Why Was Davy Crockett King of the Wild Frontier?

Later in his life, Davy Crockett adopted the motto, "Be sure you're right, then go ahead" [source: Smithsonian]. He was true to this independent ideal from an early age. At 12, he ran away from his first job of driving cattle after it became clear it was merely indentured servitude. His dramatic escape entailed a two-hour, 7-mile nighttime run in knee-deep snow. And he chose work over school, generally. But Crockett was proud of the life he made for himself without the benefit of a formal education. He wore his lack of schooling like a badge of honor.

Davy Crockett Books

During his lifetime, Crockett's frontiersmanship became legendary. The book and play "Lion of the West" and other popular books chronicled his life. These biographies were fantastic, absurd accounts of Crockett's wilderness prowess. And when one was written by an author who falsely attributed the "autobiography" to Crockett himself (ostensibly to boost sales), Davy's endearing reputation as a teller of tall tales was secured. Crockett eventually did write his autobiography, which also spun some unbelievable yarns. In one chapter, Crockett describes how he killed 105 bears in one year [source: Crockett].

Bear hunting was seminally integrated into Crockett's image. The "Ballad of Davy Crockett" (the theme song of the Disney series) mentions that Davy "kilt him a b'ar when he was only three." While this is likely not the case, it captures the essence of his larger-than-life reputation.

American Frontiersman

At a time when American expansion was meeting resistance from American Indians, Crockett was also regarded as a "brave Indian fighter." As a member of the Tennessee militia during the Creek Indian War, Crockett participated in a massacre of an American Indian village in Alabama, in retribution for a previous raid by the tribe [source: TSHA]. He also fought in the War of 1812 against the British. In 1817, he entered local politics in Lawrence County, Tennessee, fighting for land rights for poor settlers.

Davy Crockett in Politics

In 1829 he won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives [source: History]. He ran with the Whig Party, a political party that adopted traditionalist conservatism.

At some point, Crockett changed his views toward American Indians. As a congressman for Tennessee, he came to oppose President Andrew Jackson's land-use policies. The president's ideas for securing new settlements included the forced removal of American Indians from their tribal lands. Crockett was so vehemently opposed to American Indian removal and land grabbing that he lost his re-election bid to Congress in 1831. However, he was re-elected in 1833.

In 1835, he lost his Congressional seat again and left politics for good, but not before telling newspapers, "I told the people of my district that I would serve them as faithfully as I had done; but if not, they might go to hell, and I would go to Texas" [source: Texas State Library]. And so he did. He was so caught up in the Texas revolutionary spirit as the former Mexican state struggled for independence (and intrigued by the promise of money from land speculation that a free republic eventually promised), that he volunteered to serve as a member of the rebel militia fighting the Mexican Army there.

How Did Davy Crockett Die?

Crockett died in Texas the next year during the famous 1836 siege at the Alamo, but his death only brought him more glory. He's been portrayed in depictions of the battle using his trusty musket "Old Betsy" as a club, dealing blows to Mexican soldiers. His soldiering was called into question later from firsthand accounts that told of Crockett being captured rather than dying amid a rubble of Mexican corpses. But when the diary of a Mexican solider who had fought at the Alamo was discovered in 1975, Crockett's valiant reputation was supported by the soldier's words: Crockett had been a rallying figure for the doomed men at the fort before he was brutally executed at the hands of the Mexicans upon his capture [source: PBS].