James Bowie (1796–1836) was a nineteenth-century American pioneer and soldier who played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution, culminating in his death at the Battle of the Alamo. Countless stories of him as a fighter and frontiersman, both real and fictitious, have made him a legendary figure in Texas history. Born in Kentucky, Bowie spent most of his life in Louisiana, where he was raised and later worked as a land speculator. His rise to fame began in 1827 on reports of the Sandbar Fight. What began as a duel between two other men deteriorated into a melee in which Bowie, having been shot and stabbed, killed the sheriff of Rapides Parish with a large knife. This and other stories of Bowie's prowess with the knife led to the widespread popularity of the Bowie knife. Bowie's reputation was cemented by his role in the Texas Revolution. After moving to Texas in 1830, Bowie became a Mexican citizen and married the daughter of the vice governor of the province. His fame in Texas grew following his failed expedition to find the lost San Saba mine, where his small party repelled an attack by a large Indian raiding party. At the outbreak of the Texas Revolution, Bowie joined the Texas militia, leading forces at the Battle of Concepcion and the Grass Fight. In January 1836, he arrived at the Alamo, where he commanded the volunteer forces until an illness left him bedridden. Bowie died with the other Alamo defenders on March 6. Despite conflicting accounts of the manner of his death, the "most popular, and probably the most accurate" accounts maintain that he died in his bed after emptying his pistols into several Mexican soldiers.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1469:

Ferdinand II of Aragon married Isabella of Castile , a marriage that paved the way to the unification of Aragon and Castile into a single country, Spain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_II_of_Aragon

1781:

American Revolutionary War: British forces led by Lord Cornwallis officially surrendered to Franco-American forces under George Washington, ending the Siege of Yorktown. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Yorktown

1943:

Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, was first isolated by researchers at Rutgers University. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streptomycin

1986:

President of Mozambique Samora Machel and 43 others were killed when his presidential aircraft crashed in the Lebombo Mountains just inside the border of South Africa. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samora_Machel

2001:

SIEV X, an Indonesian fishing boat en route to Christmas Island carrying over 400 asylum seekers, sank in international waters, killing 353 of them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIEV_X

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

jury-rig (v): 1. To make an improvised rigging or assembly from whatever is available. 2. To create a makeshift, ad hoc solution from resources at hand http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jury-rig

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

To be nameless in worthy deeds exceeds an infamous history. --Thomas Browne http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Browne