Like Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett typifies the resourceful
freedom-loving frontiersman. His legendary
figure has grown with the years to the folk hero
class. ■ Davy Crockett was born in a log cabin
in eastern Tennessee on August 17, 1786. His
Scottish-born father was a Revolutionary War
veteran who had moved on to the Tennessee
frontier. ■ His formal education amounted to
about 100 days of private tutoring. He fought in
the Creek Indian War (1813-1815). After serving
two terms in the state legislature, he ran for
the U. S. Congress where he served three terms.
■ During his first two years in Washington, he
incurred the enmity of President Andrew Jackson
and the new Democratic party. It was Jackson’s
opposition that ended Crockett’s career in
Congress during the election of 1835. ■ Stories
in the popular press of the day pictured Davy
Crockett as a shrewd, yarn-spinning eccentric
and rough Indian-fighting frontiersman. Actually
he engaged in several successful business
ventures, and he delivered his speeches in
Congress in the fairly conventional English of
the time. ■ He wrote an autobiography in 1834
which added to the Crockett legend. His book
played up his frontier life and minimized his
political career. His writing was full of the
realism of pioneer times. It was a style
probably never seen before and it was well
received by the reading public of that time. ■
But the most dramatic event of his life came
after his biography was written. Following his
defeat in Congress, he headed west to join the
American forces in Texas. In the gallant defense
of the Alamo, Crockett died March 6, 1836, when
the defenders were killed to the last man by a
Mexican Army under General Santa Ana.
|
