Davy Crockett

Davy Crockett was a man of multiple identities. There's the hunter and frontiersman
of the backwoods. There was the political Crockett, always arguing for what was
right. Then there was the historical Crockett, the one that fought long and hard at the
Alamo for Texas Independence. Lastly, there was the mythical Crockett, the Crockett
of tales and legend. Though part of his character may seem fictitious to some people,
after extensive research, he is as real as ever to me =)

August 17, 1786, was the day the American legend was born. There was some
contradiction on where in Tennessee, but it turns out that a place called Nolanchucky
was the most popular. Davy was the only child to parents John and Rebecca
Crockett. Grandfather and grandmother Crockett, both of Irish descent, were killed
during a Creek Indian raid. John Crockett, being a semi-successful businessman,
owned a well-known tavern in the heart of Tennessee. Still, he owed a large sum of
money to a few friends and neighbors who helped start the business.

Davy soon took on the tricks to being a good woodsman. At the young age of eight,
his father gave him a rifle. He told Davy that he would have to bring home some sort
of game each day. The game would be his supper. At first, young Crockett had some
trouble shooting game with such a heavy rifle like the one he had, but soon, he started
bringing home all sorts of game. They ranged from sparrows and possums, to
raccoons and wild turkey. He quickly knew the many markings and cries of the
animals of the forest.

Soon though, his father had to pay off his debt to a German farmer and bound him
out to work for the farmer. At the age of twelve, Davy was driving cattle for the
farmer all the way to Virginia. Soon after, the farmer asked Davy to stay with him for
a while, to work on the farm for him. Davy, feeling much obliged to do so, stayed for
a year or so and helped out. The farmer paid him for his work, and he set out for
home. He hitched a few rides with wagons heading west. When he got there, his
father greeted him without surprise.

For a few weeks Davy went to school, but he soon got into a fight with the
schoolmaster (he was caught playing hooky) and with another boy. In both fearing his
father's anger, and thirsting for more adventure, he slipped away one night and bound
himself out to another drover taking cattle to Virginia. While farm work wasn't much
to his liking, he finally earned enough money to buy himself new clothing with a small
amount left over. During one of his journeys, a deceitful stranger fooled him out of
his small fortune and spent it all. The next few years went on like that for Davy, doing
farm work whenever he could to earn money. Finally, he headed for home. On
arriving, he found that his father was in debt again, this time to another neighbor and a
Quaker farmer. For nearly two years, he helped his father pay off the debts the usual
way, farming and driving cattle.

It was the year of 1806, and he was now close to the age of eighteen. He went back
to his favorite thing in the world, hunting. He was close to six feet tall by now and had
strong, bold features. For instance, he was muscular with dark eyes and a deep tan.
As you would expect, he wore a deerskin shirt and a coonskin hat. If you didn't know
him, you probably could have mistaken him for an Indian. He perfected his skill with
the rifle during this time, and won many shooting matches that he went to.

He had an interest in dancing, and was also known for his dancing skills. During one
of his frolics, (dance gatherings) he met a nice young girl by the name of Mary (Polly)
Finley. She was blue-eyed and yellow-haired with a strong personality. He
immediately became attracted to her and asked for her hand in marriage. She agreed,
and it was decided upon that the wedding was to be held at John Crockett's tavern. At
first, Polly's mother was unwilling to let Polly go, but Mr. Finley gave his firmest
consent. The wedding took place on a Thursday and a frolic followed the ceremony.
Later on, Mrs. Finley gifted the couple with two cows and two calves. Polly was
given a spinning wheel and loom for she was good at weaving. Davy had bought a
horse, which was to be used in farming. A few months after, Davy and Polly had two
kids; two boys to be exact. Their names were William and John Crockett.

Davy rented a small plot of land to live and farm on. As before, he went on farming,
but much to his disliking. He longed to be alone in the woods hunting game. It was
decided upon that they would have to move on. He took his family and moved on to
a more wilderness area. Not long after, Davy and Polly had another child, this time a
girl. Her name was also Polly. When his boys grew old enough, Davy took them
hunting with him. He taught them all that he knew about the backwoods. He and his
boys now hunted bears, for they needed the meat to last them through the winter.

By the time 1816 rolled around, the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Creek Indians finally
were fed up with all the incoming settlers The Indians began raiding the white forts
and massacring all the residents. Pretty soon, the American government couldn't stand
it any longer. General Andrew Jackson was sent into the frontier to stop these
mishaps. General Jackson sent out a 60 day recruitment request for volunteers. When
Davy heard about it, he was eager to join. Polly disagreed greatly and begged him not
to go. Davy, having his heart set on going, couldn't stay back. He told Polly that he
would only be gone for the sixty day period that he had enlisted for. 

When Davy had caught up with the Tennessee regiment that was heading West into
Indian territory, he found that they were dressed much like the way he did. All 1,300
of them were under Colonel Coffee's command. Once in Indian country, they needed
to know the Indians' movements. Twelve scouts were sent and Davy was one of
them. A week later, General Jackson's forces arrived. The forces gathered at a place
called Coosa to wait for further news. Not long after, food became scarce, the rations
had been depleted and not much game was around. Luckily, Davy and the other
scouts soon learned, that the Creeks were to attack Fort Taledega. General Jackson
wasted no time and had his men on a fast march. As soon as they arrived the forces
split into two and surrounded the fort. To their surprise, though, the Creek forces
were waiting in the brush. Minutes later, a full-scale battle was going on. Finally, the
American forces held off and slain about five hundred Creek warriors. However, a
large number of the war party escaped. 

No provisions arrived after another few weeks. The weather turned cold and the
clothing of many men was in rags. Like Davy, most of the volunteers had only
enlisted for sixty days, and that time was long since past. Davy and some of the other
frontiersmen could not take any more of the starvation and blinding cold. They gave
their word that they would come back and rode off for home. When General Jackson
had heard of this, he was outraged. He sent out a message demanding that they return
and serve out six months . Davy, felt he could not desert the army and that it was his
duty to be out. Anyway, he found himself delighted to be in the thickest of the
danger. 

After the attack, General Jackson assembled all his forces near the Talapoosa River to
provoke an attack from the Creeks. That night, a great thunderstorm broke, the
Indians favored such conditions, yet they did not attack. General Jackson believed he
had guessed their plan. The Creeks must have planned an ambush at the narrow gorge
where he was going to cross his troops. That morning, he divided the army into two
forces. One part was the main force and the second was the company of scouts which
Crockett belonged to, to bring up the rear. Jackson was right, the Creeks attacked.
There were about a thousand warriors in red paint yelling and whooping. The main
force was overwhelmed and retreated. The artillery had been lost during the
confusion. The battle would have been lost if not for the courageous actions of Davy
Crockett and his company of scouts. They went swiftly into action and forced a large
number of Creeks to retreat. The also brought the artillery back into action, which had
a devastating effect on the Creeks. Davy was later praised for his bravery and fast
thinking along with the rest of the company of scouts. The war later ended at
Horseshoe Bend, Alabama, and of course, Davy took part in it. 

When Davy had returned home, he found Polly lying on the bed, ill. A few weeks
later, she passed away. This was not a good time for Davy, especially just returning
from a war, which he had been part of to win. Davy buried the body in the woods
next to the house. The time for his grief was not long, for he met another woman. Her
name was Elizabeth Patton. Later he found out that her husband had died in the
Creek war. Davy felt that since both of them had their losses, that it would be best for
them to get married to support each other. Elizabeth had two children, so now the
newly wed Crocketts, have a total of five kids.

During the next few years back from the war (which was around 1817), he held many
political positions. Some of these included a local magistrate, a colonel in the
Tennessee militia, and served two terms (1821-1825) in the Tennessee legislature.
The position of local magistrate required him to read and write more proficiently.
Now the backwoods' hunter was known as Colonel Crockett, a name he couldnt
really get used to.

Davy's political career was not long, and probably had a small impact on the issues he
argued. He was first nominated by a group of supporters at a party, they urged him on
to run for Congress. Davy agreed to join the 1827 elections for state Representative,
following his motto, "Be always sure you're right, then go ahead." Of course, Davy's
fame and tales won him the election. During his time in Congress, he was called many
names. "The coonskin Congressman", and "bushwhacker" were only a few names
that he was called by. Davy paid no attention to it all and focused his mind on the
important issues being debated. At first, Davy didn't quite know how to make a
formal speech in front of Congress, but being the intelligent being that he was, picked
up the skills rather quickly. He argued for the rights of fellow Tennessee farmers. He
argued how they had claimed the lands in the West, hunted and farmed it, that it was
unjust to repossess that land and give it to some Revolutionary soldiers as a reward
for fighting. Davy was unable to gain support from the other members of Congress,
they voted for the original bill, to repossess the farmers' lands and give it to the
soldiers. Though Davy had lost this issue, he now gained trust in his home state. 

The next issue was an important one, it dealt with the rights of the Indians. During
this time period, many Americans were pushing onward, towards the West. This
angered many Indians, so this caused some conflicts. Andrew Jackson, who was now
president of the United States introduced an Indian-removal policy. Davy, having
many Indian friends, opposed this act. He was promoted by his Whig allies to
compete with President Jackson's image as a democrat. Davy knew that his goal was
an impossible one, over two-thirds of Congress agreed with Jackson and being the
minority only made him look bad. The act was passed and later the Indian removal
was known as the Trail of Tears. Many of the Indians did not even live to see the
new land that they were being forced to. Davy was deeply saddened by this. When
elections came around, his disagreement with the more popular party, cost him his
fourth bid for election in 1834. After his loss, he quit politics altogether and when he
heard about the possible war in Texas, he wasted no time in going.

It was November when he started out, with his gun Betsy and his coonskin hat. Texas
was fighting to gain independence from Mexico. He pledged allegiance to Texas and
became a Texan on January 5, 1836. He set out for Bexar, the city in Texas where a
resistance was being gathered. 

On the way there, he met a few interesting people who were also going to fight. The
first one, he met on a boat, his name was Thimblerig. Thimblerig was a gambler, he
gambled with one pea and three thimbles. The object of the person betting, was to
guess which thimble the pea was under. Davy became acquainted with him when he
ruined Thimblerig's little trick and told the public how Thimblerig would cheat the
better out of his/her money. The next person Davy met was called Beehunter, and
quite literally, he was a bee hunter. He would follow the single bee, back to its hive.
On finding the hive, he would eat the honey and sell the wax. The third person Davy
met was a pirate. He was around sixty years old, with black whiskers, hair and a scar
over his face. He was not a lively fellow. The pirate was traveling with a companion,
an Indian. The Indian, like himself was old and stumpy. The Indian had little to say. 

Furthur down the road, Davy got separated from the group during buffalo stampede.
Since Davy never hunted buffalo before, the experience was exciting to him. He
wandered around in circles for a few days, before, finally, a band of friendly
Comanche Indians took him up to the Colorado R. and guided him onto the right trail.
Soon, Davy met up with the rest of the group and continued on. Within a day's travel
from Bexar, they encountered a Mexican patrol force of 15-20 Mexicans. Davy,
commanding his fellow companions, was able to send the Mexicans in retreat. 

Davy and his company arrived at the Alamo on February 11 1836. On arriving Davy
was given a hero's welcome. Later, he was introduced to commander, James Bowie
and William Travis also in command. (These two shared the power of being in
command because half of the volunteers followed Bowie, and the other half followed
Travis. Bowie was supposedly the commander at the Alamo.) Bowie was a tall, quiet
man. Travis, was rather ambitious and acted swiftly. The Alamo was an old Roman
Catholic mission built in the 1700's. It was well built in some areas, its walls
sometimes reached a thickness of nine inches! 

Days after Crockett's arrival, the Mexicans arrived. Their leader was Santa Anna,
supreme dictator of Mexico. He commanded a force of over 2,000 men. The men in
the Alamo was counted at around 200, with twenty some men sick. This left a force
of about 180 men the defend the Alamo. The defenders were soon under a 24 hour
bombardment from the Mexicans. Day by day, the Mexicans inched forward. The
Texans held off the Mexicans for nearly two weeks. As in the Creek war, supplies ran
low and moral in the mission was not great. Everyone was exhausted from the lack of
sleep. Travis wrote a famous letter to Goliad requesting help. In the letter, he stated
that he knew death was near but he would die fighting along with the rest of his
troops. Mexican troops attacked once in a while and with each attack, weakening the
Alamo's defenses.

Santa Anna raised a blood red flag which meant, no quartering. The attack was
sounded. The defenders kept up a good long fight before their ammunition gave out.
they started shooting with pieces of scrap metal and nails. Crockett, with a company
of fellow Tennesseans defended the south wall of the Alamo, it was there where the
fighting was the hottest. In some confusion, the north wall was blasted open, with
thousands of Mexicans swarming in. In the end everyone died, including Crockett
himself. Only a Mrs. Dickenson and her negro slave were spared, the five that
survived the attack, were executed under Santa Anna's command. 

The coonskin Congressman from Tennessee died, fighting for a just cause. The
danger that he longed for was finally given to him. His contributions at the Battle of
the Alamo made a great effect in the outcome of the Texas Revolution. If not for the
Alamo's fight, Santa Anna would have annihilated all resistance quite easily and
crashed the Texans' hopes. The battle gave General Sam Houston enough time rally
up a strike force large enough to fight Santa Anna's. Davy contributed to the United
States as the fair, just Representative of Tennessee. He passed along his amazing
skills as a hunter and parent down to his children, which would always stay in their
hearts. The Davy Crockett, the one that killed 105 bears in seven months, and can
run faster, jump higher, stay under longer, and come up drier than any man in the
country was now written down in the textbooks with positive contributions. The Davy
Crockett that was half man, half alligator, with a touch of snapping turtle was really a
colorful frontiersman.