We are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. In our long and revered catalog of American heroes, let’s remember one who died sixty years after 1776, also fighting in the name of independence.
The life – and death – of Davy Crockett at the Alamo became the stuff of myth as well as legend. I addressed it a few years ago when I wrote my Ayoob Files series for American Handgunner magazine.
You can find it here.
As always, your comments are invited.
As a student of history, I’m fascinated with how succeeding generations of pundits reinterpret historical figures and events, frequently by applying cultural values that didn’t exist (or were uncommon) when folks from olden times lived. But that’s bad history in my view.
On the other hand, new documentation sometimes is discovered that can shed new light on our understanding of folks from the past. Often though, we’re left with conflicting information and myth.
Whatever Crockett did or didn’t do, he most certainly didn’t live, fight or die “forty years before 1776”. He wasn’t even born till 10 years after that. the battle of the Alamo occurred in1836.
—Peter B
Love the article, Mas. It is balanced, attempts to get at the truth even when there are conflicting reports from different sources, and the lessons learned are fantastic and helpful. History is fascinating.