| Show DAVY cliff lok r 0 4 U Arol arolyn yz 0 W M GOES AI 77 rt 1 1 41 A j alm ON sf al fiTi yli IE J uil ya c JJ FliS ju r H jimim J the alamo U by ELMO SCOTT WATSON A FULL century tury has passed since lie he B a typical rough and ready fron k tl ersman was being lionized in ali halt a dozen eastern cities as rt n the most talked of american of JL jai his day it has been 93 years since ile he died magnificently in a manner that was a fitting filling climax to his turbulent career close upon his moccas ined heels as he lashes flashes across the page of history come pressing a whole line of wild west heroes whose hose renown might easily have eclipsed his yet in this year 1931 1934 the name and fame of davy crockett still goes ahead down in texas they are getting ready to celebrate two years hence the centennial of texan independence from mexico and during that celebration the dominant figure in memory will be of course sam houston the george washington of the revolution of 1836 and the first president of the lone star republic nut but there will also be occasion to remember the alamil and to recall again the names of its heroic defenders bowie and bonham and travis trails and most of all davy crockett crochett for in the minds of most americans davy crockett Is the apotheosis of the alamo and he Is second only to sam houston as the most memorable figure in the fight by texas for freedom from mexico why perhaps the best explanation can be found in the book davy crockett by constance rourke published recently by harcourt brace and company in the foreword to this volume the author says when a country Is young it discovers its heroes and these are not always leaders in battle they nay may only be men who have had the adventures others long for they may show admired traits or strange ones they may talk or laugh in a fashion which others enjoy always stories are told about them davy dary crockett knew wild life as few have known it and he became the most noted hunter of his time even when he was an obscure backwoodsman comical tales and high talk could be ba heard about him and his own humor had fame among the people of his region when he emerged from the wilderness and appeared in the east as congressman he suddenly seemed to the popular imagination all that had been known or guessed about life in the vl western estern woods or on the western waters there was truth in this even in the most soaring of the many tall tales about crockett there was truth about no single american figure have so many legends clustered after crocketts Croc ketta death whole cycles of legendary tales were ere told about win him that form a rich outflow erlin of the american imagination in those words Is a definite clue to the reason i why the figure of da davy ry crockett Is still green in the memory of his fellow americans though a hundred years have passed since he stopped living and faugl laughing 4 1 ing his way into the hearts of a people the fact that he had adventures others long for foe Is not enough to guarantee his immortality daniel boone had those adventures tie ile also could show admired traits and these taken together were enough to make him the outstanding symbol ot of pioneer life of the american frontier but davy crockett had something also which boone had bad not that gift of humor which gave him fame among the people of his region a tame fame that soon boon spread to other re eglons glons as well ile he was both a teller of tall tales and an actor in them so the legends began to cluster about his name for frontier america loved its whoppers hoppers and tor for that matter because this so called modern america Is still so near to the frontier phase of its national life it still loves them perhaps another reason why this tact fact and fiction hero davy crockett Is still such a vivid figure in our national consciousness Is because of two words which we associate with him go ahead 1 we americans love mort mottoes toes slogans catchwords and all such things almost all of our popular heroes have tagged to them some phrase that has become historic repent repeat the words of that phrase and Inet instantly antly the figure of the man who uttered them rises in the mind of the hearer so davy crockett unconsciously perhaps was guaranteeing his immortality when he adopted as his motto be always sure you are right then go ahead it was a particularly apt motto for bis time in crocketts day america and particularly the american frontiersman was going ahead he had but recently surged over the barrier of the Alleg hanles banies ile he was engaged in the conquest of the great interior basin ot north america the mississippi valley ile he was already gazing longingly across the father ot of waters toward the western plains and another huge barrier the lewis and clark had proved that that barrier could be scaled so nothing less than the pacific ocean was hla his ultimate goal and he was sure of his rightness in doing all this the mere fact that the original inhabitants of all this country the indian opposed him enough to change that belief from that period of our history dates our indian policy of taking the red mans land by any means fair or foul for tills this was the beginning of an era 0 of treaties made only to be broken and of 0 indian fa J i aki N U col crackett beat at a shooting Shoot inq davy brinas home a iz 4 t ir 4 ia I 1 remember the alamil Alam cV notes on the pictures photograph of the alamo and portrait of crockett crocked courtesy howard C smith san antonio texas davy brings home a turkey and davy in school drawings by capt john W thomason jr U S M C in the adventures of davy crockett courtesy charles scribners sons remember the alamo drawing by james macdonald in davy crockett courtesy harcourt brace and company colonel crockett beat at a shooting match a an n old woodcut wood cut reproduced in blair and mike fink king of mississippi Keel boatmen courtesy henry holt and company wars which seem always to have broken out just after the white main ma n had discovered another bit of particularly desirable country it if davys motto was an apt one for his times it seems to be equally so for the america of today even though we ie may have haile lost sight of its true meaning for a belief amounting almost to a certainty in the rightness of our country in all things seems to be an essential part ot of the american credo we like to think that vie e are the greatest nation on earth that we have gone ahead of every other nation we have translated davys go ahead into get ahead and that we have done sometimes as ruthlessly as did the frontiersmen of his time but whether we have interpreted his motto wrongly or rightly the fact that he gave it to us and that we associate the admonition in it with his name Is perhaps another reason why he Is so m wel ell remembered when did crockett crochett Cro cLett first use this motto miss bliss rourke la in her book boob dates it from shortly after the close of the war of 1812 crockett home from service under jackson against the creeks had settled on new land near shoal creek in western tennessee it was wild country with dangerous characters both red and white roaming through it A regiment of militia was organized by the settlers and crockett was elected colonel A little later they decided to set up a form of local government and urged davy to accept the position of magistrate says miss bliss rourke Ilo urke finding that he would be obliged not only to write his name but to make out warrants and keep a record of his proceedings crockett began to read whatever he could find and to practice the art of handwriting this was slow work but he be made progress it was at this time that he began to inscribe a motto at the end of documents ile he always sure youre right then go ahead having haling proved his bis ability as a local magistrate crockett was next prevailed upon to become a candidate for the tennessee state legislature ile he was elected next they sent him to congress and it Is in regard to his career there that this new biography brings out a part of the significance of davy crockett in american history that other biographers seem to have missed commenting on his role as the cham champion plon of the settlers as against the speculators in what was then the wet west miss bliss rourke says gays crockett achieved a homely statesmanship nis 1319 bill dealing with this question was carefully thought out and well phrased and he supported davy ar hool it with a wealth mcarth of ready argument his bill was defeated as was an important amendment of his to another measure bearing on the sime same question none the less crockett stands head and shoulders above the average ge thinker of his time even above many in high places because of his grasp of a fundamental principle and his willingness to fight for it it the cause wa waa it lost but it was a great cause thus it way may be seen that davy crockett was something more than a coonskin congressman something more than a picturesque bear hunter from the wilds of the west who nho by some political accident had a chance to participate in shaping the beginnings of our democracy gut but if later americans have failed to appreciate his significance in that period his own people apparently parel patently itly ly were also blind to his true worth because lie he dared oppose jackson who was then rising on his high tide of popularity on both the land question and the indian question they denied him film reelection election re in 1831 cut but two years later he was again elected and more than before he became an outstanding figure in congress ile he was now an out and out anti jackson man and an increasingly dangerous obstacle to jacksons plan of handing the presidency to martin van ruren buren when old hickory should retire from the white house in the spring of crockett started on his tour of the eastern cities which became a veritable triumphal progress to baltimore to philadelphia to new york up into new england then through pennsylvania ohio and kentucky ile he made such an impression wherever he went that there was even talk of running him for president then came the anticlimax anti climax at the end of the summer he was a candidate for reelection election re cut but his enemies were busy the full strength of the jacksonian Jackso ninn partisans in tennessee was un leashed leasher playing upon sectional prejudices they used his journey to new england against him in a bitter campaign in NI which ilch personalities outweighed the real issue at stake crockett was defeated by a narrow margin crockett had reached a turning point in the six or seven years just past his entire course had been changed he could hardly return to hunting and farming all his life he had been on the move and he had repeatedly 9 gone from one frontier to another ile he mode m de a qu quick decision im going to texas he sal it was his last journey the end 0 it t Is one of the classics in american heroism in the epic drama of the alamo as aa elsewhere back along the trail of his life davy crockett held the center of the stage in the wild cou confusion fuston crockett seems to have been everywhere at once writes miss bliss rourke A story was told afterward that as he leveled and tired fired his famous betsey h sang invitingly to the mexicans wont yon yoa come into my bower TI this 1 Is would have been ille him perhaps lie he was heard singing this song in the earlier days of the siege hut but when the final attack began there would have been no time for song nor col could ald any tune have be been ell heard in the terrific din the mexicans could kill davy crockett Cruc kett tho the man but they kill davy cl crockett rocket the hero halt half man and half myth stories about crockett are still told in kentucky and tennessee and in the ozark mountains says miss bliss rourke even now people in the ozarks talk about him as though he were ere still living just over the next ridge the other day a newspaper book reviewer began fin an article thus twice in two weeks davy crockett crashes tb through rough once in his own story once in this brilliant biography by constance rourke the reference to his own story is to the fact that charles scribners sons had issued the adventures of davy crockett crochett told mostly by himself which includes davys auto autobiography blog first published I 1 in ll 11 1834 18 34 and his texas exploits and adventures first published in 1836 in it davy crockett speaks from his unmarked grave in the thermopylae of america I 1 out from between the covers of these two books steps the typical american frontiersman davy crockett still goes ahe ahead aLI 0 by western newspaper union |
