The date: September 19, 1827. The place: a sandbar in the middle of the Mississippi River, near the town of Natchez, Mississippi. The man: legendary soldier, frontiersman, Texas patriot and knife fighter Colonel James “Jim” Bowie. The fight: an after-duel brawl contemporarily known as the “Great Sandbar Duel,” but more commonly known as the Sandbar Fight. While not “western” per se, this scrape marked the prominence of Jim Bowie, now famous as a frontiersman, patriot and soldier who helped win Texas from Mexico, in American folklore.
Jim Bowie
On September 19th, 1827, Bowie was one of over a dozen men who went to watch a pistol duel between Samuel Wells III and Dr. Thomas Maddox. At the time, a duel was fought between two gentlemen in order to settle a disagreement, and such duels were governed by complex codes of conduct. As it turned out, the duel on this day was bloodless, each party firing two shots and settling the dispute with a handshake.
Kind of like this, but with less effectiveness.
With the duel over and all parties satisfied, the brawl began. One of the spectators, General Samuel Cuny, called out Colonel Robert Crain. Crain’s first shot missed Cuny but nailed Bowie in the hip; the following volleys were more effective, Crain killing Cuny and Cuny wounding Crain in the arm.
Despite the wound in his hip and dodging the gunfire, Bowie charged at Crain, who hit Bowie so hard over the head with his pistol that the gun broke, causing Bowie to fall to the sand on his knees. Now remember what pistols were like during these times: large, heavy and with full wooden stocks.
U.S. M1819 Flintlock Pistol
I don’t care who you are, if you get hit in the head hard enough to break one of these bad boys you’ve taken quite a lick. In a classic case of “kick ‘em while they’re down,” Major Norris Wright, who had a feud with Bowie, approached Jim and fired his own pistol, missing. Wright then pulled out his sword cane and proceeded to stab Bowie in the chest with it.
Imagine this thing sticking out of your sternum…
When this happened, Jim pulled out his brand new toy, a large hunting knife with a 9 inch blade that would one day bear his name. The Bowie knife was actually designed by Jim’s brother Rezin; however, it would be Jim’s use of the weapon at the Sandbar Fight that would forever associate the man with the knife.
Bowie Knife
While Wright was busy tugging at the sword which had embedded itself in Bowie’s chest, Bowie reached up and stabbed Wright in the gut with his knife killing him instantly. After the dead Wright collapsed at his feet, and with the handle of Wright’s sword cane wobbling in the air two feet in front of him, Bowie, for his trouble, was shot and stabbed again by some of the other spectators. Rising to his feet, Bowie pulled the sword from his chest and turned to face his new attackers, the brothers Alfred and Carey Blanchard.
The brothers fired their pistols at Bowie, one shot hitting him in the arm. In retaliation, Bowie spun around and lashed out with his knife, cutting off a piece of Alfred’s arm. Carey fired another pistol, but missed. The brothers then decided to run, but not before Carey was shot by one of Bowie’s few allies Major George McWhorter (is it just me or is there a disproportionate number of high ranking officers present at a no-holds-barred fight to the death?).
The fight had lasted more than ten minutes. In that time two men lay dead and another four were wounded, including Bowie. As Crain helped carry Bowie away, Bowie is said to have remarked, “Col. Crane [sic], I do not think, under the circumstances, you ought to have shot me." After the fight, it was agreed that Bowie had not attacked first and determined that the reason everyone had turned to attack Bowie was because "they considered him the most dangerous man among their opposition."
At the time, newspapers circulated the story of the battle around the country, propelling Bowie and his famous knife into legend. Despite suffering grievous wounds, fate had other plans for Bowie, who would be killed less than ten years later defending the Alamo.
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For the less embellished account upon which this telling is based, see
