Essay On Jim Bowie

Jim(James) Bowie(1796-1836) was one of our greatest remembered Texas heroes. His legacy lives on in many forms, one of which includes the famous Bowie Knife. He survived through many fights and battles, and met his demise at the Battle of the Alamo. Of a Scottish ancestry, he was born in the spring of 1793, Kentucky, US, to Elve and John Bowie. His father developed a plantation on 640 acres, in 1809, of land on the Vermilion River. He bought and sold slaves, while growing sugar and cotton when Jim was 13. In his teens, he worked in Avoyelle and Rapides parishes, where he floated lumber up the river to the market. It is said he was fond of hunting and fishing, and rode wild horses, and also trapped alligators and bears. When grown, Bowie was described by his brother as "a

Once they had accumulated 65,000 dollars, they quit the business. He had friends, but enemies as well; for example, Norris Wright, sheriff and local banker. Norris had refused to loan to Jim. Jim was extremely furious, because he was in desperate need of it. In 1826, they confronted in Alexandria, where Wright shot Bowie with a pistol at close range in the chest. The bullet was thankfully deflected, though. Afterwards, Bowie’s brother gave him a butcher’s knife, which would evolve into the Bowie Knife. Later, on September 19, 1827, near Natchez, Jim participated in The Sandbar Fight; originally a duel between 2 men that escalated into a fight. One of the men dueling was shot, and Jim fired at the opponent. Norris Wright then shot Bowie, resulting in Bowie drawing his “butcher’s knife he usually wears,” says an eyewitness. Bowie chased Norris, but Bowie was shot by the Blanchard brothers in the thigh. As Wright approached Jim, Bowie leapt up and stabbed Wright with his blade. All witnesses remembered the knife, and soon after, men were asking for a knife like Bowie’s. He lived in New Orleans, enjoying its excitement and pleasures.