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David Crockett (1786–1836)
- University of Missouri Press
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191 David Crockett (1786–1836) David Crockett was an example of the self-made man who rose to fame and popularity through his mother-wit and an ability to tell tales with effective comic exaggeration. Born in Greene County, Tennessee, in the midst of the westward frontier development, he denied himself formal education by being quarrelsome and restive and set off on his own, working at a number of odd jobs. Later he attended to his reading and writing, married, and settled down to farming and hunting, until he enlisted as a soldier in the Creek Indian War under Andrew Jackson. He returned home a hero with a reputation for courage and honesty and entered politics, where his humorous but level-headed speeches won him many supporters. Crockett served twice in the Tennessee Legislature and was elected three times to the U. S. Congress. His popularity waned when he deserted the Jacksonian Democrats for the Whigs, and the Tennessee electorate rejected him in the 1835 congressional campaign. Crockett was reported to have said that the Tennessee voters could “all go to hell and I will go to Texas.” Whether or not that is true, Crockett did indeed go to Texas to join the struggle for independence against Mexico. He died fighting at the Battle of the Alamo in March 1836. His heroic death only added further to the number of myths and stories that had accrued around “Davy” Crockett during his lifetime. Along with Daniel Boone,he became the quintessentialAmerican frontiersman,known for his commonsense sayings and his superheroic struggles against the destructive forces of nature. While he himself was not given to written expression, a number of books and a series of almanacs appeared under his name describing his exploits. Nearly all were written by other hands, even though many of the events were based on things Crockett actually did or said. The only book in which he actually participated was done in collaboration with Thomas Chilton, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, of the State of Tennessee in 1834. Because of their use of the native American vernacular, a focus on frontier life and society at the ground level, Crockett’s tendency to exaggerate to mythic proportions, and his clever way with comic aphorisms and witty turns of 192 Southern Frontier Humor phrase, the Crockett stories, both written and oral, contributed to the development of the conventions of the humor of the Old Southwest. Texts:“Bear Hunting in Tennessee”from A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, of the State of Tennessee (Philadelphia: Carey & Hart, 1834).“A Love Adventure and Uproarious Fight with a Stage Driver”from Davy Crockett’s Almanack (Nashville, Tenn.: Published for the Author, 1836). Bear Hunting in Tennessee But the reader, I expect, would have no objection to know a little about my employment during the two years while my competitor was in Congress. In this space I had some pretty tuff times, and will relate some few things that happened to me. So here goes, as the boy said when he run by himself. In the fall of 1825, I concluded I would build two large boats, and load them with pipe staves for market.So I went down to the lake,which was about twenty- five miles from where I lived, and hired some hands to assist me, and went to work; some at boat building, and others to getting staves. I worked on with my hands till the bears got fat, and then I turned out to hunting, to lay in a supply of meat. I soon killed and salted down as many as were necessary for my family; but about this time one of my old neighbours, who had settled down on the lake about twenty-five miles from me, came to my house and told me he wanted me to go down and kill some bears about in his parts. He said they were extremely fat, and very plenty. I know’d that when they were fat, they were easily taken, for a fat bear can’t run fast or long. But I asked a bear no favours, no way, further than civility, for I now had eight large dogs, and as fierce as painters; so that a bear stood no chance at all to get away from them. So I went home with him, and then went on down towards the Mississippi, and commenced hunting. We were out two weeks, and in that time killed fifteen...