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Rezin Pleasant Bowie (September 8, 1793 – January 17, 1841) was a planter, inventor, and adventurer. He also served three terms in the Louisiana House of Representatives.〔(Rezin Pleasant Bowie )〕 With his brother James "Jim" Bowie, Rezin Bowie smuggled slaves and worked as a land speculator. The brothers set up the first steam-powered sugar mill in Louisiana. Bowie took credit for inventing the Bowie knife, which came to prominence when used by James in the Sandbar Fight of 1827. After James moved to Mexican Texas, Rezin accompanied him on an expedition to find the Lost San Saba Mine. They did not find the mine, but their adventures in fending off a much larger Indian raiding party became widely known. In his later years Bowie suffered from poor eyesight. He lived with his wife and daughters on a plantation in Louisiana. ==Early years== Rezin Bowie was born September 8, 1793, near what is now Gallatin, Tennessee, in Sumner County, Southwest Territory. one of ten children born to Rezin Bowie and Elve Ap-Catesby Jones.〔 Bowie was one of twins, with brother Rhesa.〔 His father had been injured while fighting in the American Revolution, and, in 1782, married the young woman who had nursed him back to health. Elve was probably related to Thomas ap Catesby Jones (1790-1858), who was the naval commander at the 1814 Battle of Lake Borgne in Louisiana. The Bowies moved repeatedly, first settling in Georgia, where they had six children, and then moving to the Southwest Territory (if they arrived there before 1790, this area was still part of North Carolina) in the future state of Tennessee.〔Hopewell (1994), pp. 2–3. Groneman (1990), p. 19. Edmondson (2000), p. 86.〕 The year after Bowie's birth, the family moved to Logan County in the brand-new state of Kentucky.〔 By 1796, his father owned 8 slaves, 7 horses, 11 head of cattle, and 1 stud horse. The following year the family acquired along the Red River. In 1800, Rezin Bowie sold his property and the family spent two years in what would become Missouri many years later. At this time it was part of Upper Louisiana or what the Spanish colonial authorities called the District of Illinois. The Bowie family moved to Lower Louisiana in 1802, settling on the Bushley Bayou in Rapides Parish.〔 The Bowie family moved again in 1809, settling on Bayou Teche in the now-American Territory of Orleans, before finding a permanent home in Opelousas, in St. Landry Parish, in 1812. That year, the Territory of Orleans became the U.S. state of Louisiana.〔Hopewell (1994), p. 4.〕 By this time, Rezin was about 19 years old. Each of their homes had been on the frontier, and even as a small child Bowie was expected to help clear the land and plant crops. He and his siblings were educated at home, and they learned to read and write in English. With his younger brother James, Rezin learned to speak, read, and write Spanish and French fluently.〔Hopewell (1994), pp. 5–6.〕 The children were also taught how to survive on the frontier, as well as how to fish and run a farm and plantation.〔Hopewell (1994), p. 7.〕 Bowie converted to Roman Catholicism in 1814 and married Margaret Nevil in the St. Landry Parish Catholic Church on September 15, 1814. Later that year he and James enlisted in the Louisiana militia in response to Andrew Jackson's plea for volunteers to fight the British. The War of 1812 ended early in 1815, and the Bowie brothers arrived in New Orleans too late to participate in the fighting.〔Edmondson (2000), p. 88.〕 Bowie later joined the Avoyelles Battalion and was commissioned a captain of the Mounted Rifles in 1825, later becoming a colonel.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rezin Bowie」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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