Who was Davy Crockett?
Davy Crockett (1786 to 1836) was a Tennessee frontiersman, Creek War militia scout and politician who served three terms in the US House of Representatives and broke with Andrew Jackson over Indian removal. After losing his seat he went to Texas, joined the Alamo garrison and died when Mexican troops stormed the fort on 6 March 1836.1
The one battle on this site that Crockett fought in is the Battle of the Alamo, where he died in 1836. Before Texas he served as a militia scout in the Creek War of 1813 and 1814, including the destruction of the Creek town of Tallushatchee, and in 1814 and 1815 he joined the campaign against the Native allies of the British in Florida.2
What was Davy Crockett famous for?
In his own lifetime Crockett was famous as a hunter, marksman and teller of backwoods tales who carried his frontier image into Congress. A popular 1831 play caricatured him, comic almanacs printed tall tales under his name, and his death at the Alamo in 1836 turned him into one of the best-known American folk heroes.3
A backwoods boyhood and the Creek War
David Crockett was born on 17 August 1786 in Greene County, East Tennessee, near the point where Limestone Creek meets the Nolichucky River. Work and his father's debts kept him from steady schooling: as a boy he was hired out to drive cattle and spent long stretches away from home as a laborer. In 1806 he married Mary "Polly" Finley.4
War made him a public man. After the attack on Fort Mims in 1813, he enlisted in the Tennessee militia as a scout and took part, under Andrew Jackson, in the destruction of Tallushatchee, which the Handbook of Texas calls a retributive massacre; Crockett's own account describes warriors burned alive in a house. He went home when his enlistment ran out, reenlisted in 1814 and spent the last months of the war in Florida, hunting the Native allies of the British rather than fighting British troops.5
The frontier congressman
Crockett rose through local offices as a justice of the peace, town commissioner of Lawrenceburg and militia officer, and in 1821 he won a seat in the Tennessee legislature. He lost his first race for Congress in 1825, then served in the US House of Representatives from 1827 to 1831 and again from 1833 to 1835, losing in between when he ran for a third term.6
Why did Davy Crockett break with Andrew Jackson?
Crockett first went to Congress as a supporter of Andrew Jackson, but in his second term he split with the president over land policy for poor western settlers and, above all, over the Indian removal bill of 1830. In his 1834 autobiography he called it "a wicked, unjust measure" and said he voted against it whatever the cost.7
The American Battlefield Trust and the Texas Military Department both describe him as the only member of the Tennessee delegation to oppose the act. The stand cost him his seat at the next election. He regained it in 1833, then lost it again to Adam Huntsman, a lawyer with a wooden leg backed by Jackson. The Handbook of Texas dates that defeat to 1835; the House biographical directory lists it under 1834.8
Why did Davy Crockett go to Texas?
After his final defeat, Crockett left Tennessee to explore Texas, then in revolt against Mexico, and perhaps to move his family there. He also hoped Texas would revive his political fortunes. The Handbook of Texas and the Texas State Library both quote his parting line: "You may all go to hell and I will go to Texas."9
He left home on 1 November 1835 with three companions, at first only to explore. At Nacogdoches in January 1836 he took the oath to the provisional government of Texas and enlisted as a volunteer for six months, but only after insisting that the oath bind him to a future "republican" government, since he would not swear to one that might prove despotic. He reached San Antonio de Béxar around 8 February. Bruce Winders, the Alamo's former historian, notes that Crockett did not lead a company of "Tennessee Mounted Volunteers" there: he came with a few friends and a nephew.10
How did Davy Crockett die?
Crockett was killed at the Alamo on 6 March 1836, when Santa Anna's army stormed the old mission at San Antonio de Béxar at dawn and killed every defender. How he died is disputed: some accounts say he fell fighting, while the Mexican officer José Enrique de la Peña wrote that he was captured and executed.11
Santa Anna arrived at Béxar on 23 February and besieged the fort for almost two weeks. On 25 February William Travis wrote that "the Hon. David Crockett was seen at all points, animating the men to do their duty." The final assault lasted about ninety minutes. The official list now names 189 defenders, and estimates of Mexican killed and wounded range from about 400 (American Battlefield Trust) to about 600 (Handbook of Texas).12
Did Davy Crockett surrender at the Alamo?
Nobody knows for certain. De la Peña's narrative says Crockett was among about seven survivors brought before Santa Anna, who ordered them killed. Joe, Travis's enslaved servant and one of the few survivors, said Crockett was found dead with slain Mexican soldiers around him. The Handbook of Texas concludes that it is almost impossible to determine how he died.13
De la Peña's account was published in Mexico in 1955 and in English in 1975, and it set off a long dispute over how Crockett died. Some critics, notably William Groneman in 1994, called the manuscript a forgery, while others defended it. De la Peña built his narrative from a field diary, later recollections and other officers' reports. Dan Kilgore's How Did Davy Die? (1978) argued that his version deserved to be taken seriously.14
Brenda Gunn of the University of Texas Center for American History, which holds the manuscript, reported in 2006 that examination of its paper and handwriting found no signs of forgery. Stories of executed prisoners had already appeared in the press within weeks of the battle. Legend preferred a last stand: almanacs and later pictures showed Crockett fighting until he fell, often swinging his rifle.15
Where is Davy Crockett buried?
Davy Crockett has no individual grave. After the battle the bodies of the Alamo defenders, his among them, were piled and burned, and the ashes were later buried somewhere in the San Antonio area. Juan Seguín later directed burial services for the remains, but accounts differ on where they lie and the exact site is not known.16
His memorial stands on Alamo Plaza in front of the Alamo. The Alamo Cenotaph, whose theme is the Spirit of Sacrifice, carries portrait statues of Crockett, Travis, James Bowie and James Bonham by the sculptor Pompeo Coppini, and it is inscribed with the names of men who died in the battle.17
How is Davy Crockett remembered?
Mostly as a legend rather than as a congressman. Comic almanacs appeared under his name from the 1830s to 1856, and in the 1950s Walt Disney's television series and film starring Fess Parker, followed by John Wayne's 1960 film The Alamo, fixed the image of Davy Crockett in a coonskin cap in American memory.18
The legend began in his lifetime. Audiences recognized him in Nimrod Wildfire, the hero of James Kirke Paulding's 1831 play The Lion of the West, whose advertisements showed a coonskin hat. In 1834 he published A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee, with its motto "Be always sure you're right, then go ahead!" The Handbook of Texas judges that, whatever fabrications gathered around him, he "proved a formidable hero in his own right."19
Notes
A number in the text points to a note; each note names the works that paragraph draws on, listed in full under Sources.
- Michael A. Lofaro, “Crockett, David”; U.S. House of Representatives, “CROCKETT, David”; American Battlefield Trust, “Davy Crockett”. ↩
- Michael A. Lofaro, “Crockett, David”; David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, of the State of Tennessee; American Battlefield Trust, “Davy Crockett”; U.S. House of Representatives, “CROCKETT, David”. ↩
- Michael A. Lofaro, “Crockett, David”; Brenda Gunn, “Davy Crockett Is Dead, But How He Died Lives On”; American Battlefield Trust, “Davy Crockett”. ↩
- Michael A. Lofaro, “Crockett, David”; U.S. House of Representatives, “CROCKETT, David”; American Battlefield Trust, “Davy Crockett”. ↩
- Michael A. Lofaro, “Crockett, David”; American Battlefield Trust, “Davy Crockett”; David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, of the State of Tennessee. ↩
- Michael A. Lofaro, “Crockett, David”; U.S. House of Representatives, “CROCKETT, David”; Texas Military Department, “A Crockett Signs Up to Serve Texas”. ↩
- Michael A. Lofaro, “Crockett, David”; U.S. House of Representatives, “CROCKETT, David”; American Battlefield Trust, “Davy Crockett”; David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, of the State of Tennessee; Texas Military Department, “A Crockett Signs Up to Serve Texas”. ↩
- American Battlefield Trust, “Davy Crockett”; Texas Military Department, “A Crockett Signs Up to Serve Texas”; Michael A. Lofaro, “Crockett, David”; Connie L. Lester, “Adam R. Huntsman”; U.S. House of Representatives, “CROCKETT, David”. ↩
- Michael A. Lofaro, “Crockett, David”; Connie L. Lester, “Adam R. Huntsman”; R. Bruce Winders, “The Myth and Legend of David Crockett”; Brenda Gunn, “Davy Crockett Is Dead, But How He Died Lives On”; Texas State Library and Archives Commission, “David Crockett”. ↩
- Michael A. Lofaro, “Crockett, David”; Texas Military Department, “A Crockett Signs Up to Serve Texas”; R. Bruce Winders, “The Myth and Legend of David Crockett”; Stephen L. Hardin, “Alamo, Battle of the”. ↩
- Michael A. Lofaro, “Crockett, David”; U.S. House of Representatives, “CROCKETT, David”; American Battlefield Trust, “Davy Crockett”; Brenda Gunn, “Davy Crockett Is Dead, But How He Died Lives On”. ↩
- Michael A. Lofaro, “Crockett, David”; American Battlefield Trust, “Davy Crockett”; Brenda Gunn, “Davy Crockett Is Dead, But How He Died Lives On”; Digital History, “William Travis”; Stephen L. Hardin, “Alamo, Battle of the”; Texas Military Department, “A Crockett Signs Up to Serve Texas”. ↩
- Michael A. Lofaro, “Crockett, David”; Brenda Gunn, “Davy Crockett Is Dead, But How He Died Lives On”; The Alamo, “Joe's Account of the Battle of the Alamo”. ↩
- Michael A. Lofaro, “Crockett, David”; Mary Elise Grassmuck, “Peña, José Enrique de la”; Brenda Gunn, “Davy Crockett Is Dead, But How He Died Lives On”. ↩
- Brenda Gunn, “Davy Crockett Is Dead, But How He Died Lives On”; Michael A. Lofaro, “Crockett, David”. ↩
- American Battlefield Trust, “Davy Crockett”; U.S. House of Representatives, “CROCKETT, David”; The Alamo, “Joe's Account of the Battle of the Alamo”; Jesús F. de la Teja, “Seguín, Juan Nepomuceno”; Nicholas Frank, “Cenotaph Artist Pompeo Coppini Remains Central to San Antonio Traditions”. ↩
- Handbook of Texas Online, “Alamo Cenotaph”; Nicholas Frank, “Cenotaph Artist Pompeo Coppini Remains Central to San Antonio Traditions”. ↩
- Brenda Gunn, “Davy Crockett Is Dead, But How He Died Lives On”; Michael A. Lofaro, “David Crockett”; Michael A. Lofaro, “Crockett, David”. ↩
- Michael A. Lofaro, “Crockett, David”; Brenda Gunn, “Davy Crockett Is Dead, But How He Died Lives On”; David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, of the State of Tennessee. ↩
Sources
- Michael A. Lofaro, revised by William C. Davis, “Crockett, David”, Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association.
- U.S. House of Representatives (History, Art & Archives), “CROCKETT, David” (Biographical Directory of the United States Congress).
- American Battlefield Trust, “Davy Crockett”.
- David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, of the State of Tennessee (Philadelphia, 1834; sixth edition), Project Gutenberg.
- Brenda Gunn, “Davy Crockett Is Dead, But How He Died Lives On”, Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society (2006).
- Texas Military Department, “A Crockett Signs Up to Serve Texas”.
- Connie L. Lester, “Adam R. Huntsman”, Tennessee Encyclopedia, Tennessee Historical Society.
- R. Bruce Winders, “The Myth and Legend of David Crockett”, The Alamo (official site), with transcribed documents.
- Texas State Library and Archives Commission, “David Crockett” (Texas Treasures: The Alamo).
- Stephen L. Hardin, “Alamo, Battle of the”, Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association.
- Digital History, University of Houston, “William Travis” (The Alamo: Preparations for the Battle), transcribing Travis's letter of 25 February 1836.
- The Alamo, “Joe's Account of the Battle of the Alamo”, transcribing William Fairfax Gray, Diary of Col. Wm. F. Gray, entry for 20 March 1836.
- Mary Elise Grassmuck, “Peña, José Enrique de la”, Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association.
- Jesús F. de la Teja, “Seguín, Juan Nepomuceno”, Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association.
- Nicholas Frank, “Cenotaph Artist Pompeo Coppini Remains Central to San Antonio Traditions”, San Antonio Report.
- Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association, “Alamo Cenotaph”.
- Michael A. Lofaro, “David Crockett”, Tennessee Encyclopedia, Tennessee Historical Society.
