Texana Thursday: 4 Things You Might Not Know about Davy Crockett

Davy Crockett would have been 231 years old today. Thanks to the bravery of Crockett and his fellow defenders at the Battle of the Alamo (and, of course, to the articles, books, folklore, movies, and television shows it spawned), Crockett will always be a Texas hero and a figure of historical fascination.

Crockett County, which sits just northeast of Big Bend National Park in West Texas, is named for him, as is the town of Crockett, which is the county seat of Houston County in East Texas.

Some other interesting facts about Crockett include:

1. Contrary to what the song says, Crockett was not born in Tennessee.

If you watched Fess Parker playing Davy Crockett, you remember the opening stands of the popular theme song:

Born on a mountaintop in Tennessee
Greenest state in the land of the free
Raised in the woods so he knew every tree
Killed him a bear when he was only three
Davy, Davy Crockett
King of the Wild Frontier

Crockett was born August 17, 1786, in Limestone, North Carolina. Limestone is about 115 miles east of Charlotte.

2. Crockett was married twice and fathered six children.

Crockett’s first wife was Polly Finley, who died in 1815. She and Crockett had three children: John, William, and Margaret.

After Polly died, Crockett remarried. His second wife was Elizabeth Patton, a widow. They also had three children: Robert, Rebecca, and Matilda Crockett. Apparently, Elizabeth did not accompany Crockett to Texas. She died in 1860.

3. Crockett served in the Tennessee General Assembly and the U.S. House of Representatives.

Davy Crockett served as a local elected official in Tennessee and later served in the Gen. assembly before serving four years in Congress.

He lost a reelection bid to Congress, and gave a quote to a local newspaper that many Texans know today. “I told the people of my district that I would serve them as fatefully as I had done; but if not, they might go to hell, and I would go to Texas,” Crockett said.

He was as good as his word. He went to San Antonio and was one of the defenders of the Alamo.

4. Controversy remains about how Crockett actually died.

The two most popular films about the Alamo were made in 1960 and 2004. They have different takes on how Crockett died. In the 1960 film, John Wayne plays Crockett, and was stabbed to death during the battle in the Alamo chapel doorway.

In the 2004 film, Billy Bob Thornton plays Crockett. The film depicts Crockett as the last Texas survivor. He was on his knees, surrounded by Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and the Mexican Army. Urged to surrender, Crockett said if the Mexicans would surrender he would negotiate with Houston to spare most of the Mexicans’ lives. Santa Anna ordered Crockett killed by bayonet.

A famous painting of Crockett at the Alamo is Dawn at the Alamo (1903) by Robert Jenkins Onderdonk (1852-1917). The painting shows Davy Crockett using his rifle as a club during the final siege with the Alamo chapel in the background. Today the painting is in the Texas Governor’s Mansion.