DAVID CROCKETT, GREAT HUNTER AND HERO OF THE ALAMO
Crockett found his schooling in the woods
143. A Brave Backwoodsman. At the close of the Revolution, Tennessee was still largely a wilderness. Here David Crockett was born in 1786. In those days schools on the frontier were few and poor, and young "Davy" found most of his schooling in the backwoods. He learned to know the woods and streams and the animals that lived in them. As a boy he spent most of his time hunting and trapping. As a young man he was one of the most famous rifle shots in the United States.
When the Creek War broke out, he enlisted under Andrew Jackson to march against the Indians. The young rifleman fought so well under "Old Hickory" that Tennessee made him a colonel.
Elected to Congress
He had become a famous hunter and fighter. He thought he would try politics next. Instead of making political speeches, he went about from place to place telling stories. The people liked both him and his stories so well that they elected him to the legislature. A few years later they sent him to Congress.
Returns to the wilderness
Joins the fight at the Alamo
By and by Crockett grew tired of civilization. He wanted to get back to the wilderness. His old home was too well settled to suit him. So he wandered to Texas. Here he heard that the Mexicans were surrounding the Americans at San Antonio. "Davy" Crockett loved a good fight too well to stay away. He hastened to join the small band of brave men who were defending the Alamo. All could have escaped had they chosen to do so, but with iron courage these hundred and forty stayed and defied Santa Ana's thousands.
MAP OF THE WEST AFTER THE WAR WITH MEXICO
Showing the territory added to the United States after the Louisiana Purchase
For several days the Mexicans were held at a distance. They dared not bring their cannon close to the building, for the concealed sharpshooters picked off the men who tried to man the guns. Old Crockett himself laid low five men in charge of one cannon.
David Crockett fights to the last
The fall of the Alamo was however merely a question of time. Little by little the walls were battered down, and finally the Mexicans were ready to storm. On they came, a great charging mass. The American riflemen shot them down by scores, but when one Mexican fell another took his place. One by one the fearless defenders fell. The last man to go down was Davy Crockett.
It is said that he stood with his back to the wall, fighting to the last, and that the Mexicans, afraid to meet him hand to hand, shot him down from a distance.