The "No.1 Bowie" and "No. 2 Bowie" knives were made by James Black in his bladesmith shop at Washington, Hempstead County Arkansas. The "No.1 Bowie" was recently discovered by the "American Bladesmith Society" and returned to the Historic Arkansas Museum at Washington where metalurgical tests verified it's authencity. It was one of two knives made by James Black in 1831 for James Bowie. Bowie gave James Black a wooden example of what he wanted and Black made two knives, one exactly like Jim Bowie's wooden example and one with James Black's improvements to the blade. Jim Bowie chose the one with the improved blade and carried it to the Battle of the Alamo in 1836. The "No.1 Bowie" is the knife James Black made exactly like James Bowie's wooden prototype. James Black (1800 - ca.1880) had a secret metal forging method similar the the Damascus process and personally designed and made Arkansas Tooth Picks and Bowie knives behind a closed leather curtain where no one could see his secret methods and processes. In 1850, the Sheffield foundry in Sheffield England copied and started producing Bowie knives and sold them in the United States. They were called "Sheffield Bowies."

James Black was nearly blinded by an attack by his ex-parter in 1839 and quit personally making custom knives at his Washington Arkansas bladesmith shops. The blacksmith shops formerly owned by James Black continued to operate through the civil war using negro slaves to make knives, horseshoes, wagon wheels and other essential metal goods. My great grandfather Peyton G.Whaley was as a supervising bladesmith at the shops and a overseer on his father-in-laws nearby plantation when the war started. In 1861, my great grandfather enlisted in Monroe's 1st Cavalry regiment and was detailed to the blacksmith shops until 1862. Then the 1st Arkansas Cavalry regiment, including my great grandfather, was moved to northern Arkansas where they saw hard fighting at the battles of Cane Hill and Prairie Grove.