Who has Jim Bowie’s knife from the 1836 Battle of the Alamo?
Ben Moskowitz
South Amboy, New Jersey
Nobody knows. Like most, if not all, of the personal things left behind by the defenders of the Alamo mission in San Antonio, Texas, historians have no clue what happened to defender Jim Bowie’s knife, or any other.
James Black, the blacksmith some historians credit for creating the knife that made Jim Bowie famous (others

True West April 2018
In This Issue:
Features
Western Books & Movies
Departments
- What History Has Taught Me: Russell True
- Western Events for April 2018
- What was the Most Effective Stance for an Old West Gunfighter?
- How Many Men did Marshal Dillon Kill in the Gunsmoke Series?
- The Fair’s Frontier Fare
- Was John Selman a Bad Guy?
- Peace on the High Plains
- Proving Up
- The Spark that Launched the Vendetta Ride
- Was Josh Randall’s Wanted: Dead or Alive ”Mare’s Leg” Winchester based on a real Old West Gun?
- A Frontier Favorite Lever Gun
- Who has Jim Bowie’s Knife from the 1836 Battle of the Alamo?
- Monkey Business
- America’s Most Famous Firehouse?
- A Treaty Goes Up in Smoke