudy" /> The court would initially approve most of these claims, but it was eventually determined to be completely fraudulent in nature. This was determined after a federal investigator did some digging. While the courts were poking around, the Bowies started to sell this land. One of the marks sued the government for legal ownership of land he bought from John Bowie.<ref name="gaudy" /> The case ''Sampeyreac and Stewart v. the United States'' found that the plaintiffs held no legitimate title to the land they bought from the Bowies.<ref>"[https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/32/222 BERNARDO SAMPEYREAC and JOSEPH STEWART, Appellants, v. UNITED STATES, Appellees.]" - Legal Information Institute</ref>

By this time Jimbo had already fucked off to Texas (then part of [[Mexico]]), where he continued his land cons free of American legal intervention.<ref name="gaudy" />

==Bowie knife==
[[File:Bowie_Knife_by_Tim_Lively_16.jpg|right|180px|thumb|Bowie knife]]
The Bowie knife was made famous as a result of Jim's participation in the infamous Sandbar Fight (so named because dueling was illegal in Louisiana and [[Mississippi]] at the time, but a sandbar, being ephemeral, was outside of the jurisdiction of either state).<ref name="historybandits" /> The fight was the result of a feud that "had originated in {{wpl|Alexandria, Louisiana}} over [[voter fraud]], slanderous talk, and business disputes."<ref name="historybandits" /> Samuel Levi Wells and Dr. Thomas Harris Maddox faced off against each other with [[gun|pistols]]. The shots missed,{{efn|Handguns at the time were notoriously inaccurate.}} and the two shook hands.<ref name="historybandits" /> 

''In theory'', this should've been the end of the fight, but the other participants hated each other just as much as, if not ''more'' than, Sammy and Tommy did the other. Dr. Richard Cuny, for instance, had previously faced off with Maddox's second, a man named Robert Crain. Shortly after the duel ''officially'' ended, Cuny insulted Crain. Crain, predictably did not take too well to this, and shot Cuny with a pistol. The shot missed Cuny, but hit ''Bowie'' in the hip instead. Bowie fell over himself as Cuny and Crain exchanged fire with each other, and quickly thereafter the once-settled duel became a clusterfuck of violence.

Bowie had supposedly come to the fight armed only with a "large [[hunting]] knife" given to him by his brother.{{efn|No points for guessing what this knife was.}} Bowie recovered from the shot enough to pull out his gigantic knife, and charged at Maddox's ranks like a man [[demonic possession|possessed]]. Bowie charged Crain, but was brought down (again) by Crain's pistol.{{efn|Crain pistol-whipped him.}} Another one of Maddox's men, a man named Norris Wright, stabbed Bowie in the chest with a sword. This wasn't fatal, however, as the blade was struck off by Bowie's sternum. Bowie "grabbed" Wright, and pulled him down onto his knife. Wright was promptly disembowled. Bowie was shot twice afterwards by the Blanchard brothers Alfred and Carry in retaliation for Wright's disembowlment. Bowie, responded by slicing at them with his knife, and only ''after'' did he finally collapse.<ref name="historybandits" />

A truce was called shortly after, as neither Maddox nor Wells had actually participated in the orgy of violence that was the Sandbar Fight. Two of their compatriots lay dead, and several more wounded. Crain, of all people, helped move Bowie across the river so his wounds could be checked. James Denny, a surgeon in the employ of Maddox, saw to Bowie's wounds and predicted he wouldn't recover. To quote History Bandits:

{{quotebox|Bowie had taken three serious shots, sustained multiple stab wounds, and suffered a concussion from the butt of Colonel Crain’s pistol.<ref name="historybandits" />}} 

That said, it was Bowie who proved to be the most compelling fighter of the lot, as it was he who killed one man and wounded another, all while severely injured. Bowie's fame quickly rose as a result of this incident, and with it, the Bowie knife. Bowie recovered after two months of bed rest, and newspaper accounts sensationalized the fight ''and'' knife. Bowie, being the career conman he was, was quick to grift the fuck out of this. To quote History Bandits:

{{quotebox|Even while bed-ridden from his wounds, Bowie began to wear his own knife prominently across his chest to show off the weapon to visitors and the press.<ref name="historybandits" />}}

The Bowie family started a campaign actively linking the Bowie name with the Bowie knife. Rezin Bowie, the aforementioned brother who allegedly gave Jim his big fucking knife in the first place, started advertising the knife with the claim that the knife was "more trustworthy in the hands of a strong man than a pistol."<ref name="historybandits" />{{efn|Considering the accuracy of handguns at the time, this was probably true.}} Within months of the Fight, blacksmiths across the country started receiving requests for "knives like Bowie's." Reports of Bowie's knife reached all the way to fucking [[England]], where it was seen as an icon of the American frontier (and sold in novelty shops because of it).<ref name="historybandits" />

However, to put a dent in the hype, Bowie was not the first frontiersman to use a large combat knife, and the design of his knife was almost certainly not unique. To again quote History Bandits:

{{quotebox|Similar descriptions of large hilted knives used by [[Mexican]] ''vaqueros'' appear as early as 1800 along the border regions of Texas.<ref name="historybandits" />}}

Another name for the Bowie knife, the "Arkansas toothpick", suggests an origin in the {{wpl|Ozarks||.}}<ref name="historybandits" /> In addition, several different blacksmiths each claimed to have independently invented the Bowie knife, although whether they were [[cui bono|taking advantage]] of a widespread commercial sensation at the time cannot be reliably stated. In all likelihood, the stereotypical Bowie knife was in use by backwoods frontiersmen long before the Sandbar Fight pivoted Jim and his knife to national fame, but it cannot be denied that the knife's infamy and long-lasting popularity was solely the result of that backwoods brawl and its most famous backwoods participant.<ref name="historybandits" /> The Fight would also leave a lasting impact on the popular weaponry of the south, with Bowie knives replacing {{wpl|sword cane||s}} as the melee weapon of choice.<ref name="whereis">"[https://authentictexan.com/famous-knife-lost-original-bowie/ Where is Jim Bowie's Famous Knife?]" - ''Authentic Texan''</ref> 

The whereabouts of Bowie's original knife are unknown. It's possible he died fighting with it at the Alamo,<ref name="whereis" /> but by the time {{wpl|Santa Anna}} arrived to the Alamo Bowie was knocking on death's door.<ref name="mysteriousillness">[https://dailyhistory.org/The_Mysterious_Illness_of_Jim_Bowie:_How_Did_He_Contribute_to_His_Own_Decline The Mysterious Illness of Jim Bowie: Did He Contribute to His Own Decline?]" - ''Daily History''</ref> It's no secret that Bowie has fought while injured and ill before,<ref name="historybandits" /> but being bed-ridden and infected with some mysterious illness would probably render even Bowie incapable of combat.

==Texas==
===Arrival to Texas===
In 1828, shortly after the Sandbar Fight, Bowie realized it was high time to get the fuck out of Dodge, and so he decided to move to Texas. Mexican law at the time banned citizens from being anything other than [[Catholic]],<ref name="hopewell">{{cite book |last=Hopewell|first=Clifford|title=James Bowie Texas Fighting Man: A Biography|publisher=Eakin Press|location=Austin, TX|isbn=0-89015-881-9|year=1994}}</ref>{{rp|61}} and so in April of 1828 Bowie was officially baptized as a Catholic.<ref>{{cite book|title=From Hell to Breakfast|series=Publications of the Texas Folklore Society Number XIX|publisher=University of North Texas Press|location=Denton, TX|isbn=1-57441-099-7|last=Sears|first=Edward S.|contribution=The Low Down on Jim Bowie|editor-last=Boatright|editor-first=Mody C.|editor2-last=Day|editor2-first=Donald|year=2000}}</ref>{{rp|175}} Bowie arrived to the town of {{wpl|San Antonio}} (then known as Bexar) with a {{wpl|letter of introduction}} from {{wpl|Thomas F. McKinley||,}} one of the {{wpl|Old Three Hundred|"Old Three Hundred"}} colonists, in hand, which he presented to {{wpl|Stephen F. Austin||.}}<ref name="handbook">[https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/bowie-james "James Bowie"] - Handbook of Texas</ref>{{efn|Yes, Bowie was acquainted with the namesake of {{wpl|Austin, Texas||.}}}} San Antonio at the time had a population of 2500, most of whom were Hispanophones. Bowie's fluency in Spanish helped him get established in the area.<ref name="hopewell" />{{rp|65}} In 1830 Bowie officially renounced his American citizenship and became a citizen of Mexico.<ref name="handbook" />

Bowie soon learned that Mexican law offered Mexican citizens land grants in Texas comprising eleven leagues for "between $100 and $250 each." Jim, being the money-grubbing con artist he was, practically ''salivated'' at the sight of this and soon started "urging" Mexican citizens to apply for land grants, which he then eagerly bought off them. He soon had in his hands fifteen of these grants, and continued encouraging land speculation in Texas. This pissed off Austin to no end, who was reluctant to approve the sale of these land grants in San Antonio, but eventually he relented.<ref name="handbook" />

In San Antonio Bowie pretended to be a "gentleman of wealth and taste," and soon conned his way into the [[aristocratic]] Veramendi family.{{efn|They were the ones who sponsored his citizenship.}} In 1831 Bowie married Ursula de Veramendi, and pledged his {{wpl|dowry}} to her to be $15,000 dollars. Acting through a friend, Bowie purchased a textile mill for $20,000. According to Bowie, the collective value of his properties was $222,800. This was complete bullshit. The true value of Bowie's property (through his land grants) was closer to $30,000, and all of that was fraudulent too.<ref name="handbook" />

What money Bowie ''did'' legitimately have was $45,000 in interest from the sugar plantation he sold in 1831 (the men who bought it paid McNeil $20,000 for the mill Bowie had bought through him). Bowie also borrowed money from his father and grandmother-in-law for a honeymoon to New Orleans.<ref name="handbook" />

===Mining misadventures===
According to Veramendi family tradition, Bowie spent very little time at home. Instead, Bowie became positively ''obsessed'' with the [[mythical]] Los Almagres Mine supposedly located to the west of San Antonio. Jim sought and gained permission from the Mexican law to mount an expedition to find this "lost mine" deep in "[[Native American|Indian country]]."<ref name="handbook" /> This expedition was a total disaster. Jim, his brother Rezin, and several others spent days fruitlessly searching and fighting indigenous tribes in the wilderness. The Native tribes, not happy with this invasion of their land, sent out a large force to follow Bowie's expedition. After a "failed attempt" at {{wpl|parley||,}} the Bowie expedition fought for their lives against a pissed off indigenous war party for over half a day before finally retreating back to San Antonio.<ref name="handbook" /> The Natives reportedly lost "over 40 dead and 30 wounded,"<ref name="handbook" /> but since the only source we have on this is Bowie's group, who for [[racism|obvious reasons]] wouldn't want to look like they got their asses handed to them, this result is highly questionable. Bowie's group suffered one killed and several wounded.<ref name="handbook" />

A couple months later, in 1832, Bowie, now "colonel" of a citizen ranger force, tried his hand at ''another'' expedition out west. After two and a half months of fruitless searching for "hostile Indians," Bowie and his group returned home.<ref name="handbook" />

===Prelude to war===
In 1829, the President of Mexico {{wpl|Vincente Guerrero}} issued a decree [[abolition|abolishing]] slavery. This pissed off the Anglo colonists in Texas big time. Austin, the ''de facto'' leader of the Anglo colonists in Texas, declared:

{{quotebox|I am the owner of one slave only, an old decrepit woman, not worth much, but in this matter I should feel that my constitutional rights as a Mexican were just as much infringed, as they would be if I had a thousand.<ref name="monthly">[https://www.texasmonthly.com/being-texan/how-leaders-texas-revolution-fought-preserve-slavery/ How leaders of the Texas Revolution fought to preserve slavery]" - ''Texas Monthly''.</ref>}}

Texans developed ways to evade this new law, including through {{wpl|indentured servitude||.}} When Anglos and their slaves crossed the border into Texas, the slaves were declared "free," but they would then be obligated to pay off this "debt" owed to their owners through a period of forced labor. To quote ''Texas Monthly'':

{{quotebox|Any costs for clothing or food or housing would be deducted from their “wages,” which were around $20 a year. Any sum not paid off by the time they died would be assumed by their children. Any of the former slaves’ children who were born after their parents passed into Texas would begin paying off their debts when they reached adulthood, presumably being considered property of the master until that point.<ref name="monthly" />}}

This indentured servitude was central to the Texan economy, and naturally the Mexican government would have none of it. In July of 1832 the Mexican commander José de las Piedras arrived in {{wpl|Nacogdoches, Texas}} and demanded that "all citizens under his jurisdiction" [[gun control|give up]] their arms.<ref name="handbook" /> The colonists, naturally, told the Mexican Army to fuck off. Bowie, upon hearing this, rushed to Nacogdoches, and at the beginning of August the {{wpl|Nacogdoches Revolt}} began. Bowie and 300 armed colonists laid siege to the Mexican garrison at Nacogdoches. Piedras chose to fight instead of surrender. Under cover of night the Mexican Army evacuated the garrison and headed south, having lost thirty of his men to the fighting. Bowie's militia ambushed the column on their march, and "Piedras fled."<ref name="handbook" /> 

Bowie marched his men back to Nacogdoches. On March 9<sup>th</sup>, 1833, the city of {{wpl|Monclovia, Texas}} was declared the new state capitol. {{wpl|Saltillo||,}} the previous capitol, objected to the change, and so the two towns raised armies to contest it. Bowie favored Monclovia, and so moved his family over to the city. When the two armies met to battle, Bowie rode out to try and avert this split in the movement. Bowie's motivation for favoring the change was, of course, [[greed]]. To quote the Texas State History Association:

{{quotebox|He believed that the fortunes of Texas land speculators lay with Monclova.<ref name="handbook" />}}

===Tragedy and personal affairs===
In September, 1833, Bowie's wife Ursula, his father-in-law, and his mother-in-law died of {{wpl|cholera||.}} Bowie was sick with {{wpl|yellow fever}} at the time and so didn't learn of the news until later. Ursula already had two young children by the time of her death, and both of the Bowie children died.<ref name="handbook" /> When Bowie learned of his family's death, he was devastated. After the death of his wife and children, Bowie started drinking even more heavily than before, and "became careless in his dress."<ref name="hopewell" />{{rp|93}}

On October 31<sup>st</sup> Bowie dictated his last will, in which he bequeathed half his property to his brother Rezin, and the other half to his sister Martha and her husband.<ref name="handbook" /> In 1834 Mexico passed laws making it easier to sell land in Texas, and despite the tragedy that had afflicted Bowie in the previous year, Bowie returned to his bread and butter activity of land cons. Bowie was appointed "land commissioner," and was tasked with settlement promotion in the area owned by John Marston.{{efn|No, not {{wpl|John Marston (Red Dead)|that one}}.}} This all came to a grinding halt in 1835, when Santa Anna ordered the arrest of all Anglo colonists doing business in Monclovia. Bowie ''again'' got the fuck out of Dodge and high-tailed it back to the American controlled areas of Texas.<ref name="handbook" />

==Texas Revolution==
{{expand section}}
{{main|Texas Revolution}}
The [[ironically]] named Texas Revolution{{efn|Really it was more of a ''counter''-revolution, because of its [[reactionary]] goal to preserve slavery. [[Confederate States of America|Sounds]] [[American Civil War|familiar]]...}} began in earnest not long afterwards. Texan Anglos were split between "Peace" and "War" Parties, but gradually the War Party won out. Resentment against the Mexicans was high amongst the Anglo population, and before long Texan Anglos were raising arms to oppose Santa Anna. Bowie in particular lobbied on behalf of the War Party lead by {{wpl|William B. Travis||.}} Bowie attempted to rally Native American support for the cause, but the indigenous peoples were reluctant to support it. Santa Anna responded to all this {{wpl|sedition|seditious}} behavior by ordering the Mexican Army to march on Texas ''en masse''.<ref name="handbook" />

==See also==
*[[American tall tales]] — many a tall tale has been spread about Bowie, several of which have been covered (and refuted) on this article.

==Notes==
{{reflist|group="note"}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowie, Jim}}
[[Category:Criminals]]
[[Category:Mexico]]
[[Category:Racists]]
[[Category:Scams]]
[[Category:Shysters]]
[[Category:Slavery]]
[[Category:Texas]]

Categories: Criminals, Mexico, Racists, Scams, Shysters, Slavery, Texas