| |
|
JAMES
BOWIE
|
|
-PAGE 2-
|
| James
Bowie Pg. 1 |
|
James Bowie’s
fame began to spread as a result of a feud with Sheriff Wright of
Rapides Parish. Bowie supported Wright’s opponent in the sheriff’s
race in 1826. Wright was a bank director who turned down an application
for a loan made by Bowie. Upon seeing each other in Alexandria one
afternoon, an argument developed, during which Wright pulled his pistol
and attempted to shoot Bowie. He missed. Bowie attacked the man and
was pulled off him by several of Wright’s friends. Bowie vowed
to keep his knife with him from that day on! |
| James
Bowie Pg. 3 |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
On September 19, 1827,
on a sandbar near Natchez, Mississippi, Bowie was present at a duel
between Samuel Levi Wells III and Dr. Thomas Harris Maddox. In attendance
also was Sheriff Wright. Bowie supported Wells, while the sheriff
supported Maddox. Each combatant fired two shots at his opponent and
missed. With that, the opponents shook hands and ended the confrontation.
Not so for the witnesses! Each of them had reason to dislike at least
one other person there, so a fight broke out. |
| |
Almost
immediately, Bowie was shot in the hip. He staggered to his feet,
drew his knife and went directly for his attacker. The attacker hit
Bowie over the head with his empty pistol knocking Bowie to the ground.
At this point, Sheriff Wright fired at Bowie and missed! Bowie returned
fire and was thought to have hit the sheriff. The sheriff then pulled
his sword and ran Bowie through before he had a chance to get off
the ground. After a moment or so, the sheriff tried to remove the
sword, which was lodged in Bowie. He placed his foot on Bowie’s
chest in order to gain the leverage necessary to pull the sword out,
when Bowie, still quite alive, grabbed the sheriff and pulled him
down onto the awaiting blade of the Bowie knife! The sheriff was disemboweled
by Bowie and died almost instantly. While Bowie was still impaled
on the sheriff’s sword, he was shot again, then stabbed again.
The Sandbar Fight had ended and would result in Jim Bowie’s name
and his knife becoming widely known. |
| |
In 1830, he moved to
Bexar (San Antonio) and became a citizen of Mexico on September 30,
1830. Bowie was selected to become a commander of the Texas Rangers,
which was not officially founded until 1835. Their purpose was to
keep the peace and protect families against attacks by hostile Indians.
He also entered into a business partnership with Juan Martin de Veramendi
and promised to build textile mills in Coahuila y Tejas. |
| |
On April 25, 1831, Bowie
married nineteen year old Maria Ursula de Veramendi, the daughter
of his business partner. By that time, Maria’s father had become
the vice-governor of the province. The couple lived in a house in
San Antonio, but later moved into the Veramendi Palace with Ursula’s
parents, who supplied them with spending money. They had two children,
Marie, born March 20, 1832 and James, born July 18, 1833. |
| |
At some point, Bowie
became interested in the lost treasure of the Los Almagres Mine. On
November 2, 1832, Bowie and his brother with nine others set out to
look for the mine. They were attacked by Indians, but after 13 hours
of fighting, managed to escape when the Indians withdrew. The attackers
had lost forty members of their party. A friendly group of Comanches
told the people of Bexar about the fight, assuming the treasure hunters
had been killed since they were outnumbered 15 to 1. On December 6,
the town was surprised to see Bowie and his party arrive back in town!
They had lost one man in the fight. Bowie’s wife was wearing
black to commemorate his passing. |
|
|
| |
|
©2008 Wilson Jay
|
|