- Sandbar Fight
The Sandbar Fight was an 1827 brawl featuring
Jim Bowie which first showcased his knife, which later became known as theBowie knife . The brawl occurred at the conclusion of a duel, and resulted in Bowie being seriously injured. Bowie was nonetheless the victor.Before the duel
In the late 1820s, Bowie was involved in a feud with Norris Wright, the sheriff of Rapides Parish in
Louisiana . The two had been on opposite sides of political party squabbles and competed against each other in land speculation ventures. Bowie had supported Wright's opponent in the race for sheriff, and Wright, a bank director, had been instrumental in turning down Bowie's loan application. [Hopewell (1994), pp. 25–26.] After a confrontation in Alexandria one afternoon, Wright fired at Bowie. An uninjured Bowie was enraged and tried to kill Wright with his bare hands. Wright's friends intervened and stopped the attack, and Bowie resolved to carry his hunting knife from then on. [Edmondson (2000), pp. 84–85.] The knife had a huge blade that was 9.25 inches long and 1.5 inches wide.Kennedy (1841), pp. 122–128.]Duel
On
September 19 1827 , both Bowie and Wright attended aduel on a sandbar outside ofNatchez, Mississippi . Bowie supported duelist Samuel Levi Wells III, while Wright favored Dr. Thomas Harris Maddox. About 16 men were present. Wells had also brought supporters, including Major George McWhorter and GeneralSamuel Cuny . Maddox was supported by Colonel Robert Crain, Carey Blanchard, Alfred Blanchard, and several unnamed others. Wright was late, and had not yet arrived when the duel began.Fact|date=October 2007The duelists each fired two shots, and, as neither man was injured, resolved their duel with a handshake.Hopewell (1994), pp. 28, 30.
Edmondson (2000), pp. 97–98.]Brawl
As the duelists turned to leave, Bowie came forward to meet them. Seeing this, Maddox's friends ran forward to join the group. Cuny, who had previously fought with Crain, is recorded as having called out to him, "Col. Crane [sic] , this is a good time to settle our difficulty."citation|title=The Bowies and Bowie Knives|newspaper=
New York Times |format=PDF|date=January 27 ,1895 |url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9B0DE4DA123DE433A25754C2A9679C94649ED7CF&oref=slogin|accessdate=2007-10-15] Crain fired, missing Cuny but striking Bowie in the hip and knocking him to the ground. Cuny and Crain then exchanged fire, with Crain sustaining a flesh wound in the arm and Cuny dying from a shot to the chest.Bowie, rising to his feet, drew his knife and charged at Crain, who struck him so hard with his empty pistol upon the head that it broke and sent Bowie to his knees. Wright appeared, drew a pistol, and shot at the fallen Bowie, missing. Wright then drew his sword cane and stabbed Bowie in the chest, but the thin blade was deflected by his
sternum . As he attempted to pull the blade free, Bowie reached up, grabbed his shirt, and pulled him down upon the point of hisBowie knife . [Hopewell (1994), p. 31.] [Edmondson (2000), pp. 99–101.] Wright died instantly, and Bowie, with Wright's sword still protruding from his chest, was shot again and stabbed by another member of the group. [Hopewell (1994), p. 32.] As Bowie stood, pulling the sword cane from his chest, both Blanchard brothers fired at him, and he was struck once in the arm. Bowie spun and cut off part of Alfred's forearm. Carey fired a second shot at Bowie, but missed. As the brothers fled, Carey was shot and wounded by Major McWhorther.The Battle of the Sandbar lasted less than 10 minutes, leaving Samuel Cuny and Norris Wright dead, and another four men - Alfred Blanchard, Carey Blanchard, Robert Crain and Jim Bowie - wounded.
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