BOWIE, JAMES (1796?-1836), American adventurer and pioneer. Accounts of Bowie are conflicting, but apparently he was born between 1790 and 1796 in Georgia (according to some, Kentucky) and taken to Louisiana in 1802. There in his young manhood he was engaged in smuggling negro slaves into the United States in co-operation with the pirates led by Jean Laffite. He moved to Texas about 1828 where he seems to have been well received by the Mexicans. However, he took a prom inent part in the revolt against Mexico, being a leader in the battles of Nacogdoches (1832), Concepcion (183 5) and the Grass fight (1835). He was one of the defenders of the Alamo (see SAN ANTONIO), but was ill with pneumonia at the time of the final assault, March 6, 1836, and was consequently unable to take any real part in the defence although he is said to have shot some of his assailants from his cot. He died the same day. Bowie's name is now perpetuated by a county in north-eastern Texas, and by its association with the famous hunting-knife, long the favourite weapon of the border. A large, fair, outwardly peaceable man, he won a great reputation throughout the South west by his strength and daring.