The Sandbar Fight of 19 September 1827 made James 'Jim' Bowie famous, as well as the Bowie knife – less than 10 years before the Alamo (where he fell alongside the heroes William Barret Travis and David Crockett) – but it was essentially just a brawl on a sandbar between people who could not let go of grudges and felt the need to act upon them. There were twelve men who went to a sandbar – two to face each other with pistols 'on the field of honor', two seconds, two physicians, and six supporters, three on each side.

It should have been a simple affair. One duelist would kill or wound the other, or both would miss and retire with their honor intact. In any event, the gathering should not have ended with two dead, two wounded, and two seriously injured – none of them the duelists – but that is exactly what happened.

In 1827, in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, Samuel L. Wells III and Dr. Thomas H. Maddox had a disagreement that they felt could only be settled by a duel with pistols. On 19 September, to avoid interference from those enforcing anti-dueling laws in the parish, they agreed to meet on a sandbar in the Mississippi River – located between Natchez, Mississippi, and Vidalia, Louisiana – outside Rapides jurisdiction. The participants were:

Maddox Side:

Wells Side:

Maddox and Wells took their positions and fired – both missed. They reloaded and fired again – and, again, missed. At this point, feeling their respective honors satisfied, they shook hands and started toward a grove of trees to have some wine together.

However, the non-participants had other ideas. Colonel Crain and General Samuel Cuny, who had previously served together in the military, had fallen out with each other, and Cuny declared that this would be a good time to settle their differences. Major Norris Wright had previously shot at James Bowie, and Bowie had attacked him. The Blanchard brothers supported Wright in his argument with Bowie, and Bowie supported Cuny in his complaint against Crain.

The duelists were ahead of the rest of the group when Cuny drew on Crain, and Crain raised his pistol. Bowie, next to Cuny – and perhaps not seeing that Cuny had drawn first – drew his pistol, and Crain, judging Bowie the more dangerous of the two, shot him. Cuny then shot Crain, wounding him slightly, and Crain fired back, striking Cuny in the thigh and severing an artery.

Bowie lunged at Crain, who hurled his empty pistol, striking Bowie in the forehead and knocking him down. Major Norris Wright then shot at Bowie, perhaps missing him (sources differ), and then stabbed him with his sword cane. As Wright struggled to pull the sword from Bowie's chest, the Blanchard brothers appeared, shot Bowie, and Alfred Blanchard joined Wright in stabbing Bowie with a sword cane.

As Wright struggled to free his blade, Bowie grabbed his shirt and, when Wright straightened up, he drew Bowie up with him. Bowie then stabbed Wright with his large knife (later famous as the Bowie knife), killing him instantly, and then slashed Alfred's forearm open. Alfred was then shot by Jefferson Wells, and Carey was fired on by Major McWhorter, who missed. The entire "historic fight" was over in about 90seconds.

News of the Sandbar Fight was reported in the local paper in Natchez, picked up by other news outlets, and, by November 1827, it appeared in the popular weekly Nile's Register in New York. The Nile's Register report of the event is given by an eyewitness in response to other newspapers (the New Orleans Argus is mentioned specifically) printing accounts in which the event was "very much misrepresented" and so, the writer says, "my regard for the truth has induced me to come forward and make a plain statement of the facts as they really occurred" (Nile's Register, 182).

This account, like all those relating the 'facts' of the Sandbar Fight, contradicts details from earlier accounts, including, "The only injury Bowie received from Wright was one or two slight wounds with a sword cane," omitting Wright shooting Bowie. In fact, Bowie suffered multiple stab wounds, was shot at least twice, and received a serious blow to the head in the brawl.

The Nile's Register account, however "accurate" it purported to be, focuses on Bowie and his strength, stamina, and victory over several opponents through his "large butcher-knife." Earlier accounts, and the one from Nile's Register – "the most widely read news weekly of the day" (Davis, 217) – made Bowie famous and the Bowie knife the most sought-after weapon in the United States within a year. By 1830, it was being crafted and marketed in Arkansas, and within five years after the fight, it was mass-produced in Britain for export to the US.

Tales of the Sandbar Fight continued in print, with greater exaggerations of Bowie's great victory against overwhelming odds, until these necessitated another "accurate account" of the event in The Tennessean newspaper in December 1906. This account also attempts to correct "a great deal of misinformation" concerning the event and is given below. Today, articles and chapters in history books continue to try to 'get the Sandbar Fight right' but still contradict others on the same subject.

The fight has been given as lasting as long as ten minutes, when it was over in a minute and a half. The participants have been given as numbering at least 15, when there were only twelve present and only eight engaged in the brawl. Still, as scholar William C. Davis observes, the 19th-century accounts that inform 20th-century history are "the sort of thing that turned brutal, pointless brawling into legend" (218). And that legend continues to the present day. If James 'Jim' Bowie had not died at the Battle of the Alamo on 6 March 1836, he would be best remembered for the Sandbar Fight.

The following is taken from the newspaper The Tennessean, Sunday, 16 December 1906, page 31, from the online site Newspapers.com by Ancestry:

Mississippi Sand Bar Saw a Duel – Historic Meeting in Early Days of the South – Followed a Bloodless One – Desperate Encounter Opposite Natchez in Which Col. Bowie Used His Famous Knife – Occurrence That Led Up to Fight – Principals, Seconds and Terms.

Probably the most famous of all the innumerable hand-to-hand fights which flocked the forefront of American civilization with blood was that which took place upon the sandbar opposite the city of Natchez, Miss., in which both grandfathers of the present Gov. Blanchard, of Louisiana, Col. James Bowie, the inventor of the Bowie knife, and nine others were participants.

So numerous and varied have been the accounts of the noted duel to the death that there exists today a great deal of misinformation concerning it, says the New Orleans Times-Democrat. It is fitting that the facts concerning the bloody battle shall be gathered from indisputable sources and placed in orderly array before they have become lost.

One very generally credited story of the sandbar fight gives the number of wounded as fifteen and the killed as six; whereas the fact is that only twelve men were actually upon the sandbar at the time the fight took place and of them but two were killed and two wounded. This is the evidence not of those who merely heard about the conflict, but of eyewitnesses and participants themselves.

The battle was fought on Sept. 18, 1827. It grew out of a duel between Dr. Thomas H. Maddox and Samuel L. Wells. It came as an unexpected incident upon the heels of the bloodless and satisfactory arrangement of the differences between the principals, after they had twice faced each other upon the field, and twice emptied their pistols at each other at short range.

Among those who accompanied the principals and seconds to the scene of the encounter were Richard Cuney and Col. Norris Wright. Cuney was on unfriendly terms with Col. Crain, who was the second of Dr. Maddox, and after the adjustment of the trouble between Maddox and Wells, cursed Crain, and advancing threateningly with his pistol drawn, declared that this was a good time to settle their misunderstanding.

This act precipitated the general fight which ensued. When it was all over, Cuney and Wright were dead, and Col. Jim Bowie and Alfred Blanchard were wounded.

The affair gave rise to much talk at the time, and many unfortunate and unfounded rumors arose out of it. It was natural that the affair should be exaggerated, and it has developed into a story that bears but few earmarks of the original. The following statement of the fight was written by Dr. Thomas H. Maddox, one of the principals in the duel which led to the trouble. Dr. Maddox was, as indeed all of the participants of the fight were, a prominent citizen of Rapides Parish, La. He was a man of uncommon strength of body and mind, and of the most unquestioned personal courage.

"I am the only survivor of the twelve persons engaged in the 'Sandbar' fight and, having seen lately many and various accounts of what they call the 'Bowie Sandbar Fight,' and there being little truth in them, I am induced to give a true statement of the affair as far as I saw it," said Dr. Maddox.

"Some difficulty occurring between myself and Gen. Montfort Wells, or from some other cause which I do not recollect at this time, Induced Samuel L. Wells to send me a very offensive 'carte blanche' which I accepted as a challenge, and it was agreed that we should meet at Natchez and settle the matter, each party leaving Alexandria Sept. 17, 1827.

"Of my party there were R. A. Crain, my second, Norris Wright, Alfred and Carey Blanchard, and myself, being five of us in number. The opposing party were Samuel L. Wells, McWhorter, his second, James Bowie, Richard Cuney, Jefferson Wells, and Sam Cuney, making six of them in number. I called on Dr. Denny to be my surgeon, who made number six of my party, and making six of each party, and no more.

"Having accepted the carte blanche as a challenge, I directed Col. Crain, my second, to call on Mr. Wells and state my terms and mode of combat, which were: to stand eight paces apart, right side, pistols down, to be raised at the words, 'Are you ready?' Fire! One, two, three', the usual way in which gentlemen vindicated their honor.

"Mr. Wells objected to my terms, assumed that he was the challenged party, and had the right to name the terms, as I was informed by my second, Col. Crain. Whereupon I told Col. Crain to go back and get his terms, as I waived my right, which he did. They were to stand left side to left side, pistols down, and at the word 'Prepare!' we were to raise our pistols in an opposite direction from each other and, at the word 'Fire!' to fire as we chose.

"I fired across my breast. How he fired I do not know. Two rounds were fired without effect and the affair was then settled by S.L. Wells withdrawing all offensive language. We shook hands and were proceeding to my friends in the edge of the woods to take a glass of wine as a cement.

"Dr. Denny and myself were a few paces ahead of the rest of the party, when Gen. Cuney, James Bowie, and Jeff Wells came running down on us, Gen. Cuney saying to Col. Crain that this was a good time to settle their difficulties, he, Cuney, and James Bowie drawing their pistols.

"Col. Crain saw at a glance how things stood, therefore he shot the one whom he conceived to be the major General of the party through the breast, as I believe, and so it was said at the time, for Bowie declared he was glad there was so much powder in the pistols as the balls passed out. Col. Crain, after shooting at Bowie, who had also shot at him, wheeled around and passed over a little wash in the sandbar and he and Cuney fired simultaneously at each other. Cuney fell mortally wounded, and then Col. Crain, with an empty pistol in his hand, turned to meet James Bowie, who was rushing upon him with his famous Bowie knife in his hand and, when within reach of his arm, he, Col. Crain, struck him over the head with the empty pistol and brought him to his knees.

"As he arose, I caught hold of him and he threw me off and faced Wright and the two Blanchards, who had arrived on the field from the edge of the woods. I at that time had a pistol pointed at me, but it was not fired, and being totally unarmed myself, I ran to the edge of the woods, a few paces off, to get my shotgun and, on returning, met S.L. Wells who said to me: 'Doctor, for God's sake, don't do any further damage, for it is all over.'

"On my arrival at the seat of war, again to my surprise, I found my dear friend Maj. Wright dead and Gen. Cuney dying from excessive hemorrhage, Bowie badly wounded, and Alfred Blanchard slightly wounded. And this was the end of that memorable affair, the sandbar fight.

"So, there were two killed and two wounded out of the twelve persons engaged in the conflict, six on each side and not, as has been erroneously stated by some, six killed and fifteen wounded.

"Other writers have stated that Bowie killed Col. Crain in the melee and that the duel was not between myself and S. L. Wells. Such contrariety of opinion indeed singular.

"Col. Crain and James Bowie were not so inimical as has been represented; the only feeling between them was owing to the advocacy of James Bowie to the cause of those opposed to himself and Maj. Wright.

"Subsequently, in New Orleans, James Bowie invited Col. Crain to his room and, contrary to the advice of his friends, he went and, upon entering the room, Bowie locked the door and asked Col. Crain to take a seat, where they had their talk and came out perfectly reconciled with each other."

Entirely corroborative of the main points in this statement of Dr. Maddox is the letter written by Col. Robert A. Crain, who acted as his second in the interview with Wells, which immediately preceded the fight. This letter was addressed to Gen. Joseph Walker, who afterward became Governor of Louisiana.

In part, this letter says: "After collecting the pistols that were used in the duel, a brace of which I gave the boy, the others I held, one in each hand, well loaded, of course, we proceeded down the river, angling across the sandbar, and having Bowie, Cuney, and Jeff Wells immediately at right angles from where we squared and ran down the hill, and in a quick running walk intercepted us, or rather me. Drs. Penney and Maddox were some ten or fifteen steps ahead, Maddox entirely unarmed. Cuney remarked:

'Now is the time to settle our affair" I think, swearing or cursing at me at the same time, and commenced drawing his pistol. Sam Wells caught hold of him and Cuney got immediately between me and his brother, so that I could not shoot at him then. Bowie, at the same time, was drawing his pistol. I drew away at him – he now says I did not touch him but drew his fire – he lies. I shot him through the body, as he is shot. I could not miss him, shooting not further than ten feet, and the object is to excuse his conduct for killing our poor friend.

"I wheeled and jumped four, six, or eight steps across some little washes in the sandbar and faced Cuney. We fired at the same moment. His bullet cut the shirt and grazed the skin of my left arm. He fell.

"Jim Bowie was, at the same moment, within a few feet of me with his big knife raised to lunge. I again wheeled and sprang a few steps, changed the butt of the pistol and, as he rushed upon me, I wheeled and threw the pistol at him, which struck him on the left side of the forehead, which circumstance alone saved me from his savage fury and big knife.

"At that moment, Maj. Wright and the two Blanchards rushed up. Bowie sheered off to a leaning stump, by which he took a stand. Wright and Bowie exchanged shots at about ten steps, without any chance of Wright hitting him, he behind the log, and the other exhausted with running at least 100 yards. He shot poor Wright through the body, who exclaimed, 'The damned rascal has killed me' and then rushed upon Bowie with his sword cane, who caught him by the collar and plunged his knife in his bosom.

"At that moment, Cuney shot Bowie in the hip, who fell instantly. Wright wheeled, made a lunge at him, and fell over him dead. Hostilities then ceased."