Hunting Knife

A sharp blade was as essential to frontier life in Mexican Texas as a telephone is in today’s world. Efforts to formally equip Texians were taken, but most simply used what was on hand. And since colonists carved a living from the land, they had plenty of hunting knives.

Bowie Knife

The famed Bowie knife was also designed for hunting. The brother of Alamo hero Jim Bowie built the original when Jim was nearly killed in a fight. It resembled a large butcher knife, and performed a similar service. It was also used to cut wood, dig a hole and clear brush.

Belduque

The Belduque was the Mexican equivalent of a Bowie knife. Like the word “Bowie”, Belduque is also a surname. Similar to the knife Bowie’s brother designed, though predating it by decades, it also resembled a long, single-edge blade with a handle of wood or ivory.

Nobody knows for sure what happened to James Bowie’s original Bowie Knife. San Jacinto Museum of History © 2003