Who has Jim Bowie’s Knife from the 1836 Battle of the Alamo?

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.

Jim Bowie Knife Battle Alamo True West Magazine — James Black, the blacksmith some historians credit for creating the knife that made Jim Bowie famous (others credit brother Rezin Bowie), is allegedly depicted (above right) with Judge Jacob Buzzard, holding up “guardless coffin”-style bowies.
— Courtesy Historic Arkansas Museum —

Soldiers are great collectors of souvenirs, so one of the men led by Mexican Revolution Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna could have grabbed it.

Marshall Trimble is Arizona’s official historian and vice president of the Wild West History Association. His latest book is Arizona Outlaws and Lawmen; The History Press, 2015. If you have a question, write: Ask the Marshall, P.O. Box 8008, Cave Creek, AZ 85327 or email him at marshall.trimble@scottsdalecc.edu.