A Bowie knife ( ) is a pattern of fixed-blade fighting knives created by Rezin Bowie in the early 19th century for his brother James Bowie, who had become famous for his use of a large knife at a duel known as the Sandbar Fight.
Since its first incarnation, the Bowie knife has incorporated several recognizable and characteristic design features. However, in common usage, the term refers to any large sheath knife with a crossguard and a clip point,Todd, Frederick P., American Military Equipage, 1851–1872, Scribners (1980), pp. 180–181: "The American fighting knife of the mid-19th century was par excellence the 'bowie knife'. The term itself defied definition in those days as it does today. Still, a rough description would be a large sheath knife, usually with a small crossguard and a clipped point, whose story began in the American Southwest about 1830." although there are exceptions and special cases. The knife pattern is still popular with collectors; in addition to various knife manufacturing companies, hundreds of custom knifemakers produce Bowie knives with different types of steel and variations in style.
Historical complications Murky definitions, limited supporting documentation, and conflicting claims complicate the early history of the Bowie knife. The Bowie knife is not well defined. By the mid-20th century, most included some blade length and shape combination. In the mid-19th century, when the knife's popularity peaked, the term was applied to a wide range of blades. Four definitions of "Bowie" knives had supporters (in the mid-20th century). All agree they are sheath knives (short swords with a handle and a blade, optionally separated by a guard). Some require a blade length; some require a clipped blade; some require both; some require neither for knives produced between 1830 and 1890. Absent a consensus definition, clearly defining the knife's origin is impossible. To complicate matters, some American blades that meet the modern definition of the Bowie knife may pre-date Bowie. "Nor was the "clip point" unknown in America, pre-Jim Bowie." (Accompanied by examples and references.)
The Bowie knife derives part of its name and reputation from James Bowie, a notorious knife fighter who died at the Battle of the Alamo. James Bowie left a very thin paper trail; without verifiable facts, his history was buried in unverifiable knife-fighting legend. Historians seriously entertain the possibility that Bowie fought only one personal knife fight "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." "However, there is no verifiable account of him ever using any knife in a fight except once, in the Sandbar brawl, and there is no reason at all to doubt the statement of Rezin Bowie..." (and, if Rezin Bowie's account is accurate, that fight was not fought with a blade meeting the modern definition). That Sandbar Fight received national publicity (accounts in Philadelphia, New York, and the Niles' Register of Washington, D.C.) within months of the event. James Bowie prominently wore a large knife after the Sandbar fight.
The Bowie family provided a variety of conflicting knife histories. James Bowie left nothing. His brother Rezin Bowie provided a terse history two years after James' death. Sixteen years after James' death, someone (assumed to be James' brother John) slightly amended Rezin's explanation to include a blacksmith. Rezin's grandchildren named a different blacksmith. A later Bowie claimed that the information attributed to John was a lie and that John probably never saw the document, etc. "If James Bowie ever wrote a single word about the original Bowie knife, that document has not surfaced. Unfortunately, even those who saw the knife could not agree about its dimensions." (Descriptions) "Curiously, Rezin's grandchildren contradicted their grandfather by asserting that Rezin's blacksmith, Jesse Clifft, actually forged the knife under Rezin's supervision. John Bowie and Caiaphas Ham credited the knife to a blacksmith from Kentucky named Lovell Snowden." Rezin Bowie's account is given in full and termed the "most important letter in Bowiedom". Quotes of the later Bowie on John's presumed work: "...every statement I find untrue." "It is probable that John J. Bowie never knew of the article."
In the mid-20th century, a Bowie knife book author took liberties with the historical facts. Some documents were misquoted, some reported facts cannot be confirmed, etc. Others incorporated the errors into their accounts of both Bowie and his knives. "Raymond Thorp's Bowie Knife, privately published in 1948, is a dreadful work..." "Its citations are confused or erroneous, genuine quotations have been altered, and some material apparently simply invented." "There is little doubt but that [Thorp's Bowie Knife] is responsible, more than any other source, for perpetuating misinformation about the subject." "Among the most annoying faults with Bowie Knife was the author's marked tendency to alter direct, cited quotes from nineteenth-century sources." "Perhaps Thorp's most mischievous perversion of a directly quoted passage pertains to Bowie knife schools in Saint Louis..." That perversion has corrupted knife history (example: Peterson, American Knives, 1958) and Bowie biography (example: Hopewell, James Bowie: Texas Fighting Man, 1994).
With no solid definition and conflicting accounts of knife history, many were credited with the invention or improvement of the blade. "More than a dozen men have been credited with its invention; accordingly there exist a broad diversity of descriptions and dimensions; and at least as many men claimed to have acquired the knife."
Origin and description
The historical Bowie knife was not a single design but was a series of knives improved several times by Jim Bowie over the years.Walker, Greg (1993). Battle Blades: A Professional's Guide to Combat/Fighting Knives (Hardcover), p. 210 The earliest such knife, made by Jesse Clift at Bowie's brother Rezin's request, resembled Spanish hunting knives of the day, and differed little from a common butcher knife. The blade, as later described by Rezin Bowie, was long, thick and wide. It was straight-backed, described by witnesses as "a large butcher knife", and having no clip-point nor any handguard, with a simple riveted wood scale handle.
Bernard Levine has reported that the first known Bowie knife showed a strong Mediterranean influence insofar as general lines were concerned, particularly the shape of the traditional Spanish folding knife (navaja), then often carried by immigrants to Mexico and other territories of the Old Southwest.Levine, Bernard. (2002).Knives and their Values, p. 64 In an 1828 account of the capture of a pirate schooner carrying a mixed group of Spanish and South American pirates, the carrying of knives similar to the early Bowie knife is mentioned:
After the Vidalia Sandbar fight, Bowie was a famous man, and the Bowie brothers received many requests for knives of the same design. Bowie and his brothers later commissioned more ornate custom blades from various knife makers including Daniel Searles and John Constable. George William Featherstonhaugh described them as, "These formidable instruments ... are the pride of an Arkansas blood, and got their name of Bowie knives from a conspicuous person of this fiery climate."
According to an 1847 article, the Bowie knife was initially designed to fill the need for a wearable, convenient, close-combat weapon – a short sword much shorter than the saber or other swords of the day, yet still possessing a heavy blade. This cleaver-like blade had enough weight to give the blade sufficient force in a slashing attack while permitting cut-and-thrust sword fighting tactics. By this time the 'Bowie knife' was already being made in a variety of sizes, with the optimum blade length similar to "that of a carving knife".Robertson, J. C., (ed.), The Bowie Knife and its Inventor, The Mechanics' Magazine, Museum, Register, and Gazette, Vol. 46, No. 1231 London: Robertson & Co. (13 March 1847), p. 262Corbin, Annalies, The Material Culture of Steamboat Passengers: Archaeological Evidence from the Missouri River, New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, (2000), p. 92: By 1847, the most common carving knife made by large volume manufacturers such as John Russell of Green River featured an eight-inch blade, but other carving knives of the day could have blades of up to eighteen inches in length. The blade design was described as:
Most later versions of the Bowie knife had a blade of at least in length, some reaching or more, with a relatively broad blade that was wide and made of steel usually between thick. The back of the blade sometimes had a strip of soft metal (normally brass or copper) inlaid, which some believe was intended to catch an opponent's blade. In contrast, others hold that it was intended to provide support and absorb shock to help prevent the breaking of poor quality steel or poorly heat-treated blades. (A brass back is an indication of modern construction. "[N]o authenticated brass back Bowie has yet to be accepted in all quarters as genuine...".) Bowie knives often had an upper guard that bent forward at an angle (an S-guard) intended to catch an opponent's blade or provide protection to the owner's hand during parries and corps-a-corps.
Some Bowie knives had a notch on the bottom of the blade near the hilt known as a "Spanish Notch". The Spanish Notch is often cited as a mechanism for catching an opponent's blade; however, some Bowie researchers hold that the Spanish Notch is ill-suited to this function and frequently fails to achieve the desired results. These researchers, instead, hold that the Spanish Notch has the much more mundane function as a tool for stripping sinew and repairing rope and nets, as a guide to assist in sharpening the blade (assuring that the sharpening process starts at a specific point and not further up the edge), or as a point to relieve stress on the blade during use.
One characteristic of Bowie knives is the clip point at the top of the blade, which brings the blade tip lower than the spine and in line with the handle for better control during thrusting attacks. As the goal is to produce a sharp, stabbing point, most Bowie knives have a bevel ground along the clip, typically 1/4 of the way, but sometimes much further, running the entire top-edge. This is referred to as a false edge, as from a distance it looks sharpened, although it may or may not be. Regardless of whether or not the false edge is sharp, it takes metal away from the point, streamlining the tip and thus enhancing the penetration capability of the blade during a stab. The version attributed to blacksmith James Black had this false edge fully sharpened to allow someone trained in European techniques of saber fencing to execute the maneuver called the "back cut" or "back slash". A brass quillon, usually cast in a mold, was attached to protect the hand.
The Bowie knife's design also lends itself to use as a hunting knife for skinning or butchering game. When suitably sharpened, the curved top clip bevel of the blade may be used to remove the skin from a carcass, while the straight portion of the blade edge, toward the guard, can be used for cutting meat. Arkansas culturalist and researcher Russell T. Johnson describes the James Black knife in the following manner and at the same time captures the quintessence of the Bowie Knife: "It must be long enough to use as a sword, sharp enough to use as a razor, wide enough to use as a paddle, and heavy enough to use as a hatchet." Most such knives intended for hunting are only sharpened on one edge, to reduce the danger of cutting oneself while butchering and skinning the carcass.
History The Vidalia Sandbar Fight