weapons/fighting styles of the ohio/mississippi flatboatmen (1790-1840)?

[pallas]

there where also some rather infamous bands of pirates who inhabited caves in the southern tip of illinois at the confluence of the ohio and mississippi rivers....two brothers known as the "horrible harpes" lived among them until they where kicked out for running a man tied to a horse off a cliff (which seemed to be a step too far for the pirates who where accustomed to simple murder) The Harpes made no discrimination between age or sex in their victims, often butchering anyone under the slightest provocation including babies. Some sources claim that Micajah ("big" harpe) bashed his infant daughter's head against a tree when her constant crying annoyed him. This would be one of the only crimes he would later confess genuine remorse for.

Big Harpe was shot in the back by a man named John Leiper, who was a member of the posse who was chasing the Harpes after they had killed the wife and child of Moses Stegall and burned down his cabin. The posse found the killers resting and gave a heated chase. Wiley ("little") Harpe escaped and eventually made his way to the Natchez Trace where he joined with an outlaw named Mason.. big harpe is reported to have told Moses Stigall who became impatient waiting for him to die and began to behead him with a large butcher knife "your a goddamned rough butcher, but cut on and be damned!". Stigall then stuck his head on a pole, at the location still known as "Harpe's Head," in Webster County, Kentucky.



Little Harpe eluded the authorities for some time, until allegedly being caught in an effort to get a ransom of his own on the head of an outlaw, Samuel Mason. He was captured in 1803 and hung, following his trial in January 1804. It is currently unknown if indeed this was Harpe, as reports of his crimes continued for decades after the hanging. Little Harpe was beheaded after he was hung and his head stuck on a pole outside of greenville mississippi, a town that does not now exist. After the atrocities committed by the Harpes, many members bearing the family name changed their name in some way to disguise their family heritage. Some went by "Harp" merely removing the final "E", but leaving the pronunciation the same. Others changed the name significantly. Wyatt Earp is a famous example said - though unconfirmed - to have been a member of the Harpe family.

[M ELEY]

Thanks for all the references on this obscure subject, guys.
Jim, the book I read was written by a native Texan who knew the Bowie family in the early part of the 20th century and dug through carefully documented information as well as the typical family information handed down over time. Even many of the surviving members don't question that Black invented the so-called Bowie knife, but it sounds to me that Jim was definitely the one who made it famous. The gentleman's book claims that Bowie knew Lafitte very well, using his connections on the Black Market to sell slaves. It's interesting you mention the notching in the top of the bowie knives. A few years back, I had that strange, unidentified bowie with the notched back, huge bowie blade, MOP grips, brass sheath with S Amer decorations (Gaucho on horse with lance, crane belt hook just like found on Gaucho knives). Much debate on that piece never came to a solid conclusion even among the experts (I sent it off to Mr Flayderman down in FL. He liked it very much, but was cryptic in his response about it. His exact words were, he didn't want "to get in a bidding war over it"- ) Others said Confederate, Amer Southwest, Mexican...Ended up trading it for that lion-hilt sword. sorry to drone on about it, but it was the only true bowie I ever chanced upon.
Pallas, the mere mention of river pirates gets my attention! I had never heard of the Harpe Brother and i do appreciate the information. I'll have to look into this more...

[Jim McDougall]

Excellent notes on the Harpe's Pallas!!! I had never heard of the Earp connection to these obscure characters, but do know they have certain ancestry in Kentucky.

Regions in the Appalachians and the Smokies, as well as through the entire Eastern regions is fascinating and so full of Americana and folklore. Much of our 'history' derives from America's poet laureate Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and his works were a bit more formal form of much of the folklore that became American literature.

Trying to discover more on the legendary keelboater Mike Fink (Phinck) reveals more of the common hyperbole that elevated him, Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, and other figures to almost mythological proportion. Paul Bunyan, John Henry and many others are more in this distinctly American folkore assemblage.

Mike Fink was apparantly killed in a vendatta over an accidental shooting in characteristic hijinks that prevailed among these rugged characters, and it is said it was 1823. With these keelboats moving up and down these rivers which confluenced with the larger tributaries and into the Mississippi, it stands to reason considerable piracy must have existed which the very lucrative cargoes and trade materials they carried.
******here ya go Mark!!********

Mark, I do remember that beauty of a Bowie you had, and did not know you had brought Flayderman into the loop on it! There are few people who know Bowie's or any Americana like Mr. Flayderman, always a sort of personal hero of mine and in my mind, very much like the very historical figures we're discussing. Though you gave up the Bowie....that lionhead you got aint no slouch!!! its a beauty too, and one of the most unusual I've seen....maybe you should post it again.

I once thought that it would be interesting to consider the Bowie knife a truly American ethnographic weapon. Interestingly one of the most prolific makers of Bowie knives became Wostenholm of Sheffield, England! I always wondered what the trademark I *XL meant........then found it simply meant ' I excel'!!

I never realized how much history lives in this country until I truly went on the road! and it is wonderful, and I have always loved history, and admired that of so many countries and cultures, but this is ours!! Best of all, it is a complete amalgam of all those from all over the world...now that is magnificent!

All best regards,
Jim

[pallas]

on a final note about the harpes is that they were apparently born in north carolina, the sons of a tory who fought for the british against his american neighbors...........after the war he fled west to save his own life as his neighbors burned his plantation/farm in revenge.........they were apparently of scottish ancestry although there were some in kentucky who thought they where "of some african blood" because of their "tawny appearence and tightly curled hair"........nothing is known about what happened to their father or if they where even actually born in this country or sent for when they where small children.......


they are widely known as "america's first serial killers" but even that is disputed, as some attribute that title to another obscure yet bloody frontiersman, lewis wetzel, who lead a very mysterious and violent life that was largely unknown to even those of his own time........it is suspected that he may have killed between 70 and 400 indians in his lifetime.....

[Jim McDougall]

[QUOTE=pallas]on a final note about the harpes is that they were apparently born in north carolina, the sons of a tory who fought for the british against his american neighbors...........after the war he fled west to save his own life as his neighbors burned his plantation/farm in revenge.........they were apparently of scottish ancestry although there were some in kentucky who thought they where "of some african blood" because of their "tawny appearence and tightly curled hair"........nothing is known about what happened to their father or if they where even actually born in this country or sent for when they where small children.......
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Pallas, I was wondering about this in your earlier post, and one of the many curious anomalies that is well known in the folklore of these regions, are the people that correspond to these unusual descriptions known as 'melungeons'.

This group of people are pretty much an anthroplogical mystery and often come up in Appalachian and Kentuckian folklore.

All the best,
Jim