By Bartee Haile
As nervous American soldiers spent April 7, 1846 building Fort Texas from the ground up, Sarah Bowman calmly cooked three square meals for “her boys.”
Facts about the early life of the frontier fable are scarce. It is believed she was born Sarah Knight between 1812 and 1817 in Tennessee or Missouri. Over the years, she picked up many surnames from a long list of boyfriends and husbands.
President James K. Polk sent Gen. Zachary Taylor and 4,000 troops to Texas on the eve of annexation in 1846 in case Mexico decided to make trouble. By February, mile-long rows of tents lined the beach of Corpus Christi Bay.
Wherever the army went in those days, so-called “camp followers” were never far behind. Two thousand followed the scent of money to the Gulf Coast, where they provided the idle soldiers with every service, legal and illicit, under the hot Texas sun.
Sarah Bowman, as she was known at the time, was a laundress, one of three allotted each company. In addition to her washing chores, she also kept a mess for junior officers and nursed the sick and wounded.
Six-foot-two in her bare feet with flowing red hair and a muscular physique that was the envy of most men, Sarah stood out in any crowd. “Look at the size of her!” exclaimed an astonished recruit. “Why she’s near as big as the ‘Great Western.’”
Come to think of it, the Amazon did remind awe-struck admirers of the transatlantic steamship, the “Titanic” of its day. The nickname stuck, and Sarah must have liked it because she often referred to herself as “The Great Western.”
Gen. Taylor finally got his marching orders in March 1846. The army would go by foot to the southern tip of Texas across the Rio Grande from Matamoros, while a ship would carry the women and those soldiers too ill to travel down the coast to Port Isabel.
“The Great Western” insisted on taking the overland route so she could take care of her “boys.” She bought a mule, a cart and a donkey, loaded them down with pots, pans and provisions and joined the southbound column.
The Americans moved along at a steady clip, until they came to the steep, 30-foot banks of the Arroyo Colorado. As engineers constructed a crossing, a sizable force of Mexicans suddenly appeared and loudly warned Taylor to stay on his side of the stream.
Noticing the nervousness in the ranks, Sarah told “Old Rough and Ready” that “if the general would give her a strong pair of tongs (pants), she would wade that river and whip every scoundrel that dared show himself.” Their spines stiffened by her fighting words, soldiers slid down the bank and chased away the enemy without firing a shot.
Taylor reached his destination on March 28 and immediately set to work constructing a six-sided citadel christened Fort Texas. The war with Mexico officially started four weeks later with a stinging defeat for a badly outnumbered cavalry detachment.
Concern for the security of his supply depot at Port Isabel caused Taylor to leave Fort Texas on May 1. He took all but 500 men with him and delegated the hazardous duty of defending the bastion to Major Jacob Brown.
An hour before sunup on May 3, the Mexican artillery barrage began. While the rest of the women sought shelter in an underground bunker, “The Great Western” prepared the morning meal in the center of the besieged fort. As if that were not dangerous enough, she delivered breakfast to those unable to leave their posts.
The nonstop bombardment lasted for seven days. One of the 2,700 shells that fell on Fort Texas mangled Major Brown’s right leg resulting in his death three days later.
The siege was broken with the return of Taylor on May 9. The stirring story of Sarah Bowman’s courage under fire was picked up by the press, which transformed “The Great Western” into “The Heroine of Fort Brown,” renamed for the dead major.
Sarah followed Taylor into the interior of Mexico, first to Monterrey and then to Saltillo. She opened the American House, a home away from home for lonely soldiers where they could find good food, strong drink and female companionship.
During the Battle of Buena Vista fought seven miles south of Saltillo, a panic-stricken deserter burst into Sarah’s place screaming all was lost. She silenced him with a mighty punch and roared, “There ain’t Mexicans enough in Mexico to whip old Taylor! You spread that report and I’ll beat you to death!”
In July 1848, five months after the end of the Mexican War, “The Great Western” asked to join a departing contingent. The commanding officer cited a recent rule change banning all women except the wives of military personnel.
Sarah faced the troops and inquired, “Who wants a wife with $15,000 and the biggest leg in Mexico? Come, my beauties. Don’t all speak at once. Who is the lucky man?” A private raised his hand, and she had her ticket out of Mexico.
After a short stay in El Paso, “The Great Western” left Texas in 1850 never to return. The larger-than-life legend spent the rest of her days in Arizona, where she died in 1866 from a tarantula bite and was buried with military honors in the Fort Yuma cemetery.
Still don’t have a copy of “Texas Boomtowns: A History of Blood and Oil”? Order Bartee’s latest book today with a check for $28.80 to Bartee Haile, P.O. Box 152, Friendswood, TX 77549 or online at barteehaile.com
