Extremely interesting topic Pallas!!! and there is so much history here in this country as I see in travels. Though I have been along the Mississippi and close to Natchez, I always wished I had seen the site of the famed Sandbar Fight ,September 19, 1827.....where Jim Bowie entered the world of this American folklore and mythology. This simple duel, where Bowie was not even originally a combatant, but a second, broke into a melee involving about 16 men. Bowie's deft handling of his knife despite severe wounds including being impaled on a sword, immediately put him into fabled status.
The knives of these times seem to have been variations of any number of Meditteranean style knives, and belt daggers/knives that were often simply a blade with crudely fashioned bone or wood hilt grips. Virtually nothing was thrown away in those days, and broken sword blades, filed down polearm blades, trade knife blades intended for American Indian use, and almost anything of metal that could be shaped into a blade became 'knives'.
These crude knives and often imported examples eventually led to the famed Bowie knife after that sandbar event, and it is hard to determine exactly what the original Bowie knife actually looked like. It seems generally held that the original, quite possibly the example in the Arkansas Historical Museum known as 'Bowie #1' was the original made in Washington, Arkansas in 1830 by James Black for Jim Bowie.
It is said that Black also created a heavier, wider version, with guard, clipped back point for Bowie, and this became the type more commonly known.
The simple blade and 'coffin type' hilt of Bowie #1 seems to somewhat resemble the exremely popular Green River knives in the hilt and the blade.
These sturdy , simple hilt knives became widely known from the Russell knife works in Deerfield, Massachusetts about 1832, creating an interesting market for frontier type knives of these types in the east, while the Bowie type flourished to the west.
At this time, the prominant Chouteau family of traders from St. Louis to New Orleans were importing various knife forms from England and Europe.
The incredibly embellished hyperbole described in the exploits of these colorful trappers, mountain men, flatboat men, riverboat men and gamblers is indeed the folklore of America. I very much enjoyed "The Alamo' with Billy Bob Thornton as Davy Crockett, which very well illustrated this phenomenon.
It would seem that the unbelievably inflated tales of this seemingly simple frontiersman were found as unbelievable and entertaining to him as to the general public.
These men from backwoods regions were indeed tough, but remarkably astute and well spoken in a much different parlance than typically found in the populated cities.
Berkeley, the story about Abe Lincoln is great! and it is little known that he very nearly fought a duel with sabres as well.
I remember the Mike Fink tales from the days of wearing my coonskin cap while watching Davy Crockett on TV, but not sure of whether fictional or not.
Fascinating topic, and hope we can find some examples and pictures of these various knife forms.
All best regards,
Jim
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