A Bowie Knife History excerpted from America, Its Realities and Resources - Volume 1 by T.C. Newby – 1846

This formidable weapon – the Bowie Knife – is said to have been invented by a reckless drunkard, Razin (sic) Bowie, after whom it is called, who squandered his property, and was subsequently obliged to fly from his native country, the United States, to Texas, for slaying a man in a duel. The fact is well known in Texas, and is thus related by a friend of Bowie’s, who was present when Razin Bowie fought a duel with knives across a table, at the Alamo, a few days before Santa Anna took it:—His first duel was fought at Natchez, on the Mississippi, in the fall of 1834. A dispute arose at a card table, in the middle of the day, between Bowie and a man named Black. The lie was given by Bowie to his opponent, and at the same moment, drawing his knife, (which was a case one, with a blade about four inches long, such as the Americans always carry in their pockets, he challenged the man to fight, which was accepted without any hesitation, and Black having taken his seat opposite Bowie, at a small square table, the conflict began.

It lasted about twenty minutes, during which time both parties were severely cut, when Bowie rose from the table, and, with a desperate oath, rushed upon his antagonist, who immediately fell dead at his feet. The inconvenience felt by Bowie on this occasion, from the smallness of the knife, having called forth the exercise of his debauched and sanguinary mind, he invented a weapon which would enable him, to use his own words, ” to rip a man up right away.” This task he accomplished during his exile in Texas, and which was the only legacy he could leave his young and adopted republic; indeed it is all she can shew of her citizen, his body having been burned by the Mexicans, and his ashes swept from the face of the earth by the passing winds. The real Bowie knife has a two edged blade, about nine inches long, slightly curved towards the point, and sufficiently thick in the back to serve as a chopper, in which way it is very formidable, but not so much so as in thrusting. The blade is covered with a sheath, and, when neatly got op, as some of them are, it forms a pretty ornament enough, when coming from under the corner of the waistcoat, or over the waistband of a pair of Texian trousers. They are generally of the best Sheffield manufacture, where they are now prepared exclusively for the American market; and of late years constitute an extensive and important article of British hardware export.