"When he come home his politickin' done, The western march had just begun, So he packed his gear an' his trusty gun, An' lit out grinnin' to follow the sun. Davy -- Davy Crockett, Leadin' the pioneer!"*

"My friends, I suppose you all are aware that I was recently a candidate for Congress. I told the voters that if they would elect me I would serve them to the best of my ability; but if they did not, they might go to hell, and I would go to Texas. I am on my way now!"
--David Crockett to former constituents at McCool's Saloon, 1835

   Crockett decides to head for Texas, and holds a farewell tour of his favorite taverns. In the company of old friends and political allies such as Memphis Mayor Marcus Winchester, Gus Young and C.D. McLean, he made his way from the Union Hotel on Front Street to Hart's Saloon on Market Street, the crowd growing larger and rowdier along the way. After Crockett had to intercede to prevent a fight between Hart's bartender and Gus Young over paying with cash or credit, they switch venues to McCool's Saloon next door.
   The happy crowd hoists Crockett onto Neil McCool's bar counter to give another speech, until barkeeper Neil McCool swings at David's muddy feet with a club and orders them out.

DAVID CROCKETT ON THE REPUBLICAN IDEAL: "I am a republican, and believe in a republican form of government. And if any other kind of government results from this revolution, I will never support nor defend it." -- David Crockett, refusing to sign to an oath of allegiance to Texas, requiring the soldiers to defend "the Republic of Texas, or any other government that might be established." (Sources: Niles Register, June 23, 1838; Richard Dorson, "America in Legend: Folklore from the Colonial Period to the Present," 1973)

   Every bar in town was visited that night, with similar results. "It is needless to say we all got tight--I might say, yes, very tight," noted one eyewitness. "Men who never were tight before, and never have been tight since, were certainly very tight then."
   David and a few friends head off for Texas the next day. He is accompanied by his teenage nephew William Patton, his brother-in-law Abner Burgin and friend Lindsy Tinkle. "These companions," Crockett writes before departing his home, "will make our company--we will go through Arkinsaw and I want to explore the Texas well before I return."
   They head down the Mississippi River. David wants to find the wilderness again -- and to catch his legend. He even wears an animal hat like Nimrod Wildfire. But now he carries his old rifle "Betsey" -- not "Pretty Betsey," the gun he got from the Whigs. He is his own man again. John D. Davis, then 16, says: "He wore that same veritable coon-skin cap and hunting shirt, bearing upon his shoulder his ever-faithful rifle. No other equipment, save his shot pouch and powder horn, do I remember seeing."
   The group heads south -- and along the way, David gives the same "Hell/Texas" speech at every stop on a steamboat they take down the Arkansas River. Each time they stop, the number in David's party grows.
   A reception party arrives to greet David at Little Rock's City Hotel, only to find him skinning a deer behind the building. He then wins a shooting contest (local legend has it that when he misses the second shot, he sticks a spare bullet into a hole in the middle of the target and pretends he has shot two bulls-eyes, one on top of the other), and then gives the "Hell/Texas" speech once again during a banquet held in his honor at Jeffries Hotel. Hearing news of a possible Texas revolution against Mexico, David now drops some of the Jackson attacks and adds some war rhetoric against the dictator of Mexico, declaring that he aims to "have Santa Anna's head, and wear it for a watch seal!" The crowd applauds as a fife and drum burst into "Hail the Conquering Hero Comes." A local newspaper calls his speech "simply rough, natural, and pleasant."
   Meanwhile, Mexico's dictator, Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna, has his own thoughts about the Americans invading Texas: "A rabble of wretched adventurers to whom our authorities have unwisely given benefits that even Mexicans did not enjoy." To him they are thieves who were given cheap land to settle in and tame the state, but now that he has taken power, must conform completely to the laws of Mexico. But instead of showing gratitude for the land which has been practically free up to now, they want complete independence.
   These pirates have taken a fort from the Mexican army -- actually a former mission called the Alamo, and driven them back across the Rio Grande. Santa Anna has to invade what is in reality his own country, and put down the rebellion. He considers the settlers pirates, and will be taking no prisoners.

DUKE CROCKETT ON THE REPUBLICAN IDEAL: "'Republic.' I like the sound of the word. It means people can live free, talk free, go or come, buy or sell, be drunk or sober, however they choose. Some words give you a feeling. Republic is one of those words that makes me tight in the throat. The same tightness a man gets when his baby takes his first step, or his first baby shaves, and makes his first sound like a man. Some words can give you a feeling that make your heart warm. Republic is one of those words." --From "The Alamo" (1960). Click here!

"The cannon was fired here on my arrival and I must say as to what I have seen of Texas it is the garden spot of the world. The best land and the best prospects for health I ever saw, and I do believe it is a fortune to any man to come here. There is a world of country here to settle."
-- David Crockett, from a letter to his daughter, Margaret; San Augustine Texas, January 9, 1836

   January 5: David arrives in Nacogdoches, Texas. His old political crony Sam Houston is supposedly there practicing law and working as a land agent -- the man David needs to see about acquiring a league and a labor of property in the Red River country. But Houston is away, trying to organize an army for the new, provisional government of Texas, as commander in chief of the military. So David waits -- and attends yet another banquet, and gives yet another speech. Politics have entered his mind again. And he is in the news again -- not as "Davy," but as him. The Spirit of the Times newspaper reports: "A gentleman from Nacogdoches, in Texas, informs us, that whilst there, he dined in public with Col. Crockett, who had just arrived from Tennessee. The old bear hunter, on being toasted, made a speech to the Texians, replete with his usual dry humor . . . The roar of applause was like a thunder-burst."
   David now hopes to serve in the upcoming Constitutional Convention. In Saint Augustine a few days later, after another cannon shot and another speech, he is formally asked to represent its citizens at the convention by the city's civic leaders. David informally agrees, saying he would "rather be a member of the Convention than of the Senate of the United States," but must serve out some time as a military volunteer to become an official Texian. (The next day, St. Augustine's James Gaines writes to Lt. Gov. John Robinson that Crockett "is to represent them at the Convention.")
   Burgin and Tinkle, not wanting any part of this, turn back towards home. But David returns to Nacogdoches and signs the Texas oath of allegiance, with a six month commitment to military service, which allows him to vote and run for election. At a dinner thrown by the ladies of the city, David tells the listeners that the Texian men will "lick up Santa Ana like fine salt," and that he promises personally "to grin all the Mexicans out of Texas."

BILLY BOB CROCKETT ON THE REPUBLICAN IDEAL: "You figger this new Republic is gonna need a President?" -- Crockett to Sam Houston after learning that Texas will declare an independent government from Mexico. From "The Alamo"(2004).

"All volunteers is entitled to vote for a member of the convention or to be voted for, and I have but little doubt of being elected a member to form a constitution for this province. I am rejoiced at my fate. I had rather be in my present situation than to be elected to a seat in Congress for life. I am in hopes of making a fortune yet for myself and family, bad as my prospect has been. Do not be uneasy about me. I am among friends."-- David Crockett, from a letter to his daughter, Margaret; San Augustine Texas, January 9, 1836

   Crockett and his nephew, along with the men who have attached themselves to their party, now join with a dozen other volunteers into a "Mounted Spy Company" (scouts) dubbed the Tennessee Mounted Volunteers in honor of the colonel. They reach Washington-on-the-Brazos in late January, where Crockett hopes to reunite with military commander (and former Tennessee Governor) Sam Houston. But Houston is at Goliad, attempting to unite the Texan army.
   Meanwhile, Houston orders Colonel James Bowie to San Antonio with 25 men to destroy the fortifications at an old mission -- the Alamo -- and withdraw eastward. But Bowie decides to try and hold the fort against Houston's orders, writing to Governor Smith that "the salvation of Texas depends in great measure on keeping Bexar out of the hands of the enemy...we would rather die in these ditches than give it up to the enemy."

Earliest known view of the Alamo, by José Juan Sánchez Navarro, ca. 1835-36

Personal Information Claim Image Name:   Crockett, David Republic:   Texas Year:   15 Jan 1836 Claim:   $60 for sale of two rifles, January 1836 View image, Page 2 SOURCE: Texas State Library & Archives Commission.

WHAT WE'D LIKE TO FORGET ABOUT THE ALAMO: The Alamo defenders fought and died for the constitution of the Republic of Texas -- which declared in Sections 6, 9 and 10: "All free white persons who emigrate to the republic...shall be entitled to all the privileges of citizenship." "All persons of color who were slaves for life previous to their emigration to Texas, and who are now held in bondage, shall remain in the like state of servitude... Congress (of Texas) shall pass no laws to prohibit emigrants from the United State of America from bringing their slaves into the Republic with them...nor shall Congress have the power to emancipate slaves; nor shall any slaveholder be allowed to emancipate his or her slave or slaves...no free person of African descent either in whole or in part shall be permitted to reside permanently in the Republic without the consent of Congress." "All persons, (African, the descendants of Africans and Indians excepted,) who were residing in Texas on the day of the Declaration of Independence shall be considered citizens of the Republic and entitled to all the privileges of such."

SAN ANTONIO de BEXAR

"My friends and constituents: I left Washington and the United States Congress some time ago at the request of a gentleman who had the gall to call himself Andrew Jackson. But his real name, as most self-respectin' Indians know, is the fellow who got the whole thing bollixed up. Anyway, in Washington they told me to either go to Hell or Texas, so naturally, not wantin' to be took for a coward, I chose Texas. Lookin' over your territory as I come, I want to tell you I think you found somethin'. I don't know what it is, but it sure is full of space. Only thing, a few more people is needed. Men like you could solve that problem in no time at all. But I hear there's another man here who's agin' other people bein' here, a certain general called Santa Ana. Seems he wants to make it a game preserve for coyotes. And from what I heerd, we might have a run-in, iffin he don't scare me off."-- Davy Crockett (Arthur Hunnicutt) in "The Last Command"

   But in these dark days, just the idea of Davy Crockett is enough to bring a little hope to the defiant revolutionaries and local residents. Somebody sets down a packing case and Crockett climbs up to make the "Hell/Texas" speech, some insults toward Andrew Jackson, and the bit about using Santa Anna's head as a watch seal, but then adds something new:

"I have come to your country, though not, I hope, through any selfish motive whatever. I have come to aid you all that I can in your noble cause. I shall identify myself with your interests, and all the honor that I desire is that of defending as a high private, in common with my fellow citizens, the liberties of our common countries."

   David finds quarters near the Plaza de Armas and then on February 10, a wild fandango is held in his honor, with local Antonio Menchaca bringing "all the principal ladies of the city."
   The party is still going strong well past midnight, when a courier named Placido Benavides arrives to report that Santa Anna has reached the Rio Grande River with a large army. Bowie takes the warning seriously, but Travis dismisses the report. Arguing that he is about to dance with the loveliest lady in all Bexar, Travis declares: "Let us dance tonight and tomorrow we will make provisions for our defense."
   But Colonel Neill makes other provisions -- he leaves later that morning on "twenty days leave." Travis believes he won't be back. That leaves one less colonel fighting for control, but also one less soldier to battle Santa Anna in an already-tiny garrison. To make matters worse, there is a power struggle to control the San Antonio militia: Bowie, 26-year-old William Travis, and James C. Neill. Realizing that one more Colonel is the last thing this outpost needs, David renounces his Colonelship in deference to Colonels Bowie and Travis, to rank as "a sort of high private."
   Two weeks later, the army of Antonio López de Santa Anna finally arrives... Thousands strong. David and about 150 other men evacuate the town and barricade themselves in the Alamo. "Poor fellows," a Mexican woman calls out to them, "you will all be killed."
   The Mexicans hang a red flag over the town, signifying that they will give no quarter.
   This situation makes David remember the Creek Indian war, and those doomed warriors trapped in a remote building, surrounded by a hostile army. Upon entering the fort, David makes his preference known to fight in the "open country" on horseback, like he had as a scout in the Indian wars. But he follows orders and holes up inside with all of the other privates. In great peril, like a bear trapped in a cave, David resolves to live up to his legend.

Final Days ..... Main Page

* The Ballad of Davy Crockett, by Tom Blackburn; Music by George Bruns. Copyright 1954 Wonderland Music Co., Inc.

Music: "Main Theme," from "The Alamo" (1960) by Dimitri Tiomkin.