Davy Crockett was perhaps best known in Tennessee as a noted hunter
and for his unique style of backwoods oratory. In Texas, however,
he will always be remembered as a heroic participant in the
Battle of the Alamo.
David Crockett, a legend in his time and since, was born in 1786
in East Tennessee. He knew first-hand the brutalities of frontier life.
His grandparents were murdered by Creek and Cherokee Indians
before he was born. By twelve years old he was bound out to a cattle
drover from whom he had to escape through a snowstorm when the
drover forcefully kept Davy past the end of his contract. Not having
any luck with formal education, Crockett ran away from home
at the age of thirteen in 1799.It was not until he was eighteen before
he learned to read and write. About that time, he married and started
a family of several children.
Between 1811 and 1813 Crockett fought under General Andrew
Jackson in the Creek War. It was his reputation as an Indian fighter
and frontiersman that first established his popularity. He used rough,
exaggerated images of himself as soldier and hunter to rise
to political positions.
Perhaps by default, he first became involved in politics as
magistrate of his local community. By 1821, he was elected to
the State Legislature, and was reelected to that position in 1823.
From 1827 through 1833, Crockett served in the Congress of the
United States. However, in his run for a fourth term in Congress,
he was defeated by a narrow margin.
Disgusted by that time with politics, Crockett bid farewell to
Tennessee and headed for Texas in the fall of 1835. There he was
well received and seemed to enjoy his new environment, for on
9 January 1836 he wrote a daughter back in Tennessee: "I would
rather be in my present situation than to be elected to a seat
in Congress for life."
Less than one month later, however, Crockett and a few of his
fellow Tennesseans were among the 189 defenders that sacrificed
their lives at The Battle of the Alamo in the interest
on Texas independence.