Davy Crockett

I

Introduction

Davy Crockett (1786-1836), American frontier hero and political leader whose death at The Alamo made him a national hero. Crockett was an expert scout, a crack rifleman, and a noted hunter. By his own account he killed 105 bears in about nine months. He was good-natured and always willing to joke about himself, even about his worst misfortunes, and he became known as a witty narrator of tall tales.

David Crockett was born in Greene County, Tennessee, on August 17, 1786. He spent much of his youth as a backwoods hunter, and his character was formed by the pioneer hardships on the Tennessee frontier. He was a cattle driver at the age of 12, a wagon driver at 14, and at 16 he went to work for men to whom his father owed $76. After paying off his father’s debt, he continued his employment to gain six months of schooling. Crockett later boasted about his lack of education and said he considered proper spelling “contrary to nature.”

II

Career

Crockett’s struggle against poverty drove him westward across Tennessee, and he eventually settled near Reelfoot Lake on the Obion River. In 1806 he married, and after his wife’s death in 1815, he married again the following year. He served with General Andrew Jackson, later seventh president of the United States, in the campaign against Native Americans of the Creek tribe in 1813. This experience broadened his ambition, and from 1821 to 1825 he was a member of the Tennessee State Legislature. In 1827 he became a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was defeated for reelection in 1831 but was victorious in 1833.

In Congress Crockett became known for the coonskin cap he wore and for his rustic wit and native shrewdness. A courageous legislator, he was dedicated to the defense of his squatter constituents against land speculators and planter aristocrats. His political career was dominated by his determination to pass a bill granting land to people living as squatters in western Tennessee. These efforts involved him in political conflict with such powerful leaders as Jackson and James Polk, later 11th president of the United States.

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Crockett opposed much of Jackson’s proposed legislation, angering both the president and members of Crockett’s own Democratic Party. When Jackson's supporters mounted a concentrated attack against him, Crockett joined the Whig Party. The Democrats, however, mustered enough strength to defeat Crockett in the election of 1834.

So bitter was Crockett after his defeat that he “seceded” from the United States and in 1835 set out for Texas, which was then under Mexican rule. There, Crockett joined the Texan struggle for independence. He was killed on March 6, 1836, while helping to defend The Alamo at San Antonio.

III

Reputation

Crockett’s heroic death at The Alamo established him as a national hero. On the strength of this fame, his son John Wesley Crockett went to Congress in 1839 and 1841, where he succeeded in securing passage of the Tennessee Vacant Land Bill for which his father had fought so desperately.

During Crockett’s political career members of the Whig Party, making skillful use of his renowned backwoods humor and eccentricities, brought out a number of books attributed to him. These included A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, of the State of Tennessee (1834) and Sketches & Eccentricities of Colonel David Crockett of West Tennessee (1833). It is improbable that Crockett was the sole author, but it seems likely that he aided in their writing. Popular pamphlets, known as Crockett Almanacs, were issued by several publishers in various cities between 1835 and 1856. In addition to the usual contents of such publications, the almanacs contained tall tales based on oral legends about Crockett and other frontier heroes, including Daniel Boone and Kit Carson. These almanacs did much to establish Crockett as a figure in American legend and folklore.

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