James Bowie set out on an expedition. On the journey he was accompanied by his brother Rezin and their old friend Caiaphas Ham, who was very valuable because he knew a band of Comanche Indians very well. Bowie knew there were hostile tribes along the San Saba River. Bowie and his team left San Antonio on November 2, 1831 and headed toward the San Saba hills. Within a few weeks they learned from the Comanches that an Indian war party was stalking them and planned to take their horses, weapons, and scalps. The large party of 124 Tawakonis, Waco, and Caddo tribes appeared. Rezin and a man named David Buchanon walked out to negotiate with the Indians. They were greeted by gun fire and Buchanon fell wounded. Rezin carried him back behind the trees. The Indians attacked and even set fires to force them out from cover. The Texans could not fire. If the gun powder touched the fire, it would go boom boom. The Texans were experienced frontiersmen, so they decided to put their backs together and attack with their knives, but the Indians retreated after losing 50 of their men. Bowie had lost only one, with three others wounded, whom he brought back to San Antonio. This battle would improve Bowie’s reputation.
In 1832, Stephen F. Austin asked James Bowie to help the Texas militia take control of Nacogdoches. Austin had founded