Difference between revisions of "The Mysterious Illness of Jim Bowie: How Did He Contribute to His Own Decline"
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Acting irrationally from the time of the informal election until the siege began, Bowie remained in a drunken or confused state. Rowdiness ensued when he began releasing Mexican prisoners and stopping “carts laden with the good of private families”.<ref>J.J. Baugh to Henry Smith, Bejar, February 13, 1836, in ''Official Correspondence of the Texan Revolution 1835-1836'', ed. William C. Binkley (New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1936), 1:421-422. J.J. Baugh was Adjunct to the Post of Bejar.</ref> To harass ordinary citizens was uncharacteristic of Bowie. These actions strongly suggest that Bowie was not only drunk but was acting irrationally and out of character. Although he remained literate, his decision making abilities were compromised and Bowie had been described as confused or disoriented, which are symptoms that present in end-stage yellow fever.<ref>CDC, ''Yellow Fever.''</ref> Conversely, Bowie remained physically active and there are no records of him showing overt signs of physical illness at this time. By most accounts, Bowie arrived inside the Alamo compound without illness. Signs and symptoms; however, may not present until the disease is well advanced. | Acting irrationally from the time of the informal election until the siege began, Bowie remained in a drunken or confused state. Rowdiness ensued when he began releasing Mexican prisoners and stopping “carts laden with the good of private families”.<ref>J.J. Baugh to Henry Smith, Bejar, February 13, 1836, in ''Official Correspondence of the Texan Revolution 1835-1836'', ed. William C. Binkley (New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1936), 1:421-422. J.J. Baugh was Adjunct to the Post of Bejar.</ref> To harass ordinary citizens was uncharacteristic of Bowie. These actions strongly suggest that Bowie was not only drunk but was acting irrationally and out of character. Although he remained literate, his decision making abilities were compromised and Bowie had been described as confused or disoriented, which are symptoms that present in end-stage yellow fever.<ref>CDC, ''Yellow Fever.''</ref> Conversely, Bowie remained physically active and there are no records of him showing overt signs of physical illness at this time. By most accounts, Bowie arrived inside the Alamo compound without illness. Signs and symptoms; however, may not present until the disease is well advanced. | ||
| − | == Conditions in and | + | == Conditions In and Around the Alamo == |
| + | Doctor Amos Pollard, who was present at the hospital in Bejar, wrote to Governor Smith that he was “nearly destitute of medicine” and continued to say he could be “of very little use to the sick” were an attack to occur.<ref>Amos Pollard to Henry Smith, Bejar, February 13, 1836, in ''Official Correspondence of the Texan Revolution, 1835-1836,'' ed. William C. Binkley (New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1936), 1:423.</ref>Lack of medicine combined with the lack of nutritious food and poor sanitary conditions created an ideal environment for disease to thrive. A water-well in the center of the Alamo courtyard did provide fresh water, but was also a breeding ground for mosquitoes. It is possible that Bowie contracted yellow fever for a second time if he did not fully recovered from his first bout with the disease. | ||
| + | [[File:battlealamo.jpg|thumbnail|300px|Battle of the Alamo as depicted in the Saturday Evening Post, 1836.]] | ||
| + | Upon contracting yellow fever in 1833, Bowie had access to medicinal plants and herbs which may have aided in his recuperation and provided a false sense of recovery. While confined at the Alamo compound, he and his peers had access to sparce amounts of food and what was available held little nutritional value or healing qualities. The combination of his noted binge drinking, the breeding well for mosquitoes and the sources from which they derived the disease ——— slaves ——— the setting was ideal for Bowie to contract yellow fever a second time. The reports are conflicting as to the events surrounding Bowie’s death, but all concur with regards to the symptoms he was presenting. | ||
| + | |||
| + | == Accounts of Death == | ||
| + | [[File:bowieinbed.jpg|thumbnail|200px|Depiction of Jim Bowie fighting at the Alamo from his death bed. Painting by Charles A. Stephens, 1898.]] | ||
Revision as of 02:03, 15 June 2016
Directly or indirectly, Jim Bowie’s enigmatic illness resulted from his own actions. A hearty man of six feet in height, Bowie was a walking contradiction; a slave trader who fought for freedom, a generous and congenial man who called out his thunderous temper on a whim, and a commanding leader who was prone to binges of sloppy drunkenness. He was determined in his actions and proceeded through life with an indestructible will, yet found himself bed-ridden as he took his last breath. Many suppositions have been made as to the cause of his infirm, including typhoid fever, pulmonary consumption, and traumatic injury. Other possibilities will be proposed in this text and will all lead to the conclusion that by indirect association or direct action, Jim Bowie contributed to his own demise.
Contents
Exposure to Yellow Fever
James Bowie died on the morning of March 6, 1836 at the hands of the Mexican Army during the siege at the Alamo. His journey to San Antonio began in Kentucky, where he was born in 1796, and continued along the Cumberland and Mississippi Rivers until he reached Louisiana with his family in the early 19th century.[1]The Bowie family owned a plantation in southern Louisiana in 1809, one year after the United States Constitution barred the international trade of slaves. Upon the death of his father in 1821, James and his brothers bought and sold slaves illegally through pirated slave ships in the Caribbean. Slaves and the ships that contained them had originated in Africa and were bound for the West Indies.
African men and women possessed a higher immunity to mosquito-borne illnesses than whites due to exposure over time. Trafficking slaves into the United States exposed Anglo-Americans to infected mosquitoes that were transported along with slaves on filthy, wooden ships. Africans living in the West Indies proved resistant to these types of illnesses, especially yellow fever, as in evident in statistics reported from St. James, Jamaica between 1817 and 1820 showing that the largest number of Africans died of “old age”.[2]Dealing directly with pirated slaves and the surrounding unsanitary conditions put Bowie at a higher risk of coming into contact with an infected mosquito; the only way in which one can contract yellow fever.[3]Consequentially, Jim Bowie participated in and enabled the onset of one potential cause of his illness.
Bowie continued on as usual until his life was sadly disrupted. October 1833 was perhaps the most devastating time of his life. While in Natchez he learned the news that his wife had passed away due to cholera. This occurred just days after he himself recovered from a bout with yellow fever.[4] According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), once having recovered from yellow fever one is usually protected against subsequent infection. This, however, is under ideal circumstances wherein the individual is in optimal physical condition. Alcohol and malnutrition impede the immunity process.[5]Bowie was not only complicit in transporting infected mosquitoes into North America, he also counteracted his own recovery with his lifestyle choices.
Bowie and Booze
Jim Bowie had a penchant for alcohol to the extent of what we now call, "alcohol abuse." Anson Jones, a physician who would later become the fourth and final President of the Republic of Texas, had the experience of meeting Bowie and Sam Houston while the two were in consultation at San Felipe. Jones found Houston to be the rowdy leader while he found Bowie “dead drunk”.[6] The reasons for Bowie’s alcohol abuses have yet to be determined. He undoubtedly suffered from physical pain resulting from him skirmishes and battles that included gunshot wounds. Depression is another possible explanation for his over-indulgences due to the loss of his wife and child to cholera in 1833. Regardless of why he drank, he continued to do so at an accelerated rate.
Neither Colonel William Travis nor confinement at the Alamo complex quelled Bowie’s drinking. Travis, commanding the regular army, was soon pitted against Bowie in a dispute as to which man would lead the forces in Bejar. The volunteer army, untrusting of Travis’ official authority, instinctively followed Bowie’s directives. Trying to placate all those concerned, Travis ordered an election to choose either Travis or Bowie to lead the troops. The result put Bowie in command of the volunteers and Travis maintained control of the formal troops. In a letter from Travis to Texas governor Henry Smith, he complained that “since his election” Bowie has been “roaring drunk all the time”.[7] Travis was a traditional army officer with formal training while Bowie continued his irregular behaviors. Colonel Travis came to the conclusion that his larger-than-life counterpart was not to be restrained and thus, resolved to let Bowie continue but shunned responsibility "for the drunken irregularities of any man”.[8]
Acting irrationally from the time of the informal election until the siege began, Bowie remained in a drunken or confused state. Rowdiness ensued when he began releasing Mexican prisoners and stopping “carts laden with the good of private families”.[9] To harass ordinary citizens was uncharacteristic of Bowie. These actions strongly suggest that Bowie was not only drunk but was acting irrationally and out of character. Although he remained literate, his decision making abilities were compromised and Bowie had been described as confused or disoriented, which are symptoms that present in end-stage yellow fever.[10] Conversely, Bowie remained physically active and there are no records of him showing overt signs of physical illness at this time. By most accounts, Bowie arrived inside the Alamo compound without illness. Signs and symptoms; however, may not present until the disease is well advanced.
Conditions In and Around the Alamo
Doctor Amos Pollard, who was present at the hospital in Bejar, wrote to Governor Smith that he was “nearly destitute of medicine” and continued to say he could be “of very little use to the sick” were an attack to occur.[11]Lack of medicine combined with the lack of nutritious food and poor sanitary conditions created an ideal environment for disease to thrive. A water-well in the center of the Alamo courtyard did provide fresh water, but was also a breeding ground for mosquitoes. It is possible that Bowie contracted yellow fever for a second time if he did not fully recovered from his first bout with the disease.
Upon contracting yellow fever in 1833, Bowie had access to medicinal plants and herbs which may have aided in his recuperation and provided a false sense of recovery. While confined at the Alamo compound, he and his peers had access to sparce amounts of food and what was available held little nutritional value or healing qualities. The combination of his noted binge drinking, the breeding well for mosquitoes and the sources from which they derived the disease ——— slaves ——— the setting was ideal for Bowie to contract yellow fever a second time. The reports are conflicting as to the events surrounding Bowie’s death, but all concur with regards to the symptoms he was presenting.
Accounts of Death
- ↑ William C. Davis, Three Roads to the Alamo (New York: Harper, 1998), 35-62.
- ↑ B.W. Higman, Slave Population and Economy in Jamaica, 1807-1834 (University of the Indies Press, 1995), 112.
- ↑ CDC, " Yellow Fever” http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/yellowfever/YF_Transmission.html (accessed May 1, 2010).
- ↑ Davis, 361-362.
- ↑ Valerie Carter, RN, BSN, MSN, interview by author, Phoenix, Arizona, April 15, 2010.It has been historically documented that Bowie consumed a great deal of alcohol. Also, malnutrition must be distinguished from under-nutrition in that an individual may be consuming substantial calories that lack nutritional value.
- ↑ Anson Jones, Memorandum and Official Correspondence Relating to the Republic of Texas, Its History and Annexation (New York: 1859), 12-13.
- ↑ Travis to Henry Smith, Bejar, February 13, 1836, in Official Correspondence of the Texan Revolution, 1835-1836, ed. William C. Binkley (New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1936), 1:419-420. Travis continues in the letter with descriptions of Bowie acting in a disorderly fashion, destroying property, and releasing incarcerated prisoners.
- ↑ Travis to Smith, 420.
- ↑ J.J. Baugh to Henry Smith, Bejar, February 13, 1836, in Official Correspondence of the Texan Revolution 1835-1836, ed. William C. Binkley (New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1936), 1:421-422. J.J. Baugh was Adjunct to the Post of Bejar.
- ↑ CDC, Yellow Fever.
- ↑ Amos Pollard to Henry Smith, Bejar, February 13, 1836, in Official Correspondence of the Texan Revolution, 1835-1836, ed. William C. Binkley (New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1936), 1:423.