Stand-Up Politician

"I'm Colonel David Crockett, fresh from the backwoods, half-horse, half alligator, a little touched with the snapping turtle; can wade the Mississippi, leap the Ohio, ride upon a streak of lightning, and slip without a scratch down a honey locust; can whip my weight in wildcats -- and if any gentleman pleases, for a ten dollar bill, he may throw in a panther -- hug a bear too close for comfort, and eat any man opposed to Jackson."

   First off, it's David, not Davy. He probably never wore a coonskin cap, never kilt him a bear when he was only three, never passed a single bill as a U.S. Congressman, and might have surrendered at the Alamo...
    ... But David was also the greatest humorist of his day, and a legend in his own time. There were already songs written about him, books glorifying him, and tall tales praising him during his own lifetime -- but all the while, he was practically illiterate and close to broke.
   Even in his own lifetime, David Crockett was more myth than man -- but as death approached he transcended that myth and became something greater -- an authentic hero. Crockett possessed (and still possesses in his many posthumous incarnations) our best qualities and our worst ones. He was not born into greatness -- he was a common man who attained greatness through hard work, luck, and good timing (if you can call anything involving forced martyrdom good timing).
   This is the story of a backwoods storyteller who became a legend . . . . and then outdid the legend.

CHAPTER 1: Early Life
CHAPTER 2: Indian Wars
CHAPTER 3: David's Motto
CHAPTER 4: Politickin'
CHAPTER 5: U.S. Congress
CHAPTER 6: Birth of the Legend
CHAPTER 7: Campaign Trail
CHAPTER 8: Death and Texas
CHAPTER 9: Final Days
CHAPTER 10: Deaths of Davy
CHAPTER 11: Afterward
Be Always Sure Your SOURCES are right -- then Go Ahead!	(Books, Films & Plays, Songs, Almanacs and Web Links.)

Music: "Flesh and Honor," from "The Alamo" (2004), by Carter Burwell.