A Cut Above the Rest - THE BOWIE KNIFE

Standing alongside the gunfight at the OK Corral and the Battle of the Little Big Horn, the Battle of the Alamo will rank among the most talked about incidents in the history of the American West. The story of the Texans’ heroic action against the forces of Mexico threw up legends such as Davie Crockett and Jim Bowie, who have since been immortalised in countless books and films.

Early life
James Bowie, the ninth of ten children born to Rezin and Elve Bowie, arrived in either March or April 1796 - depending on who wrote the account - in Kentucky but spent most of his early life in Louisiana and Mississippi. Growing up on the family farm, he learned his life skills very quickly but also had good schooling and could speak English, French and Spanish. By his early teens, he was said to be proficient with a rifle, pistol, and knife.
In 1814, the American Army called for volunteers to defend Louisiana from the British, and Jim joined the militia and travelled to New Orleans to enlist. However, he arrived too late as the British had already been defeated, so his military career was short-lived.
After a spell in the lumber business, he became involved in smuggling slaves into the United States, a practice that was illegal. Nevertheless, Bowie amassed a considerable amount of money (one estimate says $65,000) and, along with two of his brothers, purchased a plantation in Louisiana, but their attempts at processing sugar cane to raw sugar were unsuccessful. James and his brother, Rezin P. Bowie, sold their interest in the plantation in around 1828 and began speculating in land purchases, sometimes legal and sometimes not. The house was finally demolished in 2010 to make way for development.

Birth of the legend
In around 1826, Jim Bowie began carrying a large knife in his belt for protection. This was the result of an ongoing feud with a local sheriff in Natchez, Mississippi. The knife is described as having a blade over 9” in length and 1.5” wide at the base, with no particularly special features to make it stand out from a myriad of other large knives of the period.
On September 19th 1827, the said sheriff, Norris Wright, was among a group gathered for a duel on a sandbar by the Mississippi River. Jim Bowie was also there among the crowd. The participants exchanged shots, but both missed. As honour had been satisfied, they shook hands and that was the end of it as far as they were concerned. However, a fight broke out between the supporters of the two duellists in which Bowie was shot in the hip and fell to the ground. As he was getting up, Wright injured him with a sword cane, but before he could withdraw the blade, Bowie struck a fatal blow with his knife. Back on his feet, Bowie was shot again, this time in the arm, and then the fight was over as quickly as it had begun, with Bowie being helped from the scene by his associates. As the story of the incident went around, Bowie’s prowess as a knife fighter, along with the size of the knife, had grown to legendary proportions. Jim’s brother, Rezin, is said to have claimed to be the inventor of the Bowie knife. However, this is unlikely, and the knife Bowie used was probably nothing more than a large butcher’s knife, possibly with a cross guard to protect the user’s hand, variations of which were soon being manufactured by local blacksmiths for the growing number of would-be knife fighters. The ‘Bowie Knife’ had entered the realm of famous weapons.

Off to Texas
For the next couple of years, he travelled around Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi, speculating in land deals. In January 1830, he moved to Texas, then part of Mexico, and in September of that year, renounced his American citizenship and became a Mexican citizen.
In April 1831 he married the daughter of the mayor of San Antonio, and they had two children. In 1833, Ursula and the children died during a cholera epidemic, causing Jim to turn to drink and ignore his business affairs.
On February 24th 1836, Bowie collapsed at the Alamo mission in San Antonio with speculation that he was suffering from the advanced stages of tuberculosis. He was to play no active part in the siege and eventual final assault on the mission by Mexican troops on March 6th, when he died with the rest of the defenders.

The knife
Ask most people to describe a Bowie knife and they will probably envisage a long, wide blade with a clip point, a brass quillon or guard, and a coffin-shaped handle with scales of ivory, ebony or some other attractive material. In fact, there is no ‘standard’ style for the Bowie, and the only thing they all have in common is the long blade with three main variations at the tip. The handles vary in shape, from round to flat-sided, and examples can be found with wood, silver, ivory, mother of pearl and other scales. The quillon was optional and can be found in steel and brass. While the knife makers would produce their own styles, many customers would design their own knives and have them professionally made, with the quality and beauty of the finished product depending on the depth of the owner’s pocket. The same applies today, as many custom knife makers will supply you with exactly what you want for a price.
Seemingly, Bowie’s original knife has been lost to time so we really don’t know exactly what it looked like. However, he did have one made at a later date by James Black and a reproduction of that knife is shown in one of the photographs. Presumably, this would have been a similar design to his original, so we see that it has no quillon, a coffin handle, and a shallow clip point.
As the popularity of these knives grew larger, manufacturers began to join the list of suppliers producing their own knives, but also there was an increase in the importation of knives from abroad.

Sheffield rules
Back in the 19th century, Sheffield steel was regarded as the best in the world, with companies in the ‘heavy’ industry section producing items for shipbuilding, industrial boilers, and railway lines for both British and foreign customers. Several of the larger firms specialised in armaments and prior to the American Civil War, Sam Colt purchased large amounts of steel from the firm of Thomas Firth & Sons for the manufacture of his revolvers. The ‘light’ side of the industry saw many firms making tools such as files and saws, but cutlery has long been one of the mainstays of the Sheffield steel industry and the ‘Made in Sheffield’ mark is still prized today among discerning buyers in the face of cheaper imports from abroad. By the mid-1830s, the story of Jim Bowie and his knife had spread to England, so it is no surprise that the major cutlery makes in Yorkshire soon realised there was a lucrative market across the Atlantic for something that they were very good at producing – knives. Conversely, in the United States, the quality of British-made items was recognised and appreciated, so the influx of Sheffield steel was well received.
Leading manufacturers such as George Wostenholm (one story has a Wostenholm knife being found on Jim Bowie’s body at the Alamo), Joseph Rogers & Sons and Thomas Nowill all produced Bowie knives for the American market. Many of these knives were imported into the USA by distributors who would sell the knives under the maker’s name as well as often stamping their name on the blade. Prominent, although short-lived, was the partnership of Englishmen John Graveley and Charles Wreaks, who operated out of New York from 1836 to 1838.

Availability
Many of these antique knives will be found in the United States, where prices are climbing steadily for the more desirable examples, and even if you have the money, it is possible that American sellers are unwilling or unable to ship these items. Bowie knives have been produced continually from their early beginnings up to the present day, and early 20th-century specimens can often be found at larger arms fairs. Look out for some well-made pieces from Solingen, Germany which show excellent quality. I remember seeing the Middleton brothers regularly selling their knives at the Nottingham arms fair, and their products are gathering quite a following. Check out eBay for a selection of books on this subject.

To see a super selection of antique Bowie knives, visit the website of S&H Antiques -