Tennessean
(1786-1836)
David Crockett, pioneer, patriot, soldier, trapper, explorer, legislator, congressman, and martyr, was born in a small cabin near the junction of Limestone Creek and the Nolichucky River in Greene County, North Carolina (later Tennessee), August 17, 1786. He was the fifth son, of nine children, born to John and Rebecca Hawkins Crockett.
On July 5, 1776, a Petition was sent to the Honorable, the Provisional Council of North Carolina from the settlers in the Watauga area. This petition explained the situation that the settlers found themselves in at the time, and ask recognition of their efforts toward establishing a form of government for the area. The inhabitants explained to the Council of the Colony of North Carolina the type of government and military establishments that they had, and ask the colony’s candid and impartial judgment in annexing them. David Crockett, Sr., and William Crockett signed the petition.
John, William, and Robert Crockett fought in the Battle of King’s Mountain during the Revolutionary War. During this time, the Indians attacked their parents’ homestead and killed David and Elizabeth Crockett, as well as all their siblings except two sons, who they took prisoner, and one daughter, who was scalped, but survived.
John Crockett married Rebecca Hawkins in Maryland and migrated, with the rest of the family, to the East Tennessee area. Rebecca Hawkins Crockett was to move many times, including the relocation during her marriage, and as she followed her son, David through his moves to several locations in Middle Tennessee, before moving to live near him in Gibson County, Tennessee.
John Crockett served under Colonel Isaac Shelby in the Battle of King’s Mountain, and was presiding magistrate when Andrew Jackson received his license to practice law. He was a commissioner for building roads and, in 1783, a Frontier Ranger. His name appears on the 1783 Tax List of Greene County, North Carolina. John Crockett lived on Limestone Creek in Greene County when David Crockett was born, and a few years later moved to a place in the same county ten miles north of Greenville. The next move was to Cove Creek, where he built a mill in partnership with Thomas Galbraith. In 1794, a flood destroyed his mill and house leaving him without shelter or resources.
John Crockett moved his family to Jefferson County (now Hamblen County), built a log cabin-tavern (still in existence today) on the road from Abingdon, Virginia to Knoxville, Tennessee, and continued to live there until his death. David Crockett was eight years old when the family located there.
David Crockett remained with his family until he was the age of twelve. He had grown in size so his father, John, signed him on with a cattle drive to Front Royal, Virginia. After arriving at Front Royal, he worked for farmers, wagoners, and a hat maker. He was offered a job driving cattle to Baltimore, which he accepted and he lived in Baltimore until he reached the age of fifteen.
David Crockett returned to his families’ home to find his father in debt. Davy was six feet tall, by this time, and well able to do the work of a man. He obligated himself for a year to Colonel Daniel Kennedy, his father’s creditor. David Crockett often borrowed the rifle of his employer and became an excellent marksman. From wages earned, he bought new clothes, a rifle of his own and a horse. He began to take part in the local shooting contests. At these contest, the prize was often quarters of beef. A contestant would pay twenty cents for a single shot at the target, and the best shot won the quarter of beef. Davy Crockett’s aim was so good that more than once, he won all four quarters of beef.
The son of his employer, conducted a school nearby, and David Crockett worked out an arrangement with him to attend school for four days and work for two days. This education, except for the four days he had attended school at the age of twelve, was the only education David Crockett had.
On August 12, 1806, David Crockett and Mary Polly Finley were married. David, and his new wife, moved into the Duck and Elk River area of Lincoln County, Tennessee. They located near the head of Mulberry Fork, where he began to distinguish himself as a hunter. They lived at this site during the years of 1809-1810. His two sons, John Wesley and William Finley, were born there.
The Crockett family moved, in 1811, to the south side of Mulberry Creek, near Lynchburg. David Crockett built a log house and his family lived in this home, until 1813. He hunted and cleared a field three miles northwest of his homestead on Hungry Hill. When bear and other game became scarce, he moved to better hunting grounds in Franklin County where he settled on Beans Creek and built a homestead, which he called “Kentuck”. This was the Crockett home until the close of the War of 1812. A well, standing in a field three and one half miles south and to the east of U. S. Highway 64, in Franklin County, Tennessee, marks the place where the homestead stood.
During this period, events in the Alabama territory, were taking place that would influence the lives of David Crockett and his family. For almost one hundred years, the white settlers and Creek Indians had lived in peace, trading and intermarrying within their two cultures. However, in 1811, the Shawnee Warrior, Tecumseh, arrived in the area and began inciting the native Creeks, called Red Sticks, to return their territories to its original glory. The Spaniards, in Florida, who sought to gain politically and financially by the discord, augmented Tecumseh’s incitement.
In order to carry out their purpose of regaining their territories from the settlers, the Red Sticks sent a large party of eighty Creeks, with packhorses, to Pensacola to purchase guns and gunpowder from the Spanish. On their return home, on July 27, 1813, they were attacked by one hundred eighty white militia under the command of Colonel James Caller, and Captain Dixon Bailey. Hearing of the purchase, the Colonel hoped to disrupt the flow of arms to the Creeks.
The Battle of Burnt Creek resulted in the Creeks forcing the militia to retreat, leaving the settlers in the area only one recourse, to seek safety at the best-fortified place in the area, Fort Mims. The fort was the homestead of Samuel Mims. It stood on high ground on the east bank of Tensaw Lake, and was composed of seventeen buildings, including one blockhouse and a log palisade. The 1st Mississippi Volunteers, composed of one hundred seventy men under the command of Major Daniel Beasley, garrisoned the fort.
On 30 Aug 1813, the Creeks attacked the fort with approximately one thousand warriors. Inside the fort, two hundred forty five men, three hundred eight women and children, and their slaves awaited their fate. Less than fifty settlers survived. The massacre sent shock waves throughout the frontier.
David Crockett enlisted for ninety days service in September 1813. This enlistment expired on Christmas day of that year.
In early October 1813, Andrew Jackson, with an army of two thousand three hundred men met at Fayetteville, Tennessee and marched into Alabama. David Crockett, serving as a Sergeant under Captain James Conway’s Company was a part of this army. Captain Conway’s Company was under the command of Major William Russel’s Separate Battalion of Volunteer Mounted Gunmen. The battalion was composed of volunteers from Franklin, Bedford, Blount, Madison (Alabama), Rutherford, Warren and Wilson Counties. There were approximately five hundred men in Major Russel’s battalion.
Andrew Jackson, and his volunteers, crossed the Tennessee River at Ditto’s Landing and established a supply base nearby, which they name Fort Deposit. Moving his forces on to the area of Ten Islands, on the Coosa River, General Jackson began the construction of Fort Strother. It became the main assembly point for his troops during the Creek War.
David Crockett was among the soldiers who were sent by General Jackson to attack the Red Sticks assembled in large numbers in the village of Tallushatchee, about fifteen miles from Fort Strother. Crockett’s company was under the command of General John Coffee who led an army of one thousand men with the objective of destroying the town. On the morning of 3 Nov 1813, the troops attacked the village after strategically positioning themselves around the village. They overpowered the Creeks in a fierce battle after which General Coffee was later to remark, “the enemy fought with savage fury, and met death with all its horrors, without shrinking or complaining: no one asked to be spared, but fought as long as they could stand or sit.” The battle lasted for about thirty minutes and the Red Sticks losses numbered, at least two hundred warriors with some women dead, and nearly one hundred prisoners, mostly women and children. General Coffee’s losses were five killed and about forty wounded. In his first taste of battle, David Crockett could only remark, “We shot them down like dogs.”
David Crockett was in the army of one thousand two hundred men who, upon receiving a plea from a tribe of allied Creeks at Talladega, set out to give aid. On the ninth of November, using the same tactics used at the village of Tullahatchee, they accomplished the same results. This battle lasted fifteen minutes with three hundred Creek warriors killed and fifteen soldiers killed with eighty-six wounded.
On 28 Sep 1814, David Crockett enlisted, with the rank of third sergeant. He attained the rank of fourth Sergeant before his discharge in 1815. Upon David’s return to his homestead, Polly Crockett gave birth to their daughter, Margaret. She never fully recovered from childbirth, and died shortly afterwards. An old cemetery overlooking Bean’s Creek, in Franklin County, Tennessee is her resting place.
Left with an infant and two small sons, David Crockett married Elizabeth Patton, in 1816. She had two small children of her own. Elizabeth Patton was the widow of George Patton. David and Elizabeth Crockett lived in “Kentuck” until 1817, when he moved to Lawrence County, Tennessee.
In the Treaty of 1816, with the Chickasaw Indians, the United States annexed the territory, and on 21 Oct 1817, the Tennessee General Assembly passed an act to establish Lawrence County. In 1818, the county established their local government. David Crockett was instrumental in helping to lay out the county, and selecting the county seat, Lawrenceburg, in 1819. They chose the site because of its proximity to the center of the county, and the fact that Jackson’s Military Road ran on the eastern edge of the town. In April 1821, the inhabitants rebuilt the road to go through the center of the town. This road was a major thoroughfare from Nashville, Tennessee to Natchez, Mississippi, and played a significant role in the development of the county.
David Crocket was one of the first commissioners and justices of the peace in Lawrence County. He ran a water-powered gristmill, powder mill and distillery in the area of the county that is now David Crockett State Park. The local militia elected him Colonel of a regiment, and the settlers elected Colonel Crockett to serve in the Legislature, in 1821. After his term in office, he returned home and shortly thereafter, a flood destroyed his installation and bankrupted him. With the support of his wife, Elizabeth, he decided to move further west, and he left the remains of his property to his creditors.
David Crockett took his eight year old son, John Wesley Crockett, and, in the company of another young man named Abram Henry and one packhorse, set out for the territory that had been purchased from the Chickasaw Indian, in 1818. Their travels took them one hundred and fifty miles into the wilderness, along unbeaten paths, to the banks of the Obion River. Their destination was fifty miles beyond any white settlement. He chose a spot a few miles from where the Obion River emptied into the Mississippi and set up a camp on the eastern side of the Obion. David made contact with his nearest neighbor, a Mr. Owens, and secured his help, along with some boatmen in building his cabin.
Reconstructed Crockett home at Rutherford, Tennessee
Original photo by Margaret Nichol
After David, and his son, had a comfortable place to live, they planted a field of corn, which he hoped to harvest after returning with the rest of the family. Leaving John Wesley and Abram Henry well supplied with provision to last until his return, Crockett set out to travel the long distance back to his home, where he was immediately summons to another session of the Legislature. After serving his term, David and his family set out, in late October, for their new home. They traveled by foot with David leading the way. Following, in single file, were his family, his two packhorses and his many dogs. Upon their arrival at their new home, the family found a new cabin and a field of corn ready for harvesting.
The town of Rutherford, Tennessee reconstructed the cabin home of the Crockett family using many of the logs from the original cabin. This cabin resembles the cabin at Limestone, Green County, North Carolina where he was born. The mother of David Crockett, Rebecca Hawkins Crockett, is buried on the grounds.
David Crockett ran for the Legislature, in 1823, and his keen and quick wit earned him the respect of the frontiersmen in the area. He used his backwoodsman persona to entertain his audiences wherever he spoke. His opponent was Dr. W. E. Butler, who was married to the niece of Mrs. Andrew Jackson. However, the new settlers liked the man that they called their own and elected him. It was David Crockett who introducted the bill to form Gibson County, in 1823.
During a trip to Philadelphia, in 1823, David Crockett was presented his famous long rifle “Betsy” which contained the following inscription, “Presented to the Honorable David Crockett of Tennessee by the young men of Philadelphia.” This inscription is on the barrel in gold, and near the sight is the motto, “Go Ahead” in letters in silver.
In 1826, David Crockett ran against Colonel Adam Rankin Alexander and Major General William Arnold, both of Jackson. His opponents ran a joint campaign and chose not to mention David Crockett in their speeches. The people did not ignore him, but reelected him by a majority of two thousand seven hundred and forty-eight. He was their advocate for their “squatters rights” in the district. Davy preferred to call them settlers.
In 1829, the popularity of David Crockett was at such a peak, his opposition look for a man that they thought could beat him. Captain Joel Estes, of Haywood County and Colonel Adam Alexander were his opponents. The heated races received wide publicity over a wide region. The results at the polls were Crockett, eight thousand five hundred and twenty-five;; Alexander, five thousand; and Estes, one hundred and thrity-two. David Crockett felt that he was in a position to promote some his preferences. He broke with the administration on the Bank question, and the Cherokee relocation. His dislike of Andrew Jackson probably dated back to the Creek War and Jackson’s rigorous treatment of his Tennessee troops. However, the break was not received well back in his frontier country. The people of the area had a strong liking for Andrew Jackson, as well. When David Crockett returned home, he found that some strong feelings had developed against him for his stands.
When Election Day arrived, Davy Crockett found that he had lost the election, by a narrow majority, to his opponent, William Fitzgerald, of Dresden. The election had been called, by David Crockett, a campaign of “trickery”. His opponents had announced that he was to speak at several places, and the candidate, not knowing of the arrangement, did not appear. This left the settlers displease and it showed at the poles.
When the 1833 elections came, supporters of Andrew Jackson passed legislation that reconstructed the district in such a way as to give advantage to his opponent, William Fitzgerald. This gerrymandering was called by David Crockett, “the most unreasonable every laid off in the nation, or even in to-total creation.” However, he won the election, after a hard fought battle. Once more in Congress, he boasted, “Look at my neck, and you will not find any collar with a label, ‘My Dog, Andrew Jackson.”
David Crockett ran for re-election, in 1836. He lost the election by a narrow majority. Tired of politics, despondent, frustrated, and weary, he retired to his frontier home to contemplate his future. Feeling the inhabitants in his district had deserted him, he looked westward for the opportunities to further his fortune.
By 1830, more than 20,000 Americans had migrated to Texas seeking a place to settle and David Crockett, ever looking for new frontiers to conquer, was a prime candidate to assist in the settlement. “As the country no longer requires my services, I have made up my mind to go to Texas. I start anew upon my own hook, and God grant that it may be strong enough to support the weight that may be hung upon it.” He left behind wife, children, mother and siblings to take his place in American history.
Accompanying him on his journey were William Patton, Abner Burgin, and Lindsey Tinkle. The route the four men took was down the Mississippi River to the Arkansas River where they traveled up that river to Little Rock, At Little Rock, David Crockett’s traveling companions turn back toward their homes, and David proceeded overland to Fulton, Arkansas where he went by river along the northern boundary of Texas, crossing the river to Clarksville. The last leg of his travels took him down the Red River to Nacogdoches and then to St. Augustine.
At Nacogdoches, David Crockett enlisted, 14 Jan 1836, in the Texas Volunteer Auxiliary Corps for a six months tour of duty. By the time his group arrived at the Alamo, they were known as the Tennessee Mounted Volunteers.
David Crockett’s last known letter, addressed to his son and daughter, was dated, 9 Jan 1836, from St. Augustine. The letter, sent to his daughter and son-in-law, Wily and Margaret Flowers, in Wilson County, Tennessee, ask his daughter to show the letter to his son, William, and his brother, John.
David Crockett’s fame had preceded him to Texas, since he wrote that he received a “harty welcom to the country” with a cannon salute upon his arrival. He mentioned invitations to the dinners and parties, both at Nacogdoches and St. Augustine held in his honor.
David Crockett disclosed that he hoped to settle on the Bordar or Chactaw Rio of Red River where he believed was the richest country in the world with good land, plenty of timber, the best springs and mill steams, and every appearance of plentiful game. His spirits were high at the prospects before him, and his expectations to make his fortune in the new country.
His last words were, “Do not be uneasy about me. I am among my friends. I must close with great respects. Your affectionate father, Farewell, David Crockett.”
In 1718, at a Native American village in a pleasant wooded area of spring fed streams, at the southern edge of Texas Hill country, Spain established the Mission San Antonio de Verlero (later called The Alamo). To protect the mission, Spain build a barracks called San Antonio de Bexar. This was more than half a century before the founding of the United States.
In December 1835, San Antonio de Bexar was under the control of Mexican General Perfecto de Cos with about one thousand two hundred soldiers from Mexico. At daybreak, on the fifth, Texans who had been camped outside the fort, begin a siege of the fort. Against heavy odds, both men and artillery skirmished for the next two days. On the seventh, the Texan leader, Colonel Benjamin Rush Milam, was killed, and the Texans, inspired to avenge his death, engaged in house to house combat that continued for two more days. At daybreak, on the ninth, General Cos signaled a Mexican truce. The Texans gained all the public property, guns and ammunition.
Lieutenant Colonel James Clinton Neill was in command of the Texas army at San Antonio. On 8 Jan 1836, Colonel Neill sent a letter to the convention, taking place at Washington-on-the-Brazos, relating to them a message he had received from the Comanche nation that informed him the nation was in an attitude of hostilities toward the Texans. This put another enemy at their doorsteps.
Mexican General Santa Anna was determined to retake San Antonio, and impress upon the settlers the futility of further resistance to Mexican rule. The vanguard of his army arrived in San Antonio, February 23, 1836. The one hundred forty-five Texans, in the area, took refuge in the fortified grounds of the old mission known as “The Alamo.” Their leaders were Lieutenant Colonel William Barret Travis, for the regulars; and Colonel James (Jim) Bowie, for the volunteers. Leaving his post at Bexar, Colonel Neil turned over his command to Colonel Travis.
On February 23, 1836, Colonel Travis sent a letter to Judge Andrew Ponton and the citizens of Bexar informing them that that Santa Anna and his men were in sight of the fort. He stated that he had one hundred fifty men in the fort and needed reinforcements and provisions in order to defend them. In addition, he asks Judge Ponton to send a message to San Felipe with the news of their situation.
On the same day, Colonel Travis and Colonel Bowie sent a letter to General James W. Fannin at Goliad asking for reinforcements immediately. They restated to Fannin that their plight was extreme and hoped that he would send help as soon as possible.
On the following day, February 24, 1836, Lieutenant Colonel Travis sent a message addressed to The People of Texas and All Americans in the World stating that the fort had been under bombardment for twenty-four hours by a force of a thousand or more Mexicans who were receiving reinforcements daily. Colonel Travis wrote that the enemy had demanded surrender, and he had answered with cannon shot signaling that the fort would not be surrender. The colonel stated that he would sustain the defense of the fort as long as possible. He signed the message with “Victory or Death” William Barret Travis, Lt. Col. Comdt.
On February 25, 1836, Lieutenant Colonel Travis sent a letter to Major-General Sam Houston apprising him of the situation in Bexar and the Alamo. He informed General Houston that the town of Bexar, which he did not have the soldiers to defend, was in the hands of the Mexican army. On the day of the letter, around ten o’clock, from two to three hundred of the enemy crossed the river below and under cover of the existing houses and launched an attack on the fort. A heavy barrage of grape and canister shots and some small artillery met the attackers and after a battle of two hours or so, the enemy retreated in disarray.
On the 26 Feb 1836, four hundred twenty men, with four pieces of artillery, very little provisions, and in dire need of clothing set out to help relieve the situation at Bexar. They left behind at the fort at Goliad, one Company of Regulars. Disaster struck when attempting to forge the San Antonio River, three of the wagons were lost. They saved the artillery after much labor and peril. The men faced the situation of having their artillery on one side of the river and their ammunition on the other. Horses being a scarce commodity, the army secured oxen to pull the wagons. This proved to be an additional disaster when some of the ox wandered off during the night.
The following day, the men held a Council of War on the banks of the River to assess their situation. After a review of the facts that the possibility of an attack by the Mexican Army on Goliad might be eminent, the army decided, with heavy hearts, to return to their fort. About twenty men volunteered to continue on to The Alamo to give assistance to the fort.
During the engagement with the attackers, the main forces of Santa Anna had kept up a bombardment of the fort. Colonel Travis reported that there were no fatalities from the skirmishes on the side of the defenders, but observed casualties among the enemy. He mentioned Lieutenant Cleveland K. Simmons, Captains William R. Carey, Alameron Dickinson, Samuel C. Blair, Charles Despallier and Robert Brown deserving special recognition in the account. In addition, he mentioned that he observed the Hon. David Crockett appearing at all points animating the men to do their duty.
General Santa Anna’s army continued to grow over the following two week to about two thousand troops. Colonel Travis made an appeal for aid from the other Texans in the area. A few reinforcements arrived, making the final total of one hundred eighty-nine men.
On March 3, 1936, Colonel Travis sent a letter addressed to the Convention meeting at Washington-on-the-Brazos, stating that in the present confusion of the political authorities of the country, and in the absence of a Commander-in chief, he had directed the letter to the Convention. The letter covered the events that had taken place since his last letter to General Sam Houston, written, February 25, 1836. The army of Santa Anna had kept up a continual bombardment of the fort using two howitzers and a heavy cannonade from two long nine-pounders. During the bombardment, they had begun digging heavy entrenchments around the fort. In spite of the almost seclusion of the fort, on the first of March, thirty-two men from Gonzales arrived and Colonel J. B. Bonham, a courier from Gonzales arrived, later in the morning, without interference.
Colonel Travis reminded the Convention that the fort had been under siege for ten days. The enemy numbered from fifteen hundred to six thousand. He reported that the spirits were still high and the defenders had helped fortify the fort by entrenching inside the fort and strengthening the walls with the dirt.
Evidently, realizing that the situation was worsening with the defense of the fort, Colonel Travis wrote his last letter to a friend, David Ayers, on March 3, asking him to take care of my little boy. If the country should be saved, I may make for him a splendid fortune; but if the country be lost and I should perish, he will have nothing but the proud recollection that he is the son of a man who died for his country.
After bombarding the mission, the Mexican stormed it walls. At six thirty in the morning, on March 6, 1836, The Alamo fell to its attackers. Losses in the battle have been placed at one hundred eighty-nine Texans and one thousand, six hundred Mexicans.
Several conflicting stories recount the final hours of the storming of The Alamo. The debate as to whether Colonel David Crockett was killed in battle, or whether he was taken a prisoner and slaughtered by the Mexican army after his capture, is still being waged today. However, there is general agreement that the remains, of the defenders, were piled in a pier and burned in the square. In November 1836, Colonel Juan Sequin, of the army of the Republic of Texas, reoccupied San Antonio and, in February 1837, he held a funeral for the defenders. He reported finding two small heaps and one large heap of ashes. Ashes from the small heaps were put in a coffin and used in a funeral procession to the church and back. Salutes were fired over each heap and a service was read at the large heap. A specific burial place has not been determined. Some cremated remains unearthed on the grounds of San Fernando Cathedral are entombed near the front entrance of the church.
Forty-six days after the siege of The Alamo, April 21, 1836, at the Battle of San Jacinto at Goliad, seven hundred and eighty-three men led by General Sam Houston defeated General Santa Anna’s one thousand five hundred Mexican troops. The battle lasted only eighteen minutes. Nine Texans lost their lives. The losses for the Mexicans were six hundred and thirty dead, and seven hundred and thirty prisoners. General Huston’s army captured General Santa Anna the following day. To save his life, General Santa Anna signed the agreement giving Texas to the Texans. The Battle of San Jacinto won the independence for the Texans and the settlement of the new republic began. The government granted all who had fought for independence six hundred and forty acres.
In 1853, Elizabeth Patton Crockett arrived in Texas to claim her grant. She was accompanied by her children: Robert Patton Crockett, and his family; George Patton, and his family; and Rebecca Halford, and her family. After the cost of the survey, the land grant had shrunk to 320 acres. Their grant was located about four miles north of a trading post, now called Acton, in what now Hood County. Elizabeth Crockett was sixty-five years old, but continued to do her share of the frontier work. She died at the age of seventy-two, and her remains, with several members of her family, are buried in Acton State Park and Monument, the smallest state park in Texas. A monument of Elizabeth Crockett shows her looking to the west, eyes shaded.
Children of David Crockett and Polly Finley Crockett were John Wesley Crockett, born, 1808; William Finley Crockett, born, 1809; and Margaret Finley (Polly) Crockett, born, 1812. Children of David Crockett and Elizabeth Patton Crockett were Rebecca Elvira Crockett, born, 1815; Robert Patton Crockett, born, 1816; and Matilda Crockett, born, 1821.
After David Crockett left for Texas, John Wesley Crockett, won two terms in Congress, the seat his father had held.
Revised Biography by , Neptune Beach, Florida, 9 Sep 2008