The wild Wild West is a harsh time in American history. Like all harsh time, it produced some of the most legendary and colorful people in our country. We have the bad guys: Apache Kid, Billy the Kid, Jesse James and Doc Holiday. We have good guys: The Earp Brothers, Wyatt and Virgil, Bat Masterson. We also have bigger than life characters: Davie Crockett and James Bowie. Davie Crockett is known as one of America ’s top sharpshooter and hunter. James Bowie is known for his bravery and knife fighting skills. He’s so good at knife fighting that they named a knife after him, the bowie knife.

The bowie knife is a huge hunting knife. It was designed after the knife that James Bowie used in defending himself in the famous Sandbar fight. During the fight, Bowie was shot and stabbed in the chest. Despite his injuries, he was able to kill 3 people with his knife. He almost decapitated one, disemboweled one, and cracked the skull of another. After that fight, Bowie received numerous requests from all over the world for a similar knife. That’s how the bowie knife was born.