The Bowie knife has been copied since the weapon was first produced. My great grandfather Pvt. Peyton G. Whaley enlisted in Col. Jamed C. Monroe's 1st (6th) Arkansas Cavalry regiment at Washington Arkansas and was detailed as a supervising blacksmith at Washington in Hempstead County Arksnsas. He was a supervisor of blacksmith slaves in the same foundry where Rezin Bowie made the first Bowie knife for his brother Jim Bowie and where the famous Arkansas Tooth-pick was created. It is my understanding that the trade school is today located at the site of the old knife foundry and is the only one in the U.S. that teaches knife-making. The Confederate army did not issue any Bowie knives tothe troops but many soldier carried th efamous D-guard Bowie that was made by their friends at home as gifts. Some original civil war Confederate D-guard Bowie knives have sold for $20,000. I have a copy of a D-guard Bowie and hand made leater scabbard. My reproduction has the inscription "We only want our rights" etched in the blade.

When he enlisted, my great grandfather was detailed as a supervisor of blacksmiths at the knife making foundry in Washington Arkansas where he had worked before the war. He was also a overseer on the Anderson plantation near Washington, the Confederate capitol of Arkansas. In 1862, Pvt.P.G. Whaley moved out with his regiment to northern Arkansas where they joined the fighting in the battles of Prairie Grove and Cane Hill Arkansas.