David Crockett (David de Crocketagne August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was an American folk-hero usually referred to as Davy Crockett. He represented Tennessee in the U.S. Congress, went to Texas, and died at the Alamo.
Crockett was born in Greene County, Tennessee, descendant from Ulster-Scots and French Huguenots (who had fled from France to Ulster because of persecution from the Roman Catholic Church). He was the fifth of nine children, and was not well-educated.
Crockett stood about 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) and weighed approximately 190 lb (86 kg).
On 24 September 1813 he enlisted in the Second Regiment of Tennessee Volunteer Mounted Riflemen for ninety days and served under General (later, President) Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) in the campaign against the Creek Indians. In 1815 his wife Polly (1788-1815) died. She was 27 years old and the mother of three children. David remarried in 1815 to Elizabeth Patton and had four children with her.
In 1826 and 1828 he was elected to Congress. As a Congressman, Crockett supported the rights of squatters, who were barred from buying land in the West without already owning property. He also opposed President Jackson's Indian Removal Act, and his opposition to Jackson caused his defeat when he ran for re-election in 1830 but won when he ran again in 1832.
In 1834, his book, titled A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, was published. Crockett went to the East to promote the book, and was narrowly defeated for re-election. In 1835 he was again defeated for re-election, saying, "You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas" and he did just that, joining the Texas Revolution. In November of 1835, he left Tennessee for Texas. On 14 January 1836 Crockett and 65 other men signed an oath to the Provisional Government of Texas. Each man was promised about 4,605 acres (19 km²) of land as payment. On 6 February 1836 Crockett and about a dozen remaining men rode into San Antonio de Bexar.
He took part in the Battle of the Alamo (February 23 - March 6, 1836) and was assigned to defend the south palisade in front of the chapel. The Texas forces of 180-250 were overwhelmed by the 1,300-1,600 Mexican soldiers. Tradition has it that Crockett went down fighting inside the Alamo. Controversial evidence has come to light since 1955 (Jose Enrique De la Pena diary) indicating that there may have been a half dozen or so survivors, with Crockett perhaps among them, taken prisoners by Mexican General Manuel Fernandez Castrillon after the battle and summarily executed on orders by General and President of Mexico Antonio López de Santa Anna. Both views enjoy support among historians.
In 1838 Robert P. Crockett went to Texas to administer his father's land claim. In 1854 Elizabeth Crockett finally came to Texas where she died in 1860.
One of his sayings, which were published in almanacs between 1835 and 1856 (along with those of Daniel Boone and Kit Carson) was, "Be always sure you are right, then go ahead." In 15 December 1954 his legend was again popularized by Walt Disney, who produced a three episode television series about him (starring Fess Parker); the Davy Crockett,Indian Fighter, Davy Crockett Goes to Congress and Davy Crockett at the Alamo. The last showed aired on the ABC network on 23 Feburay 1955. Buddy Ebsen co-starred as his sidekick George E. Russel.
The shows were an overnight success and coonskin caps like the one he wore in those films were all the rage for young boys and girls for a time. Walt Disney said that if he had realized how popular the Davy Crockett series would become, he would not have killed off his hero after three episodes. Davy Crockett did, in fact, make a return with Disney in two further adventures: Davy Crockett and the Keelboat Race and Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. In these two episodes Crockett faced off against Mike Fink, another early American legend. After that Crockett fad had waned, John Wayne starred as Crockett in the 1960 feature film The Alamo (the first film he also directed). More recently was the John Lee Hancock version of The Alamo in 2003. It is said that Billy Bob Thornton's Crockett is one of the more accurate portrayals. Thornton's Crockett was a man trying to downplay his legend, but in the end he couldn't escape it. Perhaps this is best described by a scene where Crockett is speaking to Bowie, in which he said, "If it was just me, simple old David from Tennessee, I might drop over that wall some night, take my chances. But that Davy Crockett feller...they're all watchin' him."
In the movies Crockett has also been played by:
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