DAVY CROCKETT
Born
August 17, 1786(1786-08-17)
Greene County, Tennessee
Died
March 6, 1836 (aged 49)
Alamo Mission, San Antonio, Republic of Texas
Political Party
Anti-Jacksonian
Spouse(s)
Polly Finley (1806 - 1815) her death
Elizabeth Patton (1815-1836) his death
Occupation
Pioneer, Soldier, Trapper, Explorer, State Assembly man,
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Tennessee's 9th district
In office 1827–1831
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Tennessee's 12th district
In office 1833–1835
Mini-Biography
Full Biography- Davy Crockett
David Crockett was a celebrated 19th-century American folk hero,
frontiersman, soldier and politician;
referred to in popular culture as Davy Crockett
and often by the epithet “King of the Wild Frontier.”
He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives,
served in the Texas Revolution, and died at the Battle of the Alamo.
Crockett grew up in the hills and river valleys of East Tennessee,
where he gained a reputation for hunting and storytelling.
After rising to the rank of colonel in the Lawrence County,
Tennessee militia, Crockett was elected to the Tennessee state legislature in 1821.
In 1826, Crockett was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time.
As a congressman, Crockett vehemently opposed
many of the policies of President Andrew Jackson,
most notably the Indian Removal Act. Crockett's
opposition to Jackson's policies led to his defeat in the 1834 elections,
prompting his angry departure to Texas shortly thereafter.
In early 1836, Crockett joined the Texas Revolution
and died at the Battle of the Alamo in March of the same year.
The Fall Of The Alamo
Crockett arrived at the Alamo on February 8.
To the surprise of the men garrisoned in the Alamo, on February 23,
a Mexican army, led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, arrived.
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 yards (82 m) to 100 yards (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.
Within two hours, the battle was over, and the Mexican soldiers retreated.
Inside the Alamo, the stores of powder and shot were limited.
On February 26, Travis ordered the artillery to stop returning fire
so as to conserve precious ammunition.
Crockett and his men were encouraged to keep shooting,
as they were unusually effective.
As the siege progressed, Alamo commander William Barret Travis
sent many messages asking for reinforcements.
Several messengers were sent to James Fannin, who commanded
the only other official group of Texian soldiers.
Fannin and several hundred Texians occupied Presidio La Bahia at Goliad.
Although Fannin ultimately decided it was too risky to attempt to reinforce the Alamo,
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, 35 miles (56 km) from the Alamo,
on the afternoon of March 3.
There they joined another group of men who also planned to join the garrison.
That same night, outside the Alamo, there was a skirmish between
Mexican and Texian troops. Several historians, including Walter Lord,
speculated that the Texians were creating a diversion to allow their last courier,
John Smith, to evade Mexican pickets.
However, in 1876, Alamo survivor Susannah Dickinson said that Travis
sent three men out shortly after dark on March 3,
probably a response to the arrival of Mexican reinforcements.
The three men, who included Crockett, Dickinson believed,
were sent to find Fannin.
Lindley stated that just before midnight, Crockett and one of the other men
found the force of Texians waiting along Cibolo Creek,
who 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 Fall of the Alamo by Robert Jenkins Onderdonk depicts Davy Crockett
in a charge at the Mexican troops who have breached the walls of the mission.
The siege ended on March 6, when the Mexican army
attacked while the defenders were sleeping.
The daily bombardment by artillery had been suspended,
perhaps a ploy to encourage the natural human reaction to a cessation of constant strain.
But, the garrison awakened, the final fight began.
Meanwhile, most of the noncombatants gathered in the church sacristy for safety.
According to Susana Dickinson, before running to his post,
Crockett paused briefly in the chapel to pray.
When the Mexican soldiers breached the outer walls of the Alamo complex,
most of the Texians fell back to the barracks and the chapel,
as previously planned.
Crockett and his men were too far from the barracks
to be able to take shelter and were the last remaining group within the mission
to be in the open.
The men defended the low wall in front of the church,
using their rifles as clubs and relying on knives, as action became too furious
to allow reloading their weapons.
After a volley of fire and a charge with bayonets, Mexican soldiers
pushed the few remaining Texians back toward the church.
The Battle of the Alamo lasted almost 90 minutes.
Once all of the defenders were dead, Santa Anna
ordered his men to take the bodies of the Texans
to a nearby stand of trees where they were stacked together
and wood piled on top of them.
That evening, a fire was lit, and the bodies of the defenders were burned to ashes.
A coffin in the San Fernando Cathedral purports to hold the ashes
of the Alamo defenders.
Historians believe it more likely that the ashes were buried near the Alamo.
The ashes were left undisturbed until February 1837,
when Juan Seguin and many members of 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 Travis, Crockett, and Bowie were inscribed on the lid.
The box is thought to have been buried in a peach tree grove,
but the spot was not marked and cannot now be identified.
During his lifetime, Crockett became famous for larger-than-life exploits
popularized by stage plays and almanacs.
After his death he continued to be credited with brazen acts of mythical proportion,
which continued into the 20th century with television and movie portrayals,
and he grew to become one of the most well-known folk heroes in American history.
Birthplace Stone
Compiled and edited by ethanedwards
Information and Photographs from Wikipedia
