Bowie Knives 'Were Drinking Blood'

Bowie Knives 'Were Drinking Blood'
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald via AP
No American knife design carries the heft of history and legend as does the famous Bowie (pronounced BOO-ee). Books have been written about it. Knife historians argue vehemently and with self-righteous (and sometimes self-serving) ardor about its genesis and evolution. Bowie knife history–and more to the point, Bowie knife legend–shaped American ideals of what a knife should be for nearly 200 years. It’s been a fixture in hunting camps from the Rocky Mountains to the Deep South swamps. Gripped by bear-mauled guides or worn on the belts of leather-clad trappers, it has also been a central character in sporting art for the last century. Most outdoorsmen recognize the knife instantly and can’t help but have a visceral response to the Bowie’s signature sweep, size, and silhouette.
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Odd to think, then, that James Bowie, famed Indian fighter, Alamo martyr, and the knife’s namesake, would probably not recognize the thing.
THE SANDBAR FIGHT The unlikely epic of what is now known as the Bowie knife began on a sandbar in the Mississippi River, across from the rough-and-tumble town of Natchez, Mississippi, in 1827. A cast of characters assembled there on September 19 for a formal duel between Samuel Levi Wells and Dr. Thomas H. Maddox. The offense was an insult to a woman, never disclosed and long forgotten. As was customary, each duelist brought along a small entourage. Among the group supporting Wells was a slave trader, land speculator, and Louisiana planter named James Bowie.
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