Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier (Part II)

Texas Revolution

By December 1834, Crockett was writing to friends about moving to Texas if Jackson's chosen successor Martin Van Buren was elected President. The next year, he discussed with his friend Benjamin McCulloch raising a company of volunteers to take to Texas in the expectation that a revolution was imminent.  His departure to Texas was delayed by a court appearance in the last week of October as co-executor of his deceased father-in-law's estate; he finally left his home near Rutherford in West Tennessee with three other men on November 1, 1835 to explore Texas.  His youngest child Matilda later wrote that she distinctly remembered the last time that she saw her father:

He was dressed in his hunting suit, wearing a coonskin cap, and carried a fine rifle presented to him by friends in Philadelphia.... He seemed very confident the morning he went away that he would soon have us all to join him in Texas.

Crockett traveled with 30 well-armed men to Jackson, Tennessee, where he gave a speech from the steps of the Madison County courthouse, and they arrived in Little Rock, Arkansas on November 12, 1835. The local newspapers reported that hundreds of people swarmed into town to get a look at Crockett, and a group of leading citizens put on a dinner in his honor that night at the Jeffries Hotel. Crockett spoke "mainly to the subject of Texan independence," as well as Washington politics.

Crockett arrived in Nacogdoches, Texas in early January 1836. On January 14, he 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 (1,900 ha) of land as payment. On February 6, he and five other men rode into San Antonio de Bexar and camped just outside the town.

Crockett arrived at the Alamo Mission in San Antonio on February 8.  A Mexican army arrived on February 23 led by General Antonio López de Santa Anna, surprising the men garrisoned in the Alamo, and the Mexican soldiers immediately initiated a siege.  Santa Anna ordered his artillery to keep up a near-constant bombardment. The guns were moved closer to the Alamo each day, increasing their effectiveness. On February 25, 200–300 Mexican soldiers crossed the San Antonio River and took cover in abandoned shacks approximately 90 to 100 yards (82 to 91 m) from the Alamo walls.  The soldiers intended to use the huts as cover to establish another artillery position, although many Texians assumed that they actually were launching an assault on the fort.  Several men volunteered to burn the huts.  To provide cover, the Alamo cannons fired grapeshot at the Mexican soldiers, and Crockett and his men fired rifles, while other defenders reloaded extra weapons for them to use in maintaining a steady fire. The battle was over within 90 minutes, and the Mexican soldiers retreated.  There were limited stores of powder and shot inside the Alamo, and Alamo commander William Barret Travis ordered the artillery to stop returning fire on February 26 so as to conserve precious ammunition. Crockett and his men were encouraged to keep shooting, as they were unusually effective.

As the siege progressed, Travis sent many messages asking for reinforcements. Several messengers were sent to James Fannin who commanded the group of Texian soldiers at Presidio La Bahia in Goliad, TX. Fannin decided that it was too risky to reinforce the Alamo, although historian Thomas Ricks Lindley concludes that up to 50 of Fannin's men left his command to go to Bexar.  These men would have reached Cibolo Creek on the afternoon of March 3, 35 miles (56 km) from the Alamo, where they joined another group of men who also planned to join the garrison.

There was a skirmish between Mexican and Texian troops that same night outside the Alamo.  Historian Walter Lord speculates that the Texians were creating a diversion to allow their courier John Smith to evade Mexican pickets.  However, Alamo survivor Susannah Dickinson said in 1876 that Travis sent out three men shortly after dark on March 3, probably a response to the arrival of Mexican reinforcements. The three men—including Crockett—were sent to find Fannin.  Lindley states that Crockett and one of the other men found the force of Texians waiting along Cibolo Creek just before midnight; they had advanced to within 20 miles (32 km) of the Alamo. Just before daylight on March 4, part of the Texian force managed to break through the Mexican lines and enter the Alamo. A second group was driven across the prairie by Mexican cavalry.

The siege ended on March 6 when the Mexican army attacked just before dawn while the defenders were sleeping. The daily artillery bombardment had been suspended, perhaps a ploy to encourage the natural human reaction to a cessation of constant strain. But the garrison awakened and the final fight began. Most of the noncombatants gathered in the church sacristy for safety. According to Dickinson, Crockett paused briefly in the chapel to say a prayer before running to his post. The Mexican soldiers climbed up the north outer walls of the Alamo complex, and most of the Texians fell back to the barracks and the chapel, as previously planned.  Crockett and his men, however, were too far from the barracks to take shelter and were the last remaining group to be in the open. They defended the low wall in front of the church, using their rifles as clubs and relying on knives, as the action was too furious to allow reloading. After a volley and a charge with bayonets, Mexican soldiers pushed the few remaining defenders back toward the church.

The Battle of the Alamo lasted almost 90 minutes, and all of the defenders were killed. Santa Anna ordered his men to take their bodies to a nearby stand of trees, where they were stacked together and wood piled on top. That evening, they lit a fire and burned their bodies to ashes.  The ashes were left undisturbed until February 1837, when Juan Seguin and his cavalry returned to Bexar to examine the remains. A local carpenter created a simple coffin, and ashes from the funeral pyres were placed inside. The names of Travis, Crockett, and Bowie were inscribed on the lid.  The coffin is thought to have been buried in a peach tree grove, but the spot was not marked and can no longer be identified.

Death

All that is certain about the fate of David Crockett is that he died at the Alamo on the morning of March 6, 1836 at age 49. According to many accounts, between five and seven Texians surrendered during the battle, possibly to General Castrillón.  Santa Anna had ordered the Mexicans to take no prisoners, and he was incensed that those orders had been ignored. He demanded the immediate execution of the survivors, but Castrillón and several other officers refused to do so. Staff officers who had not participated in the fighting drew their swords and killed the unarmed Texians.

Controversy

Weeks after the battle, stories began to circulate that Crockett was among those who surrendered and were executed.  A former American slave named Ben had acted as cook for one of Santa Anna's officers, and he maintained that Crockett's body was found in the barracks surrounded by "no less than sixteen Mexican corpses", with Crockett's knife buried in one of them.

Yet, in 1955, Jesús Sánchez Garza discovered the memoirs of José Enrique de la Peña, a Mexican officer present at the Battle of the Alamo, and self-published it as La Rebelión de Texas – Manuscrito Inédito de 1836 por un Ofical de Santa Anna. Texas A&M University Press published the English translation in 1975 With Santa Anna in Texas: A Personal Narrative of the Revolution. The English publication caused a scandal within the United States, as it asserted that Crockett did not die in battle.  The translator of the English-publication, Carmen Perry, the former librarian of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, was harassed with anonymous letters and intimidating phone calls by Crockett-loyalists who considered the mere suggestion that Crockett hadn't died fighting blasphemous. Written testimony by more than a half dozen eyewitnesses confirm de la Peña's account.

Some have questioned the validity of the text. The author and retired firefighter, William Groneman III, posited that the journals were made up of several different types of paper from several different paper manufacturers, all cut down to fit.  Long-time John Wayne enthusiast, Joseph Musso, also questioned the validity of de la Peña's diary, basing his suspicions on the timing of the diary's release, and the fact that historical interest in the topic rose around the same time as the Walt Disney mini-series 'Davy Crockett' was released in 1955. Some questions were answered when:

Finally, in 2001, archivist David Gracy published a detailed analysis of the manuscript, including lab results. He found, among other things, that the paper and ink were of a type used by the Mexican army in the 1830s, and the handwriting matched that on other documents in the Mexican military archives that were written or signed by de la Peña.

As for those who have questioned de la Peña's ability to identify any of the Alamo defenders by name, historians believe that de la Peña likely witnessed or was told about executions of the Alamo survivors. And while some claim neither he nor his comrades would have known who those men were, others conclude that the "enormous weight of evidence" is in favor of the surrender-execution hypothesis.

Legacy

One of Crockett's sayings, which were published in almanacs between 1835 and 1856 (along with those of Daniel Boone and Kit Carson), were: Always be sure you are right, and then go ahead.

While serving in the United States House of Representatives, Crockett became a Freemason. He entrusted his masonic apron to a friend in Tennessee before leaving for Texas, and it was inherited by the friend's descendant in Kentucky.

In 1967 the U.S. Postal Service issued a 5-cent stamp commemorating Davy Crockett.

Namesakes

Tennessee

·         Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park, Greene County

·         David Crockett State Park, Lawrence County

·         Crockett County, Tennessee; its county seat is Alamo

·         David Crockett High School, Jonesborough

Texas

·         Crockett County

·         Crockett, Texas, Houston County

·         Crockett High School, Austin independent school District

·         Davy Crockett Lake, Fannin County

·         Davy Crockett Loop, Prairies and Pineywoods Wildlife Trail – East

·         Crockett Middle School, Amarillo

·         Davy Crockett National Forest, Angelina County

·         Davy Crockett School, Dallas independent school District

·         Crockett Elementary School, Abilene independent school District, Abilene, Texas, (closed 2002.)

·         Crockett Street, a major thoroughfare in Downtown San Antonio

·         Fort Crockett, Galveston County

Miscellaneous

·         M28 Davy Crockett Weapon System: a small Nuclear weapons system, the smallest developed by the U.S. which could be fired from a light vehicle, or from a tripod mounted launcher.

·         Crockett park north of downtown San Antonio

Monuments

·         Alamo Cenotaph, San Antonio, sculptor Pompeo Coppini, west panel of the Cenotaph features a Crockett statue and a statue of William B. Travis in front of other Alamo defenders

·         David Crockett Statue, Ozona, Texas, sculptor William M. McVey

·         LIfe-size statue Colonel David Crockett, Public Square, Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, W.M.Dean Marble Company of Columbia

 In popular culture

Television

·         Fess Parker as Davy Crockett in Disneyland.

 

·         Walt Disney adapted Crockett's stories into a television miniseries titled Davy Crockett, which aired between 1954 and 1955 on Walt Disney's Disneyland. The series popularized the image of Crockett, portrayed by Fess Parker, wearing a coonskin cap, and originated the song "The Ballad of Davy Crockett".

 

·         Crockett's stories were adapted by French animation studio Studios Animage into a 1994 animated series titled Davy Crockett.

 

·         A 2009 episode of MythBusters tested whether Crockett could split a bullet in half on an axe in a tree 40 yards away. The myth was declared "Confirmed".

Film

In films, Crockett has been played by:

·         Charles K. French, Davy Crockett – In Hearts United (1909), silent

·         Hobart Bosworth, Davy Crockett (1910), silent

·         Dustin Farnum, Davy Crockett (1916), silent

·          Cullen Landis (Davy Crockett at the Fall of the Alamo, 1926, silent)

·         Jack Perrin (The Painted Stallion, 1937)

·         Lane Chandler (Heroes of the Alamo, 1937)

·         Robert Barrat (Man of Conquest, 1939)

·         Trevor Bardette (The Man from the Alamo, 1953)

·         Arthur Hunnicutt (The Last Command, 1955)

·         Fess Parker (Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier, 1955, and Davy Crockett and the River Pirates, 1956, both on Walt Disney's Disneyland)

·         James Griffith (The First Texan, 1956)

·         John Wayne (The Alamo, 1960)

·         Brian Keith (The Alamo: 13 Days to Glory, 1987)

·         Merrill Connally (Alamo: The Price of Freedom, 1988)

·         Johnny Cash (Davy Crockett: Rainbow in the Thunder, 1988)

·         Tim Dunigan (Davy Crockett: Rainbow in the Thunder, Davy Crockett: A Natural Man, Davy Crockett: Guardian Spirit, Davy Crockett: Letter to Polly, 1988–1989)

·         David Zucker (The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear, 1991 [a very small cameo role])

·         John Schneider (James A. Michener's Texas, 1994)

·         Scott Wickware (Dear America: A Line in the Sand, 2000)

·         Justin Howard (The Anarchist Cookbook, 2002)

·         Billy Bob Thornton (The Alamo, 2004)

Theatre

·         Davy Crockett (1872), popular touring play of its time, by Frank Murdoch

·         Davy Crockett, musical play (unfinished), January to April 1938, Kurt Weill

Prose fiction

·         Crockett appears in at least two short alternate history works: "Chickasaw Slave" by Judith Moffett in Alternate presidents, where Crockett is the seventh President of the United States, and "Empire" by William Sanders in Alternate Generals volume 2, where Crockett fights for Emperor Napoleon I of Louisiana in a conflict analogous to the War of 1812.

Comics

·         Columbia Features syndicated a comic strip, Davy Crockett, Frontiersman, from June 20, 1955 until 1959. Stories were by France Herron and the artwork was ghosted in early 1956 by Jack Kirby.