9. Bowie used fraudulent land titles to fund his Texas acquisitions
When Bowie arrived in Texas, he presented a letter of introduction to Stephen Austin in San Felipe. The letter attested to Bowie’s good character and standing as a citizen of the United States. Bowie then moved on to San Antonio after taking an oath of allegiance to the Mexican government. San Antonio was a city of about 2,500 residents, most of them Mexican. Spanish was the language of the residents and the city’s administration. Bowie’s fluency in the language enabled him to quickly establish himself as an influential citizen. He had himself elected as a Colonel of the Texas militia, organized as a law enforcement body by Stephen Austin. In September, Bowie formally renounced his American citizenship and became a citizen of Mexico.
To acquire land, Bowie approached more than a dozen Mexicans, urging them to apply for land grants. He then purchased the grants, using the estates to which he claimed title in Arkansas and Louisiana as collateral. Most of the titles he presented for lands in the United States were fraudulent. Bowie, as a Mexican citizen, had the right to apply for land grants on his own, but they were limited to eleven leagues per individual (the Spanish league was used as a measurement of area, approximately 4,400 acres). Bowie’s speculation allowed him to sell large tracts of land to incoming settlers in Texas, as well as gave him control over valuable water rights.