Davy Crocket

How many of you remember the Davy Crocket craze of the 50's?  I had the coonskin cap and watched the Disney mini series.  I was very young and we were poor so I didn't get a huge collection of things Davy that were available at the time.  I don't even remember some of them I have seen on the book of faces.  Then I go over to Ebay and look around and see tons of things I never heard of.  

To me, Fess Parker will always be Davy Crocket.

My FB page has been filled with Davy related posts the last week.  FYI, he prefered to be called David, not Davy.  That moniker had been added by a fiction writer of the times that told tall tales of Davy.  There is also a letter I have seen that is claimed to be the last letter he wrote while he was in Texas, in it he spells his last name as I have spelled it here.  Maybe that is misspelled by him but I prefer to use it the way he did.  Yes there are other letters that have both t's, so who knows.  Here in my neck of the woods, except for the wack jobs that call him a racist murderer and even a coward, Davy Crocket is pretty much revered.  

Today is generally accepted as the day he arrived at the Alamo, to never leave.  I took this off the Historic Davy Crockett Homepage on FB.  'ON THIS DAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1836, DAVID CROCKETT ARRIVED TO SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR IN TEXAS. Researchers have not found the exact day of his arrival, but according to Alamo's engineer, Major Green B. Jameson's letter of February 11, 1836, to the Governor Henry Smith, it reads: "We are now one hundred and fifty strong, Col. Crockett and Col. Travis both here & Col. Bowie in command of the volunteer forces. Col. Neill left today for home ..." This information indicates that Crockett arrived some time between February 6 and 10.'

Here's a description of his arrival from James Donovan's The Blood of Heroes:

"Crockett was greeted warmly when he reached Main Plaza. Someone called for a speech, and the crowd took up the cry. Crockett mounted a wooden crate to enthusiastic cheers. He spoke of the new country of Texas, and patriotism, and told several of his tried and tested anecdotes to frequent applause. He alluded to his career as a congressman, and he delivered his "go to hell" story, now a staple of all his public utterances. He concluded with words to this effect, wisely chosen for his audience and remembered by John Sutherland:

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

"This made many a man who had not known him before Colonel Crockett's friend," remembered Dr. Sutherland.

Whatever your perception of Crocket is, in my house he will always be remembered fondly.  Mostly because it is a very pleasant memory of my childhood.  But also for the sacrifice he made.  The manner of how he died makes no difference despite his detractors that try to tell us otherwise.

Happy Trails