David Crockett (David de Crocketagne, born August 17, 1786 in Greene County - died March 6, 1836 at the Siege of Fort-Alamo). A representative of the state of Tennessee, of which he was a native, he became a popular hero in the history of the United States. He is often referred to as Davy Crockett.
Born in Tennessee on August 17, 1786 in Greene County, on the banks of the Nolichucky River and a descendant of French Huguenots, he was the fifth child of nine siblings, and did not receive an elaborate education. /P>
Widower of Polly (1788-1815) who gave birth to three children, he remarried in 1815 to Elizabeth Patton and had four children with her. He was a Freemason.
Political career
On September 24, 1813, he served in the Second Regiment of Tennesse Volunteer Mounted Riflemen for 91 days and took part in the campaign against the Creek Indians under future President Andrew Jackson.
From 1821 to 1835, he was repeatedly elected to represent Tennessee in Congress. He supports the settlers illegally settled on land in the West without having formal ownership. He opposes President Jackson on the Indian Removal Act. His opposition to Jackson was the cause of his defeat in the election of 1830, but Crockett was reelected in 1832.
In 1834, he published a book:A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett. In 1835, he was again defeated in the election.
The Texas Revolution
Shortly after this electoral defeat, he joined the Texas Revolution in Mexico. On January 14, 1836, he took an oath with 65 men to help the Provisional Government of Texas. Each man is promised a reward of 4,605 acres (19 km²) of land.
He took part in the defense of the Alamo (February 23 - March 6, 1836) and was given custody of the south palisade. The legend has retained that he would have disappeared while making an exit; Jose Enrique de la Pena's diary claims he was taken prisoner by Mexican General Manuel Fernandez Castrillon and summarily executed along with a dozen men on the orders of President Antonio López de Santa Anna. /P>
In 1838, Robert P. Crockett came to Texas to claim the land promised to his father.
The legend
Since 1909, many motion pictures and television series have chronicled the life of Davy Crockett, including a five-part Walt Disney Company serial in 1954. Crockett was played, among others, by John Wayne in the first film that he directed Alamo, in 1960.
In 1956, Disneyland proposed, in the section of the park baptized Frontierland, a small museum on the character. Life-size wax figurines of Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsen, the actors embodying the heroes of the series produced by Walt Disney Pictures, were presented in an Alamo setting. The museum quickly closed, but the wax figures were moved to nearby Tom Sawyer Island and were visible for decades.