In March of 1979, while I was involved in twelve years of genealogical research, I encountered the 1884 book titled "Rangers and Pioneers of Texas" by A.J. Sowell. On pages 126 and127 the author tells something about his family genealogy and included a paragraph about his grandfather making a knife for James Bowie of Texas frontier fame. I was fascinated by the narration because I had the a very strong feeling it was a fundamentally true story. It was a very old family tradition like others I had encountered and had found to be basically true.I copied the article and included it in my data bank and off andon I would reread it.
Then that fall at the State Fair I encountered a knifemaker who was displaying his beautiful knives. When I told him who made the first Bowie knife, he said I was wrong. I was very disappointed. He said a blacksmith named James Black in Arkansas made the first knife.
Twenty-two years later, about March 1, 2002, I was browsing along a large magazine rack when I noticed a magazine devoted solely to knives. In it there was an article that inspired me to start reading all I could about James Bowie and the Bowie knife.Thus I learned about the vast amount of controversy, fiction and outright falsehoods about Bowie and his knives.
During those twelve years of genealogical research I learned that many other traditions, such as A.J. Sowell's account, almost always had some truth in them. What I mean is this: They contained events that are fixed deeply and firmly in a person's memory and are basically true. I have used sound evidence to support the basic truths in A.J. Sowell's account. I have followed James Bowie's activities as closely as Ican and have tied them to the enormous research done by Mr. W.C.Davis for his book titled "Three Roads to the Alamo."
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C.W.J., March 2009
THE TRUE ORIGIN OF THE CLIP-POINT BOWIE KNIFE
By Clarence W. Jacobs
"More nonsense has been written over the last century and a half about James Bowie and the Bowie knife than any other episode in his heavily mythologized life," wrote W.C. Davis in his book titled "Three Roads to the Alamo." But he had little to sayabout Bowie's knives. However his research produced evidence never before found by other Bowie researchers.
"More nonsense has been written over the last century and a half about James Bowie and the Bowie knife than any other episode in his heavily mythologized life," wrote W.C. Davis in his book titled "Three Roads to the Alamo." But he had little to sayabout Bowie's knives. However his research produced evidence never before found by other Bowie researchers.
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When Lucy Leigh Bowie wrote about James Bowie in 1916, she unknowingly started an enormous nationwide interest in James Bowie and his knives.(10) Since then, researchers, writers, and knife collectors have been wanting to know who made the original clip-point Bowie knife and where it was made.
The true story begins back in 1884 when A.J. Sowell ofGonzales, Texas wrote his book titled "Rangers and Pioneers of Texas." In his book he includes a paragraph about his grandfather, John N. Sowell, making a knife for James Bowie, as follows:(3)
"JAMES BOWIE, the noted Indian fighter and gold hunter often came through Gonzales on his way East, after a prospecting tour in the mountains. He generally had twenty or thirty men with him, all good Indian fighters, and they often had fearful encounters with the Commanches and other hostile tribes while exploring the country in the far West. In one of these fights Bowie made a thrust at an Indian when they were at close quarters, and his hand slipped over the blade of his butcher-knife, cutting him severely. This mishap suggested the idea of a guard between the blade and the handle and he determined to have one made that way. Accordingly selecting a soft piece of wood, he made a pattern of the kind of knife he wanted, and the next time he went to Gonzales, he went to Mr. Sowell's shop, and showing him the pattern, asked him if he could make one like it. The old man said he thought he could; and selecting a good piece of steel, proceeded to shape one like the pattern, and after it was finished, presented it to Bowie for inspection. He was greatly pleased with it, and paid a handsome price for the work. The old man then asked Bowie if he might name the knife. "Well, then" said the old man, "I will name it in honor of you; we will call it the Bowie knife." It afterwards became a famous knife, and gained a world-wide reputation. The gunsmith made a great many of them afterwards, and a Texan did not think he was fully armed unless he had one of them."
John N. Sowell was a gun maker and also widely known as "TheBlacksmith of Gonzales." "He was a small but strong man, energetic and sometimes ornery, but always a master of hiscraft."(9) When the war broke out in 1812 he was left out of the ranks to make rifles.(3) Therefore, when he moved to Gonzales he must have had all of the tools available in his shop to make a polished and properly tempered knife for James Bowie.
During his youth A.J. Sowell had been told the Sowell family's Bowie knife legend by his Uncle Andrew J. Sowell. Andrew J. was seventeen years old when his father, John N.Sowell, made a knife for James Bowie. Thus Andrew J. must have seen his father working on the knife. If not that he must have gained first hand knowledge about the knife while living with his parents. Thus, A.J. Sowell learned the story from his uncle.(3)
A.J. Sowell, born in 1848, wrote his book at age 36 after fulfilling his own ambitions as a Texas Ranger. After all of those years he remembered that James Bowie was in an Indian fight and that he sustained a cut hand, and that he was often in Gonzales. A.J. also recalled an expedition, and Bowie did have an excursion with 26 men, and they were hunting for a lost silver mine. No one should doubt the truth of A.J. Sowell's account. For the salient points in his account are supported by the new evidence which is presented herein.
Thus A.J. Sowell's account is a basically true 1884 story.He made only one slight mistake: Bowie did not "thrust" his butcher knife at an Indian, for there was no hand to hand encounter with the Indians in that fight. But Bowie did cut his hand during the fight when it slipped over the edge of his butcher knife during the Indian fight. It was the hunting knife his brother Rezin had made for himself and used until he gave itto James.(7) But the knife did not have a hand guard.
The fearful fight with the Indians happened during Bowie's November 1831 expedition of eleven men. The fight is well documented in reports by three of the expedition's members: James Bowie, his brother Rezin, and Caiaphas Ham, James' close friend.(12) Their activities in the Indian fight are critically important to the origin of the Bowie knife. Each man tells what happened during and after the fight.(2) The following description of the Indian fight is taken from those three accounts unless otherwise noted.(1)
The eleven men rode out of San Antonio on November 2, 1831.On November 21 and 100 miles out and within a few miles of their destination they were attacked by more than 100 Tawaconi Indians.The expedition members, in addition to using their camp shovel sand picks, were forced to use their knives in a flurry of excitement to dig up rocks and dirt and to cut brush to build a protective breastworks.
At one time during the fight the Indians withdrew to a distance of about 800 yards and encamped. Taking advantage ofthe lull, the expedition worked hard again at the earthwork, and succeeded in raising the fortification breast high by teno'clock.(4) After two more days of fighting, the Indians quit--perhaps due to their great number of battle casualties.
But the expedition remained eight days behind its rock and dirt fort, as they were apprehensive about the Indians returning. And they had to rest and tend to the wounded men and animals. One man was killed. "But in fact, not a man among them failed to be touched by an enemy ball or arrow, and some of them bore several superficial wounds, as did some horses and mules."(2)
Thus James Bowie's cut hand, as mentioned in A.J. Sowell's narrative, must be included as one of the "superficial wounds."James' hand slipped over the edge of his butcher knife while he was digging (thrusting at) rocks and dirt and cutting brush. His butcher knife, the one Rezin gave him, did not have a handguard,and James was using the knife for a purpose for which it was not made.
The expedition, after resting eight days, departed for SanAntonio, arriving there on December 6, 1831. During those fourteen days it took to reach San Antonio, James had time to think about the fearful fight and how he had cut his hand. Hemust have realized that he did not want to rely on another butcher knife when he went on another wilderness trek. He also must have realized he needed a different kind of knife, one that would meet the perils and demands of wilderness travel. ThusBowie proceeded to make the wood pattern mentioned in A.J.Sowell's account: "...he made a pattern of the kind of knife he wanted...." And his cut hand "... suggested the idea of a guard between the blade and the handle...."(3)
After his arrival in San Antonio on December 6, 1831, Bowie reported to the Mexican administrator, Ramon Musquiz, in San Antonio about the failed expedition and secured approval for another expedition. He also learned that he had to make a quick business trip to Arkansas.(2c)
Gonzales, 75 miles east of San Antonio, was a good rest stop after the long stage coach ride eastward. So Bowie must have spent the night in Gonzales after leaving his wood pattern with John N. Sowell and telling him about the Indian fight. And at Gelhorne's tavern Bowie, being very popular, also must have had to repeat the story about the fight. John N. Sowell could have been there too.
Continuing his way to Arkansas, James lost his butcher knife in the wilderness (2c), it was the knife his brother Rezin made for himself and gave to James after James' first fight with Morris Wright. Also it was the knife James used in the Indian fight. So James had to have another knife.
While in Washington, Arkansas, he had James Black, a blacksmith, make a replacement knife. Also a wood pattern for that knife probably was necessary--perhaps with a hand guard--to fit into the leather sheath. The times were too dangerous to continue his journey without a knife.
On completion of his business in Louisiana--at the end of December 1831--Bowie returned to San Antonio. And on the way he stopped in Gonzales and picked up his new clip-point knife from John N. Sowell.
At home again Bowie prepared for the expedition authorized by Musquiz. And on January 26, 1832 Bowie left Gonzales with 26 men to hunt Indians.(2) Thus John N. Sowell made the new Bowie knife in December of 1831 while Bowie was on the quick trip to Arkansas. That must be true, for it is not logical that Bowie would go on another extended wilderness trip with just another butcher knife.
No one knows exactly what John N. Sowell's prototype of the Bowie knife looked like. But Rezin Bowie, in his August 24, 1834 letter to the press (7), states "...the later so-called Bowie knife with a much wider blade, a curved sharp edge along one side, and a concave indentation leading to the tip on the other"was not made by him." (The "concave indentation" being the "clippoint")
James Bowie did not invent the clip-point design; it was invented in ancient times and brought to America by the Europeans. Bowie merely used the old design to make a clip-point knife with a wide blade for digging dirt and rocks and for chopping. And he must have designed the handle to fit comfortably in his hands. And without doubt, the new knife must have had a hand guard.
A.J. Sowell also was correct when he stated: "It afterwards became a famous knife, and gained a world-wide reputation." Thenew knife must have quickly gained popularity with the local population. For Gonzales was on the raw western frontier where the settlers faced the wild country of the Kiowa and Comanche.The pioneers and the travelers moving east and west could see adaily need for the big knife as a tool more than a weapon (1).
THE NAME "BOWIE KNIFE"
John N. Sowell named the Bowie knife: "Well, then " said the old man, "I will name it in honor of you; we will call it the Bowie knife." There was no newspaper in Gonzales to proclaim the new knife. But there was Gelhorne's tavern in Gonzales for socializing. And a combination gun shop and blacksmith shop also was a gathering place for latest news and general socializing.And it's only natural that Mr. Sowell was proud of the new knife and that he would talk about it and how he made it and named it.
A.J. Sowell states: "The gunsmith made a great many of them afterwards." By what other name could the Bowie knife have been called when someone asked the old gunmaker for a knife like Bowie's, especially after John N. Sowell must have proclaimed that he had named the knife? Wouldn't it be natural for the old gun maker to tell his customers it is a Bowie knife?
When the name "Bowie knife" first appeared in print is immaterial as far as the making of the knife is concerned.
IN THE ALAMO
The knife John Sowell made must have been with Bowie in theAlamo, for there is no contradicting evidence. So what happened to Bowie's knife at the fall of the Alamo on March 6, 1836? Itis not reasonable to believe that the Mexican soldiers would walk away and let it lie where it fell. What happened to the knife is a subject for the writers of fiction.
CONCLUSION
John N. Sowell made the original clip-point Bowie knife and also named it for James Bowie. The documented evidence supports that conclusion and A.J. Sowell's 1884 account of the knife's origin. And the evidence and the account are closely tied together by logic and by the fact that the succession of events happened in a short length of time--November 21, 1831 to "the end of the year," less than a six weeks period. And it is only natural that the origin of the clip-point Bowie knife should be in James Bowie's theater of operations. 2
No one to this day has produced any evidence for another account that even remotely approaches the credibility of this coherent true story about the origin of Bowie's big clip-point knife.
Gonzales, Texas! There are no other places, reasons and explanations that are more logical and appropriate for the origin of James Bowie's big knife. -- Clarence W. Jacobs, March 2009
JAMES BLACK AND THE BOWIE KNIFE
The Public has been innocently deceived. James Black did not make the original clip-point Bowie knife. As previously stated herein, Black made a knife for James Bowie, but it had tobe similiar to the knife James Bowie lost in order for it to fit in Bowie's leather sheath. So it must have been a butcher knifewith a hand guard. That James Black was given erroneous credit for making the original clip-point Bowie knife came about in this manner: In 1951, 58 years ago, Paul I. Wellman published his book titled "The Iron Mistress." It was a monumentally false story about the life of James Bowie and the origin of the clip-point Bowie knife. Then in 1952 Hollywood brought forth a film with the same title. The Iron Mistress was a special knife. It was abeautiful, gracefully-shaped knife like the one shown below. Itwas designed by the Hollywood movie makers and an eminent Bowieknife aficionado. Thus this knife--the one shown below--has become the icon of modern clip-point Bowie knives.
THE TRUE ORIGIN OF THE CLIP-POINT BOWIE KNIFE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. "Three Roads to the Alamo," 1998, 791 pages, W.C. Davis HarperPerrenial (Harper Collins). (Recommended reading)
2. The Indian fight is well documented in reports by three of the expedition members (1): a. James Bowie to Ramon Muzquiz, December 10, 1831, Nacogdoches Archives, Texas State Library, Austin. b. Rezin Bowie, "An Indian Battle," "Atkinson's Saturday Evening Post and Bulletin; a Family Newspaper, Devoted to Literature, Morality, Science, News and Amusement" 13, August 17, 1833. c. Caiaphas Ham, "Recollections of Col. James Bowie, 1887 in the John S. Ford Papers, Center for American History, University of Texas, Austin.
3. "Rangers and Pioneers of Texas," 1884, A.J. Sowell, Pages 126, 127.
4. Our Pioneer Heroes and their Daring Deeds," by .M. Kelsey; Thompson and Thompson, 1900, Page 204.
5. "Dallas Morning News," Dallas, Texas, Saturday, December 28, 2002, III, Page 31A. 9
6. Letter, Hayward to Jackson, January 16, 1832, Entry 404, Record Group 49, National Archives.
7. Rezin Bowie's August 24, 1838 Letter, (Nile's Register 55 [September 29, 1838], 70
8. "The Bowies," by John Bowie, 381
9. "Sons of the DeWitt Colony, Texas," Wallace Keehan
10. The Lucy Leigh Bowie Papers, Vol.411. Vidalia, Louisiana (See attachment)12. Wm. B. Worthen, "The Term `Bowie Knife,'" "Knife World" magazine 2, Nov. 1995 15
