LEXINGTON, Ky. (FOX 56) – Remember the Alamo!
These words echo through U.S. history as a gallant, undying mantra to rally forces after the Battle of the Alamo, serving as a pivotal timestamp of the Texas Revolution.
One name forever intertwined in history with the Battle of the Alamo is James Bowie.
Bowie’s early life, the Bowie Knife, and the Sandbar Fight
Bowie was born in Logan County in 1796 but spent most of his life in Louisiana where he was raised to be a land speculator. However, his real rise to fame came from his use of a larger-than-average blade in his brawls.
In 1827, Bowie and Norris Wright broke out in a fight that would become known as the Sandbar Fight, following a duel between two other individuals trying to settle their personal differences.
After being shot in the hip by Col. Robert Crain, Bowie charged Crain with his knife in hand before being struck in the head with an empty pistol, prompting him to fall to the ground. Wright proceeded to fire at Bowie but missed before stabbing Bowie with a thin blade.
The blade was so thin Bowie’s sternum was said to have deflected the blade away. Bowie proceeded to reach up and pull Wright down on to the point of his knife, killing him instantly.
“How he (Bowie) lived is a mystery to me, but live he did,” a doctor at the scene of the Sandbar Fight said, noting how Bowie had sustained a gunshot wound to the hip, a minor stab wound, and was stabbed and shot again by others at the brawl.
His blade, which would later become known as the Bowie Knife, was said to be around 9 inches long and 1.5 inches wide.
The Battle of the Alamo
In January 1836 Gen. Sam Houston summoned Bowie to San Antonio as both Houston and Lt. Col. James C. Neill agreed the place needed to be defended from the attempts of the Mexican Army to reoccupy Texas.
“Colonel Neill and myself have come to the solemn resolution that we will rather die in these ditches than give up this post to the enemy,” Bowie reportedly told the provisional government in place in San Antonio.
On Feb. 24, one day after the Mexican forces began to gather, Bowie took seriously ill and was confined to his bed. Two days later, Davy Crockett said Bowie would often crawl out of his bed and present himself to the inhabitants at the Alamo to keep morale high.
Lt. Col. William Travis, who took over command in the Alamo in February, realized after days of fighting, the Mexican forces were likely to prevail. On March 5, he drew a line in the sand and asked anyone who was willing to die for the Texian cause to cross the line and stand at his side.
Bowie, still bedridden with his illness, asked to be carried across the line.
The battle ended on March 6, one day after the infamous line drawn in the sand, when all 188 remaining defenders including Bowie, Crockett, and Travis were killed; a sacrifice made on the altar of liberty.
The legacy of Bowie: Cemented as a frontier legend
Bowie’s role in the Alamo cemented his status as a frontier legend as well as his heroics in the Battle of Concepcion, and the Grass Fight.
His fighting prowess with a knife and ferocity could only be matched by his natural ability to lead and inspire others.
“Bowie was a born leader, never needlessly spending a bullet or imperiling a life. His voice is still ringing in my old deaf ears as he repeatedly admonished us. ‘Keep undercover, boys and reserve your fire; we haven’t a man to spare'”, Noah Smithwick, a volunteer soldier in the Battle of Concepcion, said of Bowie.
A special thanks to the Legends of America and www.thealamo.org for their contributions to this story.
