East Tennessee History: Davy Crockett

Published 3:36 pm Tuesday, July 7, 2020

No one, and I do mean no one, says east Tennessee more than Davy Crockett. He was a man of myth and legend sprinkled with enough of the truth to make us wonder what was truth and what was not.

He was an Indian fighter who did not have a taste for killing, a politician who didn’t quite fit the mold and a reluctant hero at the Alamo. He was all of the good things of east Tennessee rolled into one man.

Who can forget wearing that coonskin cap as a boy— yes, I had one too— and pretending to fight Indians or Mexicans in our backyards? Who can forget the Ballad of Davy Crockett, that heartfelt song that told of this legend of a man, even though it embellished his life just a little? How did it go?

Born on a mountain top in Tennessee

Greenest state in the land of the free

Raised in the woods so he knew ev’ry tree

Kilt him a be ‘are when he was only three

Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier

Finally, who can forget watching The Alamo on that old black and white television? In one of these movies, Davy was played by John Wayne, the Duke himself.  In another version of this movie, Davy was played by Fess Parker. This one was my favorite.

Who remembers shedding just a little tear as Davy fought in the Alamo? We all knew he would die there, but we were still thrilled to see him fight against impossible odds for his life and for Texas freedom.

 The final scene showed Davy surrounded by a dozen Mexicans. He fought them valiantly, all while stabbing, shooting and swinging at them with his rifle. They finally cornered him, and he went down in a hail of bullets and bayonet stabs, lost to us with only a legend to remember.

The truth of Davy Crockett is not quite as exciting nor as glamorous as the ballad or legend says. Much of his story was created by himself to help his political career and to remake himself as a backwoods common man of the people.

He learned this early by watching his arch political rival, President Andrew Jackson, get elected to the highest office in the land with the same simple spoken, whiskey-drinking, bear-shooting, Indian-fighting traits.

David Crockett — he hated to be called Davy—  was born in Greene County, Tenn,, on August 1786, to John Crockett. John Crockett hired his son out when he was only 12 years old to a man named Jacob Siler to drive a herd of cattle to Virginia. After the cattle drive, Siler tried to make David stay with him by force, but David escaped at night by walking seven miles in two hours in knee-deep snow. The legend of the man had begun.

He soon dropped out of school and ran away because of an abusive father and tried to make it on his own.

He made his way as a wagoner and through odd jobs to support himself and finally returned home in 1802. There he got engaged to Mary Finley but was jilted before the official wedding. She accused him of cheating on her and in truth, he probably did.

By 1813 his Indian fighting days had begun and would end years later leaving Davy a changed man. He had seen success as an Indian fighter and had become a legend for his marksmanship, bravery, leadership and tall tales. These traits would serve him well in the future.

Before his life is through, he would be a congressman, leave Tennessee in anger and become a legend on the plains of Texas. All of these we will discuss in the next East Tennessee History column.