Davy Crockett

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Davy Crockett, was an American frontiersman, known best for being a great hunter, trapper & marksman. Together with Andrew Jackson, he fought in the Creek War; 1813-1814 where he became a Colonel. Due to his experience in Washington as an elected political official, he became discouraged, and moved to Texas, to fight for independence. Most remembered for losing his life as one of the defenders of the Alamo. < ref/>

Davy Crockett

David Crockett (David de Crocketagne August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was a 19th-century American folk hero usually referred to as Davy Crockett and by the popular title "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the United States Congress, served in the Texas revolution, and died at the Battle of the Alamo.

Early life

Contract of marriage for October 1805

Crockett was born near the Nolichucky River in Greene County, Tennessee. Descended from Ulster-Scots, he was the fifth of nine children of John and Rebecca Hawkins Crockett. Named David after his paternal grandfather, who was killed at his home in present-day Rogersville, Tennessee by hostile Indians.

Crockett was engaged to marry Margaret Elder,the marriage was never carried out. Well documented that the bride ran out on the weeding & married someone else. Although the wedding ceremony never took place, the contract of marriage was saved by the Dandridge, Tennessee courthouse. Program #1001. Antiques Roadshow. PBS. Tampa Convention Center. Original broadcast 2006-01-09. and Lofaro, Michael A. "Crockett, David". Handbook of Texas Online. URL accessed 2006-05-30.</ref>

On August 12, 1806, Crockett married Polly Finley (1788-1815). Their first child, John, was born July 10, 1807, followed by William (born 1809) and Margaret. David remarried in 1816 to Elizabeth Patton and had three children: Robert, Rebeckah and Matilda by her. On September 24, 1813, he enlisted in the Second Regiment of Tennessee Volunteer Mounted Riflemen for ninety days and served under Colonel John Coffee in the Creek War. He was discharged from service on March 27, 1815. Crockett won the election of lieutenant colonel of the Fifty-seventh Regiment of Militia on March 27, 1818.

Political career

On September 17, 1821, Crockett was elected to the Committee of Propositions and Grievances. In 1826 and 1828 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives. As a Congressman, Crockett supported the rights of squatters, who were barred from buying land in the West without already owning property. He also opposed President Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act, and his opposition to Jackson caused his defeat when he ran for re-election in 1830; however, he won when he ran again in 1832. Crockett was a staunch advocate against government wasteful spending. In his speech entitled "Not Yours to Give", he was critical of his Congressional colleagues' willingness to spend taxpayer dollars to help a widow of a U.S. Navy man who had lived beyond his naval service but would not contribute their own salary for a week to the cause. He described the spending as "unconstitutional" and the once popular proposal died in the Congress largely as a result of the speech.

"Mr. Speaker—I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the sufferings of the living, if suffering there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has not the power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in office to the day of his death, and I have never heard that the government was in arrears to him. Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We cannot, without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money as the payment of a debt. We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much money of our own as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week's pay to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks."

In 1834, his book titled A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett was published. Crockett went east to promote the book and was narrowly defeated for re-election. In 1835, he was again defeated for re-election, saying "I told the people of my district that I would serve them as faithfully as I had done; but if not ... you may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas". And he did just that, joining the Texas Revolution.

Texas Revolution

On October 31, 1835, Crockett left Tennessee for Texas, writing "I want to explore Texas well before I return". He arrived in Nacogdoches, Texas, in early January 1836. On January 14, Crockett and 65 other men signed an oath before Judge John Forbes to the Provisional Government of Texas for six months. "I have taken the oath of government and have enrolled my name as a volunteer and will set out for the Rio Grande in a few days with the volunteers from the United States." Each man was promised about 4,600 acres (19 km²) of land as payment. On February 6, Crockett and about five other men rode into San Antonio de Bexar and camped just outside of the town. They were later greeted by James Bowie and Antonio Menchacha and taken to the home of Don Erasmo Sequin.

Crockett's last home in Rutherford, Tennessee, Gibson County.

William Barret Travis was the commander in charge at the siege at the Alamo. His appeal for help has been used as an example of American courage and fortitude [1]. The Texas forces of 180-250 were overwhelmed by the attacking 1,300-1,600 Mexican soldiers. The Mexican commanders understood their superiority of numbers and position and offered free passage to all concerned. Travis refused to surrender. Legend has it that Crockett went down fighting inside the Alamo compound, but this is as much myth as his play. The actual evidence conflicts with the controversial evidence that has come to light since 1955 (José Enrique de la Peña diary) indicating that there may have been a half dozen or so survivors, with Crockett perhaps among them, taken prisoner by Mexican General Manuel Fernández Castrillón after the battle and summarily executed on orders by Mexican General and President Antonio López de Santa Anna.

One of Crockett's sayings, which were published in almanacs between 1835 and 1856 (along with those of Daniel Boone and Kit Carson) was:

"Be always sure you are right, then go ahead."

In 1838, Robert Patton Crockett went to Texas to administer his father's land claim. In 1854, Elizabeth Crockett finally came to Texas where she died in 1860. John Wesley Crockett became a U.S. congressman, serving two consecutive terms in office, finally retiring in 1843.

Trivia

• In May 1836 Richard Penn Smith wrote "Colonel Crockett's Exploits and Adventures in Texas" and Carey & Hart published this material claiming it was the "authentic diary" of Crockett's taken from the Alamo by a Mexican general who was later killed at the Battle of San Jacinto. In 1884, the book was discovered as a phoney after selling thousands of copies.
• In 1872, a play about Crockett ran for over 2,000 performances ending in 1884 with the death of the lead actor.
• Popular belief is that he wore a coonskin cap, but this is a myth propagated by the actor who played him in a play he commissioned to raise his flagging popularity. The actor was chosen to play the role of the "great frontiersman" and picked a coon skin hat quite by chance. It is the information from this play that gives us the Disney version of Davy Crockett's life—not the reality of the politician.
• Davy Crockett named his favorite rifle "old Betsy". It was a gift from the people of Tennessee. When he went to Texas, he left it at his home in Tennessee. "Old Betsy" now resides in the Alamo Chapel in San Antonio.
• Davy Crockett's tombstone reads: "Davy Crockett, Pioneer, Patriot, Soldier, Trapper, Explorer, State Legislator, Congressman, Martyred at The Alamo. 1786 - 1836."

Crockett's Funeral

Most sources indicate Crockett and all the Alamo defenders were cremated en masse. There were unconfirmed reports that some of the Mexicans who were hired to burn and bury the dead removed Crockett to a secret location and buried him in an unmarked location. Some say that he was secretly transported back to Tennessee to prevent Santa Anna from using his body as a trophy. These are all unconfirmed.

Crockett was cremated when he died and his ashes were returned to Texas in a large procession, where his son promptly scattered them in what is now downtown San Antonio, Texas.

Crockett in media

Television

His legend was again popularized by Walt Disney, who produced a three-episode television series about him, starring Fess Parker: Davy Crockett, Indian Fighter; Davy Crockett Goes to Congress; and Davy Crockett at the Alamo. The shows aired on the ABC network between December 15, 1954, and February 23, 1955. Buddy Ebsen co-starred as his sidekick George E. Russel. {The Last epsiode shows Crockett fighting the Mexicans with his rifle}.

The shows were a success, and coonskin caps like the one he wore in those films were very popular for young boys and girls for a time. Disney said that if he had realized how popular the Davy Crockett series would become, he would not have killed off his hero after three episodes. Davy Crockett did, in fact, make a return with Disney in two further adventures: Davy Crockett and the Keelboat Race and Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. In these two episodes Crockett faced off against Mike Fink, another early American legend.

The publicity for Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier also spawned a brief Davy Crockett Craze amongst the children of Britain in 1956. This Crockett phenomenon is referenced in books of the time such as the Molesworth series by Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle.

Disney emphasized Crocket as being a frontier hero, the symbol of patriotism. Crockett was the one who would take Texas from the Mexicans and lead Texas to victory. It gave people the idea that the United States would win anything at any cost. This was also at the time of the Cold War, so Crockett was what popular culture demanded; a hero that could help people escape from the problems around them and embody a nation that would win all. He was a super American who portrayed the U.S. as a victorious superpower.

The 1955 song "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" was introduced in this television series.

Crockett is mentioned frequently in the final seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine The characters Miles O'Brien and Julian Bashir were fond of Crockett and his last stand at the Alamo. They would often act out the events in Deep Space 9's holosuites.

Movies

Most recent was the John Lee Hancock version of The Alamo in 2003. It is said that Billy Bob Thornton's Crockett is one of the more accurate portrayals. Thornton's Crockett was a man trying to downplay his legend, but in the end he could not escape it. Perhaps this is best described by a scene where Crockett is speaking to Bowie, in which he said, "If it was just me, simple old David from Tennessee, I might drop over that wall some night, take my chances. But that Davy Crockett feller...they're all watchin' him."

See also

• Timeline of the Texas Revolution
• The Ballad of Davy Crockett

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Online Encyclopedia Volume V07, page 477 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. See: http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/CRE_DAH/CROCKETT_DAVID_17861836_.html

Further reading

• Derr, Mark-"The Frontiersman; Davy Crockett" William Morrow and Co. ISBN 0-688-09656-5
• Davis, William C.; Lone Star Rising-The Revolutionary Birth of the Texas Republic; Free Press; ISBN 0-684-86510-6
• Davis, William C; Three Roads to the Alamo; Harper Collins; ISBN 0-06-017334-3
• Roberts, Randy & Olson, James S.; A Line in the Sand-The Alamo in Blood and Memory; Simon & Schuster; ISBN 0-684-83544-4
• Levy, Buddy; The Real Life Adventures of David Crockett; Putnam Press; ISBN 0-399-15278-4

External links

• Crockett's Congressional biography
• The Handbook of Texas Online: David Crockett
• An account of Col. Crockett's tour to the North and down East, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four. . . written by David Crockett, and published 1835, hosted by the Portal to Texas History.
• Sam Houston ; David Crockett. published 1901, hosted by the Portal to Texas History.
• Sketch of David Crockett from A pictorial history of Texas, from the earliest visits of European adventurers, to A.D. 1879, hosted by the Portal to Texas History.
• David Crockett, available for free via Project Gutenberg; written by John S. C. Abbott
• Not Yours To Give, by Col. David Crockett, US Representative from Tennessee
• Davy Crockett, the Common Man - A short and concise history of Crockett and his entrance into popular culture

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