Jim Bowie
They could see them in the distance; one hundred or more
Tawakonis, Caddos and Wacos moving fast on their tracks. They weren’t looking for a trade or share of
provisions, but booty and scalps instead.
The eleven-man expedition quickly unpacked their mules at a grove of
scrub oaks, and then formed a line of leveled muskets. Fortunately, their leader was no stranger to
a standup fight. His name alone was
firing the frontier spirits of Americans everywhere, especially those seeking a
new life in Texas.
Most people know Jim Bowie for his legendary knife and
martyr’s death at the Alamo. What they
don’t know is Jim Bowie had an abiding passion for wealth – gained honestly or
dishonestly. More often, it was
dishonestly on a massive scale. While residing
in Louisiana, his first big score came from illegal slave smuggling. Slaves were in big demand to work the massive
gulf state plantations, but they could only be obtained within the United
States. Along with his brother, Rezin, Bowie purchased
smuggled slaves from the notorious pirate, Jean Laffite. Based in Galveston, Lafitte lifted his human
booty from Spanish ships in the Caribbean.
Claiming they were taken from shipwrecks, the Bowie brothers turned them
into the local parish sheriff. By law, the
slaves were to be sold at auction, with half the proceeds going to the people
who turned them in. Bolstered by the proceeds,
the Bowies always outbid their competitors.
After making a cool $65,000.00 (around $1.5 million today) they had to
give it up when the local authorities got suspicious.
During the1820’s, Bowie turned his attention toward land
speculation. Land titles, in the Louisiana
Territory, were questionable at best, a total quandary at worst. Decades of French, Spanish and American rule
led to a Gordian knot of land claimants.
Bowie took advantage of the confusion by forging Spanish land grants for
60,000 acres of prime Louisiana acreage, much of it in present day Arkansas. To back them up, he purchased affidavits from
false witnesses. Speculating, especially
in a frontier territory, usually got you more enemies than real estate. Among those enemies was the Sheriff of
Rapides Parish, Norris Wright. In the
Antebellum South, personal disputes were often settled by fists and dueling pistols
rather than courts of law. After Sheriff Wright made disparaging remarks
about Bowie in public, an incensed Bowie confronted the sheriff in a hotel
lobby. Wright pulled out his pistol as
Bowie picked up a chair to hit him. He promptly shot him in the chest.
Fortunately, the bullet didn’t penetrate the skin, but left Bowie
severely bruised. The fight turned to
fisticuffs, highlighted by Bowie biting Wright on the hand and losing a tooth
in the process. Friends pulled the two
apart and carried Bowie to a hotel room.
From now on, he wouldn’t be caught without a weapon. Flintlock pistols were too unreliable. Instead, he would carry a large menacing
knife provided by his brother.
The confrontation wouldn’t end there. Their next exchange took place at a remote Mississippi
River sand bar. In front of dozens of
onlookers, Wright dueled with a friend of Bowie’s; the friend’s second was Bowie
himself. When the duelers missed their
targets, their seconds took out their pistols and started exchanging fire. The gentlemanly duel turned into a farcical, no-holds-barred
gunfight. Bowie went down with three
bullet wounds in his thigh and torso. Wright
moved in for the kill with his sword cane.
Before he could inflict a fatal stab wound, Bowie rose up and thrust his
knife into Wright’s chest. The Jim Bowie
legend was born.
Like the smuggled slaves, Federal investigators began to
unravel Bowie’s land claims. For Bowie,
it was time for new opportunities and distance from U.S. law enforcement. Because it was in Mexico, Texas offered new
possibilities. After an amazing recovery
from his bullet wounds, he headed out west to San Antonio. It was there he met the former acalde, Juan
Martin de Veramendi, and his charming daughter, Ursula. Bowie presented himself as a wealthy
entrepreneur looking to stake a claim.
Ursula was smitten with the legendary knife fighter; they married in
April, 1831. In addition to a
reputation, he now had the Veramendi family’s wealth and status.
Always on the lookout for a big payday, Bowie had heard
tales of a lost Spanish silver mine in the San Saba region, a hundred miles
northwest from San Antonio. Using his
in-law’s connections and money, he obtained the Mexican government’s permission
to lead an expedition in search of the mine.
Unfortunately, the search was to be in territory held by the Comanches. The Comanches were at peace with Mexico at
the time, but that didn’t apply to their neighbors, the Wacos and Tawakonis. The eleven man expedition rode out from San
Antonio in the autumn of 1831. Three
weeks into the journey, they encountered a couple of Comanches and their captive
Mexican interpreter. The interpreter
warned them of a large body of Wacos, Tawakonis and Cados in the area. Near the San Saba River, they encountered a
Tawakoni scout with hundreds of his friends right behind him. A parley was attempted, but Rezin Bowie
refused to part with any of their goods.
Severely outnumbered, the treasure hunters took their goods from the
pack mules and arranged them like sandbags for cover. The Indians launched an all-out attack after
encircling the expedition. Five of
Bowie’s men became casualties. Fortunately,
they were better armed and held them off.
After the Indian chief was killed by a volley, many of his comrades met
the same fate trying to carry his body from the field. Realizing their attack was more hazardous to
them than Bowie, they tried to set fire to the prairie grass and burn him
out. The fortune hunters frantically
began pulling up grass and pushing away dead leaves to keep from being burned
alive. Luckily, the wind wouldn’t
cooperate. The fire that did reach Bowie
was beaten out with buffalo robes. Evening
darkness brought an end to the attacks. Out
in the distance, Bowie’s men could hear the piercing wail of Indians mourning
their dead. Their losses too great to
bear, the Indians left the scene. Worried
about future attacks, the six survivors built themselves a makeshift fort of
rocks. Bowie erected a flag pole,
defiantly waving a small flag “to intimidate them and show them that there were
still men ready for a fight.” Though no
silver was found, Texas found a new hero. Bowie’s reputation rose to new heights in the
aftermath. His exploits bolstered Texan fortitude
and later gave impetus to their growing discontent with Mexico.
