15,697
edits
Changes
no edit summary
Until October 1833, Bowie's life continued unabated, but tragedy struck. 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.<ref>Davis, 361-362.</ref> 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.<ref>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.</ref> Bowie was not only complicit in transporting infected mosquitoes into North America, he also counteracted his own recovery with his lifestyle choices.
==== Was Jim Bowie and Booze ==an alcoholic? ==
By several accounts, Jim Bowie was an alcoholic. 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.” <ref>Anson Jones, ''Memorandum and Official Correspondence Relating to the Republic of Texas, Its History and Annexation'' (New York: 1859), 12-13.</ref> 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.
[[File:William_b_travis.JPG|thumbnail|300px|left|Colonel William Travis. Painting by Henry McArdle.]]
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.” <ref>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.</ref> Travis was a traditional army officer with formal training while Bowie was becoming increasingly unmanageable. Colonel Travis concluded that his larger-than-life counterpart could not be restrained. Travis resolved to let Bowie continue and was not responsible "for the drunken irregularities of any man.” <ref>Travis to Smith, 420.</ref>
In a letter from Travis to Texas governor Henry Smith, he complained that “since his election” Bowie has been “roaring drunk all the time.” <ref>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.</ref> Travis was a traditional army officer with formal training while Bowie was becoming increasingly unmanageable. Colonel Travis concluded that his larger-than-life counterpart could not be restrained. Travis resolved to let Bowie continue and was not responsible "for the drunken irregularities of any man.” <ref>Travis to Smith, 420.</ref> 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 Around the Alamo ====
