Rezin Bowie
Rezin Pleasant Bowie | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Born | |
Died | January 17, 1841 New Orleans, Louisiana, US | (aged 47)
Occupation(s) | Adventurer (treasure hunter, smuggler, slave trader, land speculator), soldier, inventor, cattleman, sugar planter, legislator |
Rezin Pleasant Bowie (
With his brother
After James moved to Mexican Texas, Rezin accompanied him on an expedition to find the Lost San Saba Mine. They did not find the mine, but their adventures in fending off a much larger Indian raiding party became widely known.
In his later years Bowie suffered from poor eyesight. He lived with his wife and daughters on a plantation in Louisiana.
Early years
Rezin Bowie was born September 8, 1793, near what is now Gallatin, Tennessee, in Sumner County, Southwest Territory.[5] one of ten children born to Rezin Bowie and Elve Ap-Catesby Jones.[6] Bowie was one of twins, with brother Rhesa.[5] His father had been injured while fighting in the American Revolution, and, in 1782, married the young woman who had nursed him back to health. Elve was probably related to Thomas ap Catesby Jones (1790-1858), who was the naval commander at the 1814 Battle of Lake Borgne in Louisiana. Bowie's surname was pronounced /ˈbuːi/ BOO-ee[1][2][3][7] (although some reference works refer to an incorrect alternate pronunciation /ˈboʊi/ BOH-ee[7][8][9]).
The Bowies moved repeatedly, first settling in Georgia, where they had six children, and then moving to the Southwest Territory (if they arrived there before 1790, this area was still part of North Carolina) in the future state of Tennessee.[6] The year after Bowie's birth, the family moved to Logan County in the brand-new state of Kentucky.[5] By 1796, his father owned 8 slaves, 7 horses, 11 head of cattle, and 1 stud horse. The following year the family acquired 200 acres (80 ha) along the Red River. In 1800, Rezin Bowie sold his property and the family spent two years in what would become Missouri many years later. At this time it was part of Upper Louisiana or what the Spanish colonial authorities called the District of Illinois.
The Bowie family moved to
Each of their homes had been on the frontier, and even as a small child Bowie was expected to help clear the land and plant crops. He and his siblings were educated at home, and they learned to read and write in English. With his younger brother James, Rezin learned to speak, read, and write Spanish and French fluently.[11] The children were also taught how to survive on the frontier, as well as how to fish and run a farm and plantation.[12]
Bowie converted to
Land speculator
Shortly before Bowie's father died in 1818 or 1819, he gave Bowie and his brother James each 10 slaves, horses, and cattle. For the next seven years the brothers worked together to develop several large estates in
They made three trips to Lafitte's compound on Galveston Island, where they bought smuggled slaves at $1 per pound. They then brought the captives to Louisiana, where they delivered them to the customs house officer. The officer then offered the enslaved up at auction, where the Bowies could buy the enslaved legally. Under the Louisiana laws, the brothers received half of the price paid. They could then legally transport the slaves and resell them in New Orleans or areas further up the Mississippi River.[16][17] The brothers continued this scheme until they had collected $65,000, then began speculating in land.[17][18]
In 1825, the two brothers joined with their younger brother Stephen to buy Acadia, a plantation near
Bowie knife
One afternoon Rezin was hunting and killed a rabbit. He was going to skin his rabbit when he hit a bone, his hand slid down and badly cut his fingers. Inspired to prevent a reoccurrence, he subsequently designed what became known as the Bowie knife.[19] This knife had a blade nine and a quarter inches long and one and one-half inches wide.[20]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/Bowie_knife_1.jpg/220px-Bowie_knife_1.jpg)
The following year, on September 19, 1827, James Bowie and Major Norris Wright attended a duel on a sandbar outside of Natchez, Mississippi, supporting opposing sides. The duel was resolved with a handshake,[21][22] but other members of the groups, who had various reasons for disliking each other, began fighting. James Bowie suffered several serious injuries, and was repeatedly shot and stabbed, but managed to pull his knife and use it to disembowel Wright, who died instantly.[23][24]
Newspapers picked up the story, which became known as the Sandbar Fight, and Bowie's fighting prowess and his knife were described in detail.[25] There is disagreement among scholars as to whether the knife used in this fight was the same kind of knife now known as a Bowie knife. Many different accounts exist of who designed and built the first Bowie knife. Some claim that James Bowie designed it and others attribute the design to noted knifemakers of the time.[26] However, in a letter to The Planter's Advocate, Bowie claimed to have invented the knife,[27] and many Bowie family members and "most authorities on the Bowie knife tend to believe it was invented by" Bowie.[28] His grandchildren, however, claimed that Bowie merely supervised his blacksmith who created the knife.[29]
After the Sandbar Fight, and subsequent battles in which James Bowie successfully used his knife, it became very popular. Many craftsman and manufacturers made their own versions of the knife, and many major cities of the
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/1833_woodcut_of_Indian_fight_from_Casket_%26_Saturday_Evening_Post.png/220px-1833_woodcut_of_Indian_fight_from_Casket_%26_Saturday_Evening_Post.png)
Lost San Saba Mine
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/96/1831_James_Bowie_-_report_of_Indian_fight_near_San_Saba_from_Brown_1892.pdf/page1-220px-1831_James_Bowie_-_report_of_Indian_fight_near_San_Saba_from_Brown_1892.pdf.jpg)
James Bowie moved to
On November 2, 1831, Bowie accompanied his brother and nine others on a search for San Saba. Six miles (ten kilometers) from their goal the group realized that they were being followed by a large Indian raiding party and stopped to negotiate. The attempts at parley failed, and Bowie and his group were forced to fight for their lives for the next thirteen hours. When the Indians finally retreated Bowie had reportedly lost only one man, while over forty Indians had been killed and thirty more wounded.[18][20][34]
In 1832, Bowie began having trouble with his vision. Accompanied by his brother James, he travelled to
Later years
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/49/1833_Rezin_Bowie_-_An_Indian_battle_-_The_casket.pdf/page1-220px-1833_Rezin_Bowie_-_An_Indian_battle_-_The_casket.pdf.jpg)
After returning home, Bowie and his family moved to a plantation in
After Pintado's death, his widow sold the papers to Bowie and Wilson for $24,500 (the United States declined to pay the high price). Bowie wanted the papers to help him in his land speculation dealings, but it is unknown whether he derived any benefit from them.[5]
Death
Rezin Bowie died in New Orleans on January 17, 1841, leaving his wife and three daughters. He was originally buried in the San Gabriel Catholic Church cemetery, but in the 1850s his body was disinterred and reburied at St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery in Port Gibson, Mississippi, the home of his daughter Elve.[5]
Notes
Informational notes
Citations
- ^ a b c Evans, John (December 1989). "Bowie (Boo-wee) or Bowie (Bo-wee)? What's in a Name?". Alamo Journal. 69: 6.
- ^ ISBN 0-06-017334-3.
- ^ a b c Manns, William (May–June 2004), "The Bowie Knife", American Cowboy, 11 (1): 40–43;
- ^ Rezin Pleasant Bowie
- ^ a b c d e f g h Williamson, William R., Rezin P. Bowie, Handbook of Texas, retrieved 2007-10-15
- ^ a b c Hopewell (1994), pp. 2–3.
Groneman (1990), p. 19.
Edmondson (2000), p. 86. - ^ a b c d "Bowie knife". Merriam-Webster online dictionary. Archived from the original on 2012-02-08. Retrieved 2011-04-27.
- ^ a b The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed., 2013, entry "Bowie, James" with pronunciation guide "bō´ē" and key "ō toe" and "ē bee."
- ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, entry "Bowie, James", with pronunciation guide "bō´ē" and key "ō toe" and "ē bee."
- ^ Hopewell (1994), p. 4.
- ^ Hopewell (1994), pp. 5–6.
- ^ Hopewell (1994), p. 7.
- ^ Edmondson (2000), p. 88.
- ^ a b c Hopewell (1994), p. 11.
- ^ Hopthenewell (1994), p. 18.
- ^ Hopewell (1994), p. 19.
- ^ a b Edmondson (2000), p. 91.
- ^ a b Peatfield et al. (1889), p. 175.
- ^ Edmondson (2000), pp. 84–85.
- ^ a b c Kennedy (1841), pp. 122–128.
- ^ Hopewell (1994), pp. 28, 30.
- ^ Edmondson (2000), pp. 97–98.
- ^ Hopewell (1994), pp. 31–32.
- ^ Edmondson (2000), pp. 99–101.
- ^ Hopewell (1994), pp.33–34.
- ^ Hopewell (1994), pp. 35–36.
- ^ Hopewell (1994), p. 41.
- ^ Hopewell (1994), pp. 37, 39.
- ^ Edmondson (2000), p. 123
- ^ Hopewell (1994), p. 55.
- ^ Hopewell (1994), p. 56. Edmondson (2000), p. 122.
- ^ Hopewell (1994), pp. 40, 42.
- ^ Hopewell (1994), p. 172.
- ^ Edmondson (2000), p. 109.
References
- Edmondson, J.R. (2000), The Alamo Story-From History to Current Conflicts, ISBN 1-55622-678-0
- Hopewell, Clifford (1994), James Bowie Texas Fighting Man: A Biography, ISBN 0-89015-881-9
- Groneman, Bill (1990), Alamo Defenders, A Genealogy: The People and Their Words, ISBN 0-89015-757-X
- Kennedy, William (1841), Texas: The Rise, Progress, and Prospects of the Republic of Texas, R. Hastings
- Peatfield, Joseph Joshua; Bancroft, Hubert Howe; Oak, Henry Lebbeus; Nemos, William (1889), History of the North Mexican States, A.L. Bancroft and Company
- Bowie, James; Brown, John Henry (1831) [1892], James Bowie's 1831 report of Indian fight from Brown's History of Texas, L. E. Daniell
- Bowie, Rezin P.; Atkinson, Samuel C. (1833), Rezin Bowie's 1833 account of 1831 Indian fight in Texas from Atkinson's Casket., Samuel C. Atkinson