By Jerry LaFleur, October 2009
Introduction
I have read many articles about the Bowie Knife. Up until the time that the revolving pistol came into being around the year 1844, the Bowie Knife was the weapon of choice in close, challenging encounters. The Bowie Knife remains today, as probably the best-known knife in history. It would be fitting to give the first-made such weapon its considered place recognition of originality. That place is on the banks of Bayou Boeuf in an area once known as Bayou Boeuf Village. From Bunkie, drive west on Shirley Drive. After crossing the bridge on Bayou Boeuf, turn left on the dirt road. In less than one minute the magnificent Live Oak Trees will appear in the distance. This place and area was the location of the Rezin Bowie Plantation in 1827 - the place where the first Bowie Knife was made.
The Place Where the Original Bowie Knife was made: The Rezin Bowie Plantation Site along Bayou Boeuf in Avoyelles Parish
A 2004 photo of the site where the Rezin Bowie Plantation home was located from 1825-1827.
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The Rezin Bowie Plantation home was among these large Oak trees when he and his brother, James Bowie, of the "Bowie Knife" and Alamo fame - in the struggle for Texas independence- lived here from 1825-1827. The site is located on a dirt road along Bayou Boeuf between La. Hwy 115 and Shirley Road (La. Hwy 1177).
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Bayou Bouef Village, The Bowie Knife, and Bunkie
It has been 181 years since the duel between James Bowie and Norris Wright took place on a Mississippi River sandbar near Vidalia, Louisiana in 1827. This fight, or duel, in which James Bowie was the victor, was singled out by many newspapers and capitulated him and his knife to widespread fame. Further recognition was bestowed on Bowie during the siege of the Alamo at San Antonio, Texas in 1836. In this battle, James Bowie, along with William Travis and David Crockett emerged as the Heroes of the Alamo.
Because the Battle of the Alamo was one of the great events in Texas history, the life and times of James Bowie rapidly became famous throughout America and also in Europe.
As such, the 1827 “Sandbar Duel” and the knife that James Bowie defended himself with in this duel, has been re-visited many times. As can be expected, there are many claimants and stories about the originality of this particular, (or first) Bowie knife. Having researched many such claims as to the originality of the Bowie Knife, there are several reasonable and authentic versions that focus on a single site: (Avoyelles Parish). Much reliance is placed on the information that is attributed to Rezin Bowie. Facts and data from Rezin Bowie are important not only because he was the brother of James Bowie - but he, more than any other source, had direct knowledge about the subject of the originality of the Bowie Knife. In addition, given the peoples pleasure of having served from two locales as a member of the Louisiana Legislature, it is not difficult to reason that his words are fact and not fiction.
Four references are listed to support the authentication of the Rezin Bowie Plantation on Bayou Boeuf as being the place where the first Bowie Knife originated:
(1) W. R. Williamson in The American Blade, Nov.-Dec., 1980, updated the research on the origin of the first Bowie Knife (in Avoyelles) in his article: “A Case for Bowie and A Case for Bowie Knives (Pages 16-19, 4-65). Williamson wrote….”In a recently discovered letter to Col. David French Boyd (President of L.S.U.) dated September 14, 1885, Rezin Bowie's granddaughter, Mrs. Eugene Soniat gave further details about the location of the fabrication of the first Bowie Knife in Avoyelles.” Mrs. Soniat is quoted: “This instrument (Bowie Knife) which was never intended for ought but a hunting knife was made by an old file in the plantation blacksmith shop of my grandfather's (Rezin Bowie) Bayou Boeuf plantation, the maker was a hired white man named Jesse Clift, he afterwards went to Texas. My mother, Mrs. Jos. H. Moore, then a little girl, went to the shop with her father (Rezin Bowie), heard his directions, and saw Clift make the knife.”
(2) A Historical Marker on the grounds of the Marksville Courthouse is titled:
The First Bowie Knife
Rezin P. Bowie, brother of Alamo hero James Bowie, wrote,
“The first Bowie knife was made by myself in the Parish of Avoyelles.”
(3) Antique Bowie Knife Association (Online Website) (See below)
(4) Handbook of Texas ONLINE (See below)
In reviewing the above entries, one point is clear: the Bowie plantation was the site where the first Bowie Knife was made - regardless if the maker was Rezin Bowie or Jesse Clifft.
If one should visit the site today you would see a place drowned in weeds, with trash and litter abound, and a very slow-moving, stagnant Bayou Boeuf that is clogged with downed trees, rotten logs and industrial waste lining the banks. In sharp contrast, however, are beautiful, graceful and magnificent inspiring giant Live Oak trees.
The Mayor of Bunkie, Gerard Moreau took me to this site last July. Under these giant Oak trees, I immediately sensed an unusual feeling; something different, something important; you could perceive that this is the place where the first Bowie Knife was forged. So, I ask the citizens of Bunkie, the citizens of Avoyelles Parish, and of Louisiana -- but particularly Bunkie, just why has this famous site been bequeathed to the weeds, litter and trash -- rather than as a park and picnic area for our children and our citizens?
It seems to me that the Park Commissioners and their historical colleagues of Avoyelles and the State of Louisiana could find the resources to clear the area of the litter, weeds and trash and make a special picnic area with a Historical Marker on this very exclusive historical site.
The striking Live Oak trees are in mid-life and beautiful; Bayou Boeuf can be cleaned in front of this site just as Bayou Huffpower in Bunkie was cleared; just like the bayou was cleared in front of Johnny Tubre's place about 3 miles downstream from the vacated Bowie plantation site. A lot can be done - we just need to get started; after all, it has been 181 years since this place became famous. Let's hope that together, we can find a way to give relevant and deserving recognition to the place where the first Bowie Knife originated.
Because the Battle of the Alamo was one of the great events in Texas history, the life and times of James Bowie rapidly became famous throughout America and also in Europe.
As such, the 1827 “Sandbar Duel” and the knife that James Bowie defended himself with in this duel, has been re-visited many times. As can be expected, there are many claimants and stories about the originality of this particular, (or first) Bowie knife. Having researched many such claims as to the originality of the Bowie Knife, there are several reasonable and authentic versions that focus on a single site: (Avoyelles Parish). Much reliance is placed on the information that is attributed to Rezin Bowie. Facts and data from Rezin Bowie are important not only because he was the brother of James Bowie - but he, more than any other source, had direct knowledge about the subject of the originality of the Bowie Knife. In addition, given the peoples pleasure of having served from two locales as a member of the Louisiana Legislature, it is not difficult to reason that his words are fact and not fiction.
Four references are listed to support the authentication of the Rezin Bowie Plantation on Bayou Boeuf as being the place where the first Bowie Knife originated:
(1) W. R. Williamson in The American Blade, Nov.-Dec., 1980, updated the research on the origin of the first Bowie Knife (in Avoyelles) in his article: “A Case for Bowie and A Case for Bowie Knives (Pages 16-19, 4-65). Williamson wrote….”In a recently discovered letter to Col. David French Boyd (President of L.S.U.) dated September 14, 1885, Rezin Bowie's granddaughter, Mrs. Eugene Soniat gave further details about the location of the fabrication of the first Bowie Knife in Avoyelles.” Mrs. Soniat is quoted: “This instrument (Bowie Knife) which was never intended for ought but a hunting knife was made by an old file in the plantation blacksmith shop of my grandfather's (Rezin Bowie) Bayou Boeuf plantation, the maker was a hired white man named Jesse Clift, he afterwards went to Texas. My mother, Mrs. Jos. H. Moore, then a little girl, went to the shop with her father (Rezin Bowie), heard his directions, and saw Clift make the knife.”
(2) A Historical Marker on the grounds of the Marksville Courthouse is titled:
The First Bowie Knife
Rezin P. Bowie, brother of Alamo hero James Bowie, wrote,
“The first Bowie knife was made by myself in the Parish of Avoyelles.”
(3) Antique Bowie Knife Association (Online Website) (See below)
(4) Handbook of Texas ONLINE (See below)
In reviewing the above entries, one point is clear: the Bowie plantation was the site where the first Bowie Knife was made - regardless if the maker was Rezin Bowie or Jesse Clifft.
If one should visit the site today you would see a place drowned in weeds, with trash and litter abound, and a very slow-moving, stagnant Bayou Boeuf that is clogged with downed trees, rotten logs and industrial waste lining the banks. In sharp contrast, however, are beautiful, graceful and magnificent inspiring giant Live Oak trees.
The Mayor of Bunkie, Gerard Moreau took me to this site last July. Under these giant Oak trees, I immediately sensed an unusual feeling; something different, something important; you could perceive that this is the place where the first Bowie Knife was forged. So, I ask the citizens of Bunkie, the citizens of Avoyelles Parish, and of Louisiana -- but particularly Bunkie, just why has this famous site been bequeathed to the weeds, litter and trash -- rather than as a park and picnic area for our children and our citizens?
It seems to me that the Park Commissioners and their historical colleagues of Avoyelles and the State of Louisiana could find the resources to clear the area of the litter, weeds and trash and make a special picnic area with a Historical Marker on this very exclusive historical site.
The striking Live Oak trees are in mid-life and beautiful; Bayou Boeuf can be cleaned in front of this site just as Bayou Huffpower in Bunkie was cleared; just like the bayou was cleared in front of Johnny Tubre's place about 3 miles downstream from the vacated Bowie plantation site. A lot can be done - we just need to get started; after all, it has been 181 years since this place became famous. Let's hope that together, we can find a way to give relevant and deserving recognition to the place where the first Bowie Knife originated.
References
(1) Quotation taken from a plaque on the walls of the Avoyelles Parish Courthouse
(2) Quotation taken from Historical Marker on the grounds of the Avoyelles Parish Courthouse.
This quotation came from a letter that Rezin Bowie wrote to the Planters'Advocate a small weekly newspaper in French and English published in Donaldsonville, La., dated August 24, 1838: “The first Bowie knife was made by myself in the parish of Avoyelles, in this state (Louisiana), as a hunting knife, for which purpose, exclusively, it was used for many years”
(It should be noted that Rezin Bowie was in the Louisiana State Legislature in 1827 and represented Avoyelles Parish. At the time he lived at his plantation on Bayou Boeuf that was located at Bayou Boeuf Village. (The Bayou Boeuf Village area extended downstream from the Rapides Parish Line to the area of Holmesville, La. - a distance of about 5 miles along both banks of Bayou Boeuf.) In 1828 Rezin Bowie moved to south Louisiana and eventually settled in Lafourche Parish whereupon he was again elected as a member of the Louisiana State Legislature body in 1831. As Lafourche Parish is close to Donaldsonville, is perhaps, the reason for writing to the Donaldsonville newspaper, the Planters' Advocate.)
Note: Rezin Pleasant Bowie resided in Avoyelles Parish Louisiana from October 1824 to August 1827.
(3) From: Antique Bowie Knife Association (Online Website)
By Bill Williamson
It was in the sleepy little village of Marksville in central-east Louisiana that an important document in Bowie knife history was signed. It was a spring day, April 10, 1827 to be exact. Rezin P. Bowie, brother of Alamo hero James Bowie rode into Marksville, dis-mounted his horse and assisted his wife Margaret from her sidesaddle. Small as it was, Marksville served as the seat of government for the parish (county), and the Bowies had business to conduct in the presence of Herzehian Dunham, the Notary Public in and for the parish of Avoyelles.
Accompanying Rezin and Margaret Bowie that day were Caiaphas K. Ham and Jesse Clifft. The Bowie plantation on Bayou Boeuf (pronounced buff or beff, depending on where one lives in Louisiana) was, as the crow flies, about fifteen miles distance. It was there at the plantation that Jesse Clifft, under Rezin P. Bowie's direction and using his design, handcrafted the first Bowie knife.
Important evidence now settles the question of who made that first Bowie knife. “The first Bowie knife was made by myself in the parish of Avoyelles,” wrote Rezin Bowie. He went on to describe the knife. In a recently discovered letter to Col. David F. Boyd, dated September 14, 1885, Rezin's granddaughter, Mrs. Eugene Soniat, gave further details. “This instrument, which was never intended for ought but a hunting knife, was made of an old file in the plantation blacksmith shop of my grandfather's Bayou Boeuf plantation, the maker was a hired white man named Jesse Clift [sic], he afterwards went to Texas. My mother, Mrs. Jos. H. Moore then a little girl, went to the shop with her father, heard his directions, and saw Clift make the knife.
The document signed in Marksville that spring day provides further proof of the connection between Bowie and Clift. When William Hargrove met with Rezin P. and Margaret Bowie, Herzehian Dunham penned an agreement explicitly linking Rezin Bowie, the designer, with Jesse Clifft, the maker of the first Bowie knife. The document read in part: In consideration of four thousand dollars... the said R.P. Bowie and the said M. Bowie his wife does by these presents grant, bargain, sell and convey unto the said Wm. Hargrove nine certain slaves to wit, Bill age about 25, Stephen aged about 30, Sally and child about 25, Harry about 40, Tom about 45, Willoby about 25, Bartlett about 27 and Lewis aged about 18 years, all slaves for life. The principals signed the document, Rezin with his usual flourish, “R.P. Bowie,” incorporating a series of fancy line swirls beneath the name. “C.K. Ham” and “Jesse Clifft” signed as witnesses. Until this writing, Clifft's name has been misspelled in the literature, usually as Cliff or Cliffe.
The origin of the first Bowie knife is now very clear. With this very knife James Bowie killed Maj. Norris Wright of Alexandria, Louisiana in the famous sandbar fight near Natchez, Mississippi on September 19, 1827. The sandbar affair started both James Bowie and the Bowie knife on the road to fame.
When James Bowie arrived in the area of Bayou Boeuf (boeuf is French for beef), the land was cheap, speculation rampant and the settlers, soon to be the landed gentry, a fiercely independent breed who often terminated differences with knives, swordcanes and pistols. African slaves, sometimes legally purchased, sometimes smuggled, were brought in to supply the backbreaking labor required to push back the forest and create large plantations.
James Bowie had located on Bayou Bouef some time before 1820. (An old ledger, dated 1817, records purchases made by James at a general store, later Bennett's Store, on Bayou Boeuf near the town of Cheneyville, Louisiana.) Both he and brother Rezin P. Bowie owned, lumbered and developed properties along the Boeuf, in the area where the Bayou departs Rapides parish, cuts into the south-west corner of Avoyelles and then flows into St. Landry parish. Today, the town of Bunkie, nonexistent in the Bowies' time, is the largest in the vicinity.
(4) From: Handbook of Texas ONLINE: BOWIE KNIFE.
In 1838 Rezin P. Bowie, brother of Alamo hero James Bowie,qqv claimed that he made the first Bowie knife while the Bowies lived in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. He designed it as a hunting knife and gave it to James for protection after his brother had been shot in a fight. Blacksmith Jesse Clifft, who lived on Bayou Boeuf and was a close friend and neighbor of the Bowies in the 1820s, forged the knife according to Rezin Bowie's design. The original Bowie knife was like a butcher knife in profile, with a thin blade but no silver mounts. Bowie wore it in a silver-mounted black-leather sheath. The Bowie knife gained widespread notoriety after the celebrated Sandbar Fight on September 19, 1827, near Natchez. On that date Samuel Levi Wells and Dr. Thomas Maddox engaged in a duel on the first large sandbar above Natchez on the Mississippi state side of the river. After firing pistols at each other without effect, Wells and Maddox shook hands and started off the field. But members of the Maddox group suddenly fired at Wells's followers, who included James Bowie. Bowie fell, shot through a lung. An archenemy, Norris Wright, along with Alfred Blanchard, stabbed him repeatedly with swordcanes. In a final effort Bowie raised himself, grabbed Wright, and sank the big knife into his assailant's heart, killing him instantly. Combatants and eyewitnesses described the "large butcher knife" in letters and interviews, and a legend began. Newspapers across the nation printed lurid and detailed stories of the Sandbar Fight. The public reveled in the prowess of James Bowie and his lethal weapon. In a day when pistols frequently misfired, the Bowie knife was a reliable and effective backup weapon. As its popularity spread, schools were established, especially in the old Southwest, to teach the arts and dodges of Bowie knife fighting. The Red River Herald of Natchitoches, Louisiana, reported, "All the steel in the country it seemed was immediately converted into Bowie knives."
(2) Quotation taken from Historical Marker on the grounds of the Avoyelles Parish Courthouse.
This quotation came from a letter that Rezin Bowie wrote to the Planters'Advocate a small weekly newspaper in French and English published in Donaldsonville, La., dated August 24, 1838: “The first Bowie knife was made by myself in the parish of Avoyelles, in this state (Louisiana), as a hunting knife, for which purpose, exclusively, it was used for many years”
(It should be noted that Rezin Bowie was in the Louisiana State Legislature in 1827 and represented Avoyelles Parish. At the time he lived at his plantation on Bayou Boeuf that was located at Bayou Boeuf Village. (The Bayou Boeuf Village area extended downstream from the Rapides Parish Line to the area of Holmesville, La. - a distance of about 5 miles along both banks of Bayou Boeuf.) In 1828 Rezin Bowie moved to south Louisiana and eventually settled in Lafourche Parish whereupon he was again elected as a member of the Louisiana State Legislature body in 1831. As Lafourche Parish is close to Donaldsonville, is perhaps, the reason for writing to the Donaldsonville newspaper, the Planters' Advocate.)
Note: Rezin Pleasant Bowie resided in Avoyelles Parish Louisiana from October 1824 to August 1827.
(3) From: Antique Bowie Knife Association (Online Website)
By Bill Williamson
It was in the sleepy little village of Marksville in central-east Louisiana that an important document in Bowie knife history was signed. It was a spring day, April 10, 1827 to be exact. Rezin P. Bowie, brother of Alamo hero James Bowie rode into Marksville, dis-mounted his horse and assisted his wife Margaret from her sidesaddle. Small as it was, Marksville served as the seat of government for the parish (county), and the Bowies had business to conduct in the presence of Herzehian Dunham, the Notary Public in and for the parish of Avoyelles.
Accompanying Rezin and Margaret Bowie that day were Caiaphas K. Ham and Jesse Clifft. The Bowie plantation on Bayou Boeuf (pronounced buff or beff, depending on where one lives in Louisiana) was, as the crow flies, about fifteen miles distance. It was there at the plantation that Jesse Clifft, under Rezin P. Bowie's direction and using his design, handcrafted the first Bowie knife.
Important evidence now settles the question of who made that first Bowie knife. “The first Bowie knife was made by myself in the parish of Avoyelles,” wrote Rezin Bowie. He went on to describe the knife. In a recently discovered letter to Col. David F. Boyd, dated September 14, 1885, Rezin's granddaughter, Mrs. Eugene Soniat, gave further details. “This instrument, which was never intended for ought but a hunting knife, was made of an old file in the plantation blacksmith shop of my grandfather's Bayou Boeuf plantation, the maker was a hired white man named Jesse Clift [sic], he afterwards went to Texas. My mother, Mrs. Jos. H. Moore then a little girl, went to the shop with her father, heard his directions, and saw Clift make the knife.
The document signed in Marksville that spring day provides further proof of the connection between Bowie and Clift. When William Hargrove met with Rezin P. and Margaret Bowie, Herzehian Dunham penned an agreement explicitly linking Rezin Bowie, the designer, with Jesse Clifft, the maker of the first Bowie knife. The document read in part: In consideration of four thousand dollars... the said R.P. Bowie and the said M. Bowie his wife does by these presents grant, bargain, sell and convey unto the said Wm. Hargrove nine certain slaves to wit, Bill age about 25, Stephen aged about 30, Sally and child about 25, Harry about 40, Tom about 45, Willoby about 25, Bartlett about 27 and Lewis aged about 18 years, all slaves for life. The principals signed the document, Rezin with his usual flourish, “R.P. Bowie,” incorporating a series of fancy line swirls beneath the name. “C.K. Ham” and “Jesse Clifft” signed as witnesses. Until this writing, Clifft's name has been misspelled in the literature, usually as Cliff or Cliffe.
The origin of the first Bowie knife is now very clear. With this very knife James Bowie killed Maj. Norris Wright of Alexandria, Louisiana in the famous sandbar fight near Natchez, Mississippi on September 19, 1827. The sandbar affair started both James Bowie and the Bowie knife on the road to fame.
When James Bowie arrived in the area of Bayou Boeuf (boeuf is French for beef), the land was cheap, speculation rampant and the settlers, soon to be the landed gentry, a fiercely independent breed who often terminated differences with knives, swordcanes and pistols. African slaves, sometimes legally purchased, sometimes smuggled, were brought in to supply the backbreaking labor required to push back the forest and create large plantations.
James Bowie had located on Bayou Bouef some time before 1820. (An old ledger, dated 1817, records purchases made by James at a general store, later Bennett's Store, on Bayou Boeuf near the town of Cheneyville, Louisiana.) Both he and brother Rezin P. Bowie owned, lumbered and developed properties along the Boeuf, in the area where the Bayou departs Rapides parish, cuts into the south-west corner of Avoyelles and then flows into St. Landry parish. Today, the town of Bunkie, nonexistent in the Bowies' time, is the largest in the vicinity.
(4) From: Handbook of Texas ONLINE: BOWIE KNIFE.
In 1838 Rezin P. Bowie, brother of Alamo hero James Bowie,qqv claimed that he made the first Bowie knife while the Bowies lived in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. He designed it as a hunting knife and gave it to James for protection after his brother had been shot in a fight. Blacksmith Jesse Clifft, who lived on Bayou Boeuf and was a close friend and neighbor of the Bowies in the 1820s, forged the knife according to Rezin Bowie's design. The original Bowie knife was like a butcher knife in profile, with a thin blade but no silver mounts. Bowie wore it in a silver-mounted black-leather sheath. The Bowie knife gained widespread notoriety after the celebrated Sandbar Fight on September 19, 1827, near Natchez. On that date Samuel Levi Wells and Dr. Thomas Maddox engaged in a duel on the first large sandbar above Natchez on the Mississippi state side of the river. After firing pistols at each other without effect, Wells and Maddox shook hands and started off the field. But members of the Maddox group suddenly fired at Wells's followers, who included James Bowie. Bowie fell, shot through a lung. An archenemy, Norris Wright, along with Alfred Blanchard, stabbed him repeatedly with swordcanes. In a final effort Bowie raised himself, grabbed Wright, and sank the big knife into his assailant's heart, killing him instantly. Combatants and eyewitnesses described the "large butcher knife" in letters and interviews, and a legend began. Newspapers across the nation printed lurid and detailed stories of the Sandbar Fight. The public reveled in the prowess of James Bowie and his lethal weapon. In a day when pistols frequently misfired, the Bowie knife was a reliable and effective backup weapon. As its popularity spread, schools were established, especially in the old Southwest, to teach the arts and dodges of Bowie knife fighting. The Red River Herald of Natchitoches, Louisiana, reported, "All the steel in the country it seemed was immediately converted into Bowie knives."