Bowie, James (1796–1836), a United States frontiersman and soldier. Bowie was born in Logan County, Kentucky. After living in Missouri and Louisiana, he went to Texas in 1828 as a prospector and became a Mexican citizen in 1830. Bowie was a colonel in the revolutionary forces that fought for independence of Texas from Mexico. He took part in the battles of San Saba and Conceptión, and was killed at the Alamo.
Bowie is reputed to have invented or popularized a broad-bladed knife with a hilt, designed as a defensive weapon. Any fighting knife of this general character came to be called a bowie knife. The actual connection, if any, between Bowie and the knife is uncertain.
