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Speaker 1: They're wearing themselves out trying to receive reinforcements, receive supplies,

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Speaker 1: and they can't.

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Speaker 2: They can't.

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Speaker 1: On February twenty third, Santa Anna and the Mexican Army arrive.

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Speaker 3: The final episodes of these series are always somber for me.

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Speaker 3: I think we all know what's about to happen to

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Speaker 3: our boy, David Crockett. I'm interested in the best information

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Speaker 3: that we have about the Alamo, not the narrative we've

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Speaker 3: heard from the likes of John Wayne and Walt Disney,

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Speaker 3: or maybe their narratives were right. Sometimes nationalistic narratives have

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Speaker 3: to be sorted through, because I'm mainly interested in not that,

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Speaker 3: but the inner workings and character and fabric of the

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Speaker 3: man David Crockett. I'm also interested in why people from

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Speaker 3: Texas are so crazed about the Alamo and passionate about

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Speaker 3: how Crockett died. Learned that it was far more important

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Speaker 3: in US history than you might think. Holly's Comet soared

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Speaker 3: over North America in eighteen thirty five and thirty six

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Speaker 3: and was blamed for some of the time's ill fate.

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Speaker 3: Andrew Jackson sarcastically commissioned Crockett to catch it by the

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Speaker 3: tail before it hit the United States, destroying the country.

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Speaker 3: He didn't catch it, but he did help change the

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Speaker 3: course of this nation by his death. And we're gonna

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Speaker 3: learn did Crockett die fighting or was he executed? And

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Speaker 3: why do we care? I really doubt that you're gonna

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Speaker 3: want to miss this one.

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Speaker 4: Most people who think they know history don't know how

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Speaker 4: they know what they think they know.

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Speaker 3: My name is Clay Knukem, and this is the Bear

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Speaker 3: Grease Podcast, where we'll explore things forgotten but relevant, search

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Speaker 3: for insight and unlikely places, and where we'll tell the

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Speaker 3: story of Americans.

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Speaker 2: Who live their lives close to the land.

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Speaker 3: Presented by FHF Gear, American made, purpose built hunting and

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Speaker 3: fishing gear that's designed to be as rugged as the

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Speaker 3: places we explore. Over twenty buckskin clad horsemen are riding

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Speaker 3: through the dry plains of Texas. One sure looks a

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Speaker 3: lot like John Wayne, and he's wearing a coonskin hat.

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Speaker 3: I think that's Davy Crockett.

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Speaker 5: Well that you big down after twenty days a hard riding,

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Speaker 5: we're gonna have to learn the lingo they use down here, Davy.

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Speaker 2: Why don't we go davy to the town or to

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Speaker 2: the part part.

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Speaker 5: It's an all make you better take a better look.

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Speaker 5: A lot of people moving in there.

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Speaker 2: Them guns don't give it no mistion. Look to me, Arnel,

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Speaker 2: what do you see? A n ti and a spell cantina?

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Speaker 3: Do it mean what I think you do it?

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Speaker 5: Dude, it means all of these DearS gets it into

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Speaker 5: our boobie.

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Speaker 3: This was near the opening scene of John Wayne's nineteen

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Speaker 3: sixty movie titled The Alamo. It's rife with historical inaccuracies,

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Speaker 3: but this scene depicting these guys entering into San Antonio

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Speaker 3: as more relaxed than they should have been, is probably accurate.

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Speaker 3: On February eighth, eighteen thirty six, the real David Crockett,

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Speaker 3: our gentlemen from the Cane, America's first celebrity, voluntarily rode

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Speaker 3: into a Mexican war zone. His one month in San

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Speaker 3: Antonio would be the most scrutinized, studied, and mythologized portions

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Speaker 3: of his storied life, because on the morning of March sixth,

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Speaker 3: eighteen thirty six, he and one hundred and eighty eight

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Speaker 3: other men would die at the hands of the Mexican army,

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Speaker 3: making this one of the most infamous days in Texas

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Speaker 3: and American history. The mystery of this day, because of

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Speaker 3: the lack of survivors, would set many Americans on a

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Speaker 3: lifelong journey to understand what happened, including John Wayne, whose

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Speaker 3: passion project was this Alamo movie, which he directed and funded.

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Speaker 3: But it wasn't just the Duke who was passionate about

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Speaker 3: the Alamo.

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Speaker 2: And Crockett.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Crockett's bigger than Disney and John Wayne. Even John

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Speaker 1: Wayne couldn't play Davy Crockett. John Wayne played John Wayne

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Speaker 1: playing Davy Crockett. So before my moved to Texas, my

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Speaker 1: dad had renovated his childhood home, Jacksonville Beach, Florida, with

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Speaker 1: the bell shaped parapet of the Alamo. So here we

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Speaker 1: were ten minutes from the Atlantic Ocean, and we had

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Speaker 1: neighbors asking why we were building a taco bell in

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Speaker 1: the middle of the neighborhood. Unfortunately, my dad was eventually

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Speaker 1: hit with foreclosure. We knew we were going to lose

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Speaker 1: the house, and so I was about twenty at the time.

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Speaker 1: I'm thirty four. Now I realized I had to leave

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Speaker 1: the nest. So I moved to San Antonio in twenty

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Speaker 1: ten and within four months of living in San Antonio,

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Speaker 1: I was working at the Alamo.

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Speaker 3: Passion comes in many shapes, but it's the special breed

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Speaker 3: that are passionate about the Alamo that was the voice

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Speaker 3: of David Crockett. Fanatic and historical illustrator Wade Dylon. He

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Speaker 3: worked for eight years at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas,

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Speaker 3: which to many people surprised despite Wayne's movie, is still standing,

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Speaker 3: well most of it in John Wayne's movie, it got

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Speaker 3: blown up. The real Battle of the Alamo is a

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Speaker 3: central feature in the Texas Revolution that eventually led Texas

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Speaker 3: to independence and statehood, and though Texas is now part

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Speaker 3: of these United States, many would say that that statehood

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Speaker 3: didn't remove that Texas independence. The most debated question of

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Speaker 3: the Alamo, though, is how did David Crockett die? This

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Speaker 3: has become a really important question. John Wayne's version showed

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Speaker 3: that he died the iconic death of a hero in

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Speaker 3: the midst of battle. However, there is another version of

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Speaker 3: his death that many aren't happy about.

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Speaker 4: The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, the editor asked me if I

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Speaker 4: would review a new book that a New York City

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Speaker 4: fireman by the name of Bill Groeneman, whose amateur historian

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Speaker 4: had written it was called Defense of a Legend, David

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Speaker 4: Crockett and the Delapinia Diary. And to make a long

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Speaker 4: story short, Delapeno was a junior officer in the Mexican

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Speaker 4: Army who wrote a diary. Later re rote it as

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Speaker 4: a memoir, but it's almost always called his diary. And

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Speaker 4: he witnessed the capture and execution of a handful of

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Speaker 4: men after the Battle of the Alamo. They were captured

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Speaker 4: right at the end, executed within a few minutes, and

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Speaker 4: he identifies one of them as being David Crockett.

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Speaker 3: Wait a minute, did our ears just partake of an

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Speaker 3: account of pure heresy? Everybody who knows our Crockett, the

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Speaker 3: king of the wild Frontier, who knows no fear, they

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Speaker 3: would know that Crockett would never surrender to anyone. You

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Speaker 3: can't just capture a Bobcat grinnin Whirlwind Brothers. That was

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Speaker 3: doctor James E. Crisp, Professor Emeritus at North Carolina State

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Speaker 3: University in Texas. Native He is from te He's a

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Speaker 3: national expert on the last five minutes of David Crockett's life,

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Speaker 3: and his whole career has been involved In this debate,

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Speaker 3: he wrote a book called Sleuthing the Alamo and another

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Speaker 3: titled How did Davy Die?

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Speaker 2: And Why Do We Care so much?

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Speaker 3: The Lapoena Diary is big news, but there's more.

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Speaker 2: Here's way.

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Speaker 1: Now, this is where the controversy comes into play. The

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Speaker 1: Dailapenia Diary shows up after the big crocket craze of

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Speaker 1: the nineteen fifties.

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Speaker 3: All right, so like one hundred and twenty five years later,

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Speaker 3: this diary shows up, which is kind of convenient.

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Speaker 1: Well, the thing about the diary is a great deal

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Speaker 1: of the diary is legitimate, is authentic. But what is

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Speaker 1: debated is the section that specifically talks about the execution

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Speaker 1: of David Crockett. The pages of that section of the

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Speaker 1: diary are different sizes, and they're quite popossibly forged.

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Speaker 3: Wait a minute, the whole diary is legit, but just

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Speaker 3: the section about Crockett's death is a fraud.

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Speaker 2: I'm no detective, but that sounds sketchy.

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Speaker 3: But it also sounds sketchy that it appeared in nineteen

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Speaker 3: fifty five, conveniently right when Walt Disney resurrected Crockett's legacy

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Speaker 3: with the trilogy of films. Weren't there security cameras or

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Speaker 3: military body cams that we can review to see how

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Speaker 3: our boy Crockett died.

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Speaker 4: Within weeks after the fall of the Alamo, two stories

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Speaker 4: had reached New Orleans and was printed in the New

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Speaker 4: Orleans papers. One was that Crockett had died fighting like

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Speaker 4: a tiger and fell in combat, and the other that

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Speaker 4: he was among those handful of men who were captured

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Speaker 4: and executed. Both stories were there from the very beginning.

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Speaker 4: There's an artist from Texas who painted two pictures of

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Speaker 4: Crockett in the Alamo. One was him fighting and one

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Speaker 4: was him captive. That was in the nineteen thirties, so

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Speaker 4: the stories were always there. But by the time they

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Speaker 4: started making you know, the John Wayne movie and the

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Speaker 4: Fest Parker Disneyland version of Crockett, they went with the

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Speaker 4: alternate stories. In fest Parker, he dies, you know, swinging

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Speaker 4: his rifle, although they never show him die. And in

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Speaker 4: John Wayne, I believe he gets blown up in the

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Speaker 4: powder magazine after getting stabbed through the chest. We're living

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Speaker 4: in a age right now where there's so much falsehood

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Speaker 4: put out as conclusions that people don't look at how

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Speaker 4: the conclusions were arrived at what you have to do,

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Speaker 4: as a professional historian or someone who reads professional historians

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Speaker 4: is look at the evidence. And what I've done is

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Speaker 4: describe the evidence. There are no eyewitnesses to Crockett dying

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Speaker 4: in combat. Zero.

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Speaker 3: This man speaks with conviction, and by the end of

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Speaker 3: this episode, you're gonna have a gut feeling of what

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Speaker 3: happened to Crockett.

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Speaker 2: But that's all. It will be, just a feeling.

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Speaker 3: There are multiple first hand accounts of seeing Crockett's dead

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Speaker 3: body with his Coonskin hat by his side, no joke.

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Speaker 2: There are zero.

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Speaker 3: Accounts of anyone actually seeing him die fighting, and there

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Speaker 3: are three accounts from soldiers in the Mexican Army of

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Speaker 3: him being executed, but none of them seemed to be

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Speaker 3: rock solid. But before we can answer those questions, we

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Speaker 3: need to understand why our Tennessee boy was in Texas.

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Speaker 3: In episode three of our Crockett series, we left him

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Speaker 3: in eighteen thirty five, when he'd been defeated in a

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Speaker 3: race for Congress by Adam Huntsman.

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Speaker 2: The defeat chapped him bad.

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Speaker 3: He said he was rascaled out of the election, and

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Speaker 3: then he finalized a plan that he'd likely had for

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Speaker 3: some time.

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Speaker 4: Crockett had been in Congress and he lost an election.

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Speaker 4: He was defeated by a guy with a wooden leg,

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Speaker 4: and he told his constituents, if you're going to vote

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Speaker 4: for that Timbertow instead of me, you can all go

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Speaker 4: to Hell, and I'm going to Texas. Now. The question

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Speaker 4: is why would he choose Texas well. Texas was a

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Speaker 4: wide open place for American immigration to where they could

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Speaker 4: get good land very cheap, and Crockett needed that because

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Speaker 4: he was not a wealthy man. In fact, Crockett had

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Speaker 4: lost his life savings more than once in his life.

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Speaker 3: Crockett is forty nine years old, and in the words

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Speaker 3: of Bono, he still hasn't found what he's looking for,

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Speaker 3: which was primarily land in a stable life. Crockett had

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Speaker 3: vowed that if Martin van Buren was elected president, he'd

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Speaker 3: leave the country, and he famously said, you can all

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Speaker 3: go to h double hockey sticks, and.

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Speaker 2: I'll go to Texas. And he did just that.

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Speaker 3: Matilda Crockett's daughter, wrote that when her father left their

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Speaker 3: home in Rutherford, Tennessee, he was quote dressed in his

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Speaker 3: hunting shirt, wearing a coonskin cap, and carried a fine

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Speaker 3: rifle presented to him by his friends in Philadelphia. He

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Speaker 3: seemed very confident the morning he went away that he

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Speaker 3: would soon have us all join him in Texas.

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Speaker 2: End of quote.

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Speaker 3: Crockett would cross the Mississippi River, and he arrived in

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Speaker 3: Little Rock, Arkansas on November the twelfth, where it's recorded

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Speaker 3: that he killed a deer and skinned it behind the

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Speaker 3: Jeffreys Hotel and was entertained by a puppet showed a

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Speaker 3: local tavern.

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Speaker 2: That's no joke.

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Speaker 3: It was reported that hundreds of people gathered and held

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Speaker 3: a banquet for Crockett at a hotel, and the newspaper

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Speaker 3: quoted Crockett as saying, I kid you not. He said quote,

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Speaker 3: if I could rest anywhere, it would be in Arkansas,

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Speaker 3: where the man a real half horse, half alligator, breathe

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Speaker 3: such as grow nowhere else on the face of the

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Speaker 3: universal Earth, but just around the backbone of North America.

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Speaker 3: I am literally blushing with pride. I didn't make that up.

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Speaker 3: But Crockett did leave the Creation State and went to Texas.

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Speaker 3: The editor of an Arkansas newspaper would write, quote, we

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Speaker 3: shall die contented. We have seen the honorable David Crockett,

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Speaker 3: who arrived in this place this evening on his way

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Speaker 3: to Texas, where he contemplates ending his days. It's not

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Speaker 3: entirely known what this editor meant by this cryptic statement,

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Speaker 3: but the prophetic utterance was accurate.

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Speaker 1: Crockett leaves for Texas November of eighteen thirty five. He's traveling.

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Speaker 1: In each major town that he's crossing through, he's receiving

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Speaker 1: updates as to the politics of Texas. They're in the

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Speaker 1: middle of a war, so the northern Federalist States of

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Speaker 1: Mexico that includes Texas.

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Speaker 5: Now.

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Speaker 1: Of course, at this time, Texas is filled with American

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Speaker 1: and European immigrants who have brought their ideologies and practices

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Speaker 1: with them. Mexican Representative mere Itehan, when he took a

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Speaker 1: tour of Texas, stated that the American immigrants carried their

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Speaker 1: constitutions in their pockets.

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Speaker 3: These people were energized by the new ideals of America.

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Speaker 3: The handwriting was on the wall that this place was

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Speaker 3: about to be its own country and it would likely

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Speaker 3: be a lot more like America than Mexico. But why

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Speaker 3: was Crockett there.

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Speaker 1: Crockett comes down to Texas volunteering for six months because

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Speaker 1: he realizes during wartime land offices are likely closed, and

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Speaker 1: the quickest way for him to acquire land at this

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Speaker 1: point upon arrival is by volunteering.

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Speaker 3: All these guys were always looking for land. That he

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Speaker 3: had been promised over four thousand acres of land for

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Speaker 3: his military service. That's a pretty good deal if you

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Speaker 3: don't die. Other accounts said he was only guaranteed six

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Speaker 3: hundred and forty acres, but Crockett had more on his

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Speaker 3: mind than land. Remember, this guy has national fame and

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Speaker 3: was a potential candidate for U as president, and now

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Speaker 3: he believes that he can be a significant player in

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Speaker 3: Texas politics, maybe even president of Texas. Here is Crockett's

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Speaker 3: last correspondence with his family that he wrote to his

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Speaker 3: daughter Margaret. This is the first time I've had the

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Speaker 3: opportunity to write you with convenience. I am now blessed

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Speaker 3: with excellent health and him in high spirits.

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Speaker 2: Although I've had.

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Speaker 3: Many difficulties to encounter and have got through safe and

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Speaker 3: have been received by everybody with the open arm of friendship.

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Speaker 3: I am hailed with a hearty welcome to this country,

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Speaker 3: a dinner and a party of ladies have honored me

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Speaker 3: with an invitation to participate with them. Both in naked Dedosius.

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Speaker 3: In this place. The cannon was fired here on my arrival.

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Speaker 3: I must say as to what I have seen of Texas,

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Speaker 3: it is the garden spot of the world. The best

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Speaker 3: land and the best prospect for health I have ever

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Speaker 3: saw is here. I do believe it's a fortune to

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Speaker 3: any man to come here. There is a world of

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Speaker 3: country to settle, and it's not required here to pay

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Speaker 3: down for your league of land. Every man is entitled

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Speaker 3: to his head right of four thousand, four hundred and

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Speaker 3: twenty eight acres. They might have the money to pay

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Speaker 3: it off the land. This is just how this letter reads,

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Speaker 3: So this grammar's kind of wild. I expect an all

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Speaker 3: probability to settle on the Bow Dark or the chalktaw

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Speaker 3: by you, the Red River that I have found, no

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Speaker 3: doubt the richest country in the world, good land, plenty

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Speaker 3: of timber, and the best springs and good millstreams, good range,

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Speaker 3: clear water, in every appearance of good health and gain plenty.

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Speaker 3: It is in the past where the buffalo passes from

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Speaker 3: north to south back twice a year, in bees and

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Speaker 3: honey plenty. I have a great hope of getting the

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Speaker 3: agency to settle that country, and I would be glad

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Speaker 3: to see every friend I have settled there. It would

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Speaker 3: be a fortune to them all. I have taken the

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Speaker 3: oath of the government and have enrolled my name as

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Speaker 3: a volunteer for six months, and will set out for

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Speaker 3: the Rio Grand in a few days with the volunteers

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Speaker 3: from the United States. All volunteers is entitled to a

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Speaker 3: vote for a member of the Convention, or to be

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Speaker 3: voted four and I have but little doubt of being

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Speaker 3: elected a member to form a constitution for this province.

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Speaker 3: I am rejoiced at my fate and had rather be

300
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Speaker 3: in my present situation than to be elected to a

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Speaker 3: seat in Congress for life. I am in hopes of

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Speaker 3: making a fortune for myself and family, as bad as

303
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Speaker 3: have been my prospects. I have not wrote to William,

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Speaker 3: but have requested John to direct him what to do.

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Speaker 3: I hope you will show this letter to him and

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Speaker 3: also your brother John, as it is not convenient at

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Speaker 3: this time for me to write them. I hope you

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Speaker 3: will do the best you can, and I will do

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Speaker 3: the same. Do not be uneasy about me, for I

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Speaker 3: am with friends. I must close with great respects, your

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Speaker 3: affectionate father Farewell, signed David Crockett, January ninth, eighteen thirty six.

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Speaker 3: This letter leaves little speculation of the intentions of Crockett

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Speaker 3: in Texas. He encountered many people during his time there,

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Speaker 3: one of which was a Swisher family. They would later

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Speaker 3: write about their time with Crockett.

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Speaker 2: This is what they said. Quote.

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Speaker 3: He conversed about himself in the most unaffected manner, without

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Speaker 3: the slightest attempt to display any genius or smartness. He

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Speaker 3: told us many great anecdotes, many of which were commonplace

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Speaker 3: and amounted to nothing within themselves, but his inimitable way

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Speaker 3: of telling them would convulse us in laughter.

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Speaker 2: End of quote.

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Speaker 3: This reminds me of John Gadsby Chapman, the portrait painters

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Speaker 3: recollections of Crockett. Sounds like it would have been.

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Speaker 2: Hard not to like him.

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Speaker 3: This land deal was good for most folks, but there

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Speaker 3: were some groups who didn't get a good deal at all.

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Speaker 3: This is interesting.

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Speaker 4: Crockett was going to where lots of Americans were going.

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Speaker 4: The population had gone up to close to thirty thousand

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Speaker 4: people from the United States, including two or three thousand

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Speaker 4: slaves that they had brought in, and slavery was a

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Speaker 4: touchy subject in Mexico because good many people in Mexico

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Speaker 4: wanted to get rid of it. By the time of

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Speaker 4: the Texas Revolution, they had gotten rid of it, and

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Speaker 4: virtually all of Mexico except for Texas. Texas had been accepted,

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Speaker 4: had been allowed to keep slavery legal. You weren't supposed

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Speaker 4: to bring slaves in, but they got around that by

339
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Speaker 4: signing ninety nine year in dentures with their slaves. I've

340
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Speaker 4: seen a copy of one of those. You know, I

341
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Speaker 4: the slave in order to learn the art and science

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Speaker 4: of agriculture hereby pledge ninety nine years of labor to

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Speaker 4: this guy who's taking me in.

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Speaker 3: Crockett had crossed into Texas near Clarksville on the Red

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Speaker 3: River in late December eighteen thirty five, traveling with his

346
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Speaker 3: nephew and two neighbors from Tennessee. It takes him about

347
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Speaker 3: a month, and we're not sure why, but he ends

348
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Speaker 3: up in San Antonio.

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Speaker 1: There, in San Antonio de Bajar, he arrives around February

350
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Speaker 1: nineth eighteen thirty six. He arrives outside of town near

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Speaker 1: the old Campo Santo, the old town cemetery, and he's

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Speaker 1: greeted with a kind of grizzly scene. I kind of

353
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Speaker 1: see it as foreshadowing in regards to Crockett. But he

354
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Speaker 1: arrives at the cemetery. That's an acre of land surrounded

355
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Speaker 1: by an eight foot wall, and in the center of

356
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Speaker 1: the cemetery is a large cross, and at the base

357
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Speaker 1: of this cross are human skulls, and then throughout the

358
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Speaker 1: cemetery are just boones promiscuously scattered throughout.

359
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Speaker 3: A soldier would later write about this cemetery, describing the

360
00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:16,200
Speaker 3: poorly buried human remains on the surface of the ground.

361
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Speaker 3: In twenty seventeen, the Children's Hospital of San Antonio found

362
00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:25,440
Speaker 3: the remains of seventy people when they discovered this spot.

363
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Speaker 3: The Campo Santo Cemetery the same one that likely greeted

364
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Speaker 3: Crockett when he arrived. Just f why if you haven't

365
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Speaker 3: been to what remains of the Alamo. It's literally in

366
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Speaker 3: downtown San Antonio. Shortly after Crockett gets there, things escalate quickly.

367
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Speaker 3: There are two divisions of the Texas military that Wade

368
00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:51,000
Speaker 3: talks about, the Bahard and the Golead Garrisons.

369
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Speaker 1: Meanwhile, the Bahart Garrison, as well as the Mendana Goliad

370
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Speaker 1: are receiving reports that the Mexican Army is marching north.

371
00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:04,640
Speaker 1: They have crossed through the presidiod Ario Grande and they're

372
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Speaker 1: heading into Texas. And there's a lot of disbelief because

373
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Speaker 1: it's winter. They don't think the Mexican Army is going

374
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Speaker 1: to come up until the spring because all their pack animals,

375
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Speaker 1: they don't have grass to feed. What they don't realize

376
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Speaker 1: is that the Mexican Army has marched through two blizzards

377
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Speaker 1: to put down this rebellion. You're going to have a

378
00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:29,120
Speaker 1: division of the Mexican Army under General Jose Urea head

379
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Speaker 1: towards Goliad. Santa Anna will head towards Bajart. So Crockett, yeah,

380
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Speaker 1: he is in the thick of it.

381
00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:46,159
Speaker 3: San Antonio was the key to Texas. That's why they

382
00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:49,760
Speaker 3: needed to defend it and why Santa Ana wanted to

383
00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:53,560
Speaker 3: take it. The Bahart Garrison has two guys struggling for

384
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Speaker 3: the leadership of the group, James Bowie and William Travis.

385
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Speaker 3: Both of these guys were wild dudes. Here's an excerpt

386
00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:07,320
Speaker 3: from Michael Wallace's biography of Crockett, titled David Crockett And Again,

387
00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:09,919
Speaker 3: if you're looking for a Crockett biography. This is the

388
00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:12,919
Speaker 3: one I would suggest. Here's what he said about Bowie

389
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Speaker 3: and Travis. Beside making a fortune as a dealer in

390
00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:22,560
Speaker 3: human cargo and subverting the ban on the slave trade, Bowie,

391
00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:26,639
Speaker 3: like Stephen Austin, also became a land speculator. He sold

392
00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:31,720
Speaker 3: fraudulent claims in Arkansas Territory, masterminded a series of property

393
00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:36,399
Speaker 3: swindles in Louisiana, and speculated in Texas land. Bowie saw

394
00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:39,000
Speaker 3: that there was an immense profit to be made in

395
00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:42,640
Speaker 3: Texas real estate. He learned Spanish, joined the Catholic Church,

396
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Speaker 3: and became a Mexican citizen, and married into one of

397
00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:50,000
Speaker 3: San Antonio's prominent Tehano families. When his wife and two

398
00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:54,359
Speaker 3: children died during a colliria epidemic, Bowie went into an

399
00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:58,080
Speaker 3: alcoholic depression that lasted until his death in his sick

400
00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:01,720
Speaker 3: bed at the Alamo, where he's served as commander of

401
00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:06,720
Speaker 3: volunteer soldiers. William Barrett Travis, commander of the regular Army

402
00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:10,919
Speaker 3: troops defending the Old Mission Fortress, was an attorney by trade.

403
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:14,080
Speaker 3: He knew Bowie from San Felipe, where he served as

404
00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:18,040
Speaker 3: the Knife Fighter's Council, a South Carolinian native, Travis, like

405
00:25:18,119 --> 00:25:21,199
Speaker 3: many others, came to Texas to escape bad debts and

406
00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:25,000
Speaker 3: avoid going to prison. After abandoning his pregnant wife and

407
00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:29,080
Speaker 3: young son in Alabama, he entered Texas illegally and immediately

408
00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:32,200
Speaker 3: became involved in the slave trade. He settled in San

409
00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:36,040
Speaker 3: Felipe de Austin in eighteen thirty one, obtained some land

410
00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:39,679
Speaker 3: from Stephen Austin, and established his new practice. Enjoyed the

411
00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:43,720
Speaker 3: company of women, was known to devour Sir Walter Scott novels,

412
00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:46,399
Speaker 3: and divorced his wife in eighteen thirty six when she

413
00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:50,359
Speaker 3: showed up to save their marriage. Although he neglected to

414
00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:54,080
Speaker 3: pay off the debts left behind in Alabama, Travis soon

415
00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:58,640
Speaker 3: began acquiring land and slaves, including a young black man

416
00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:02,160
Speaker 3: known only as Joe. He would stay with his white

417
00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:04,760
Speaker 3: master all the way to the end of the Alamo,

418
00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:08,200
Speaker 3: where his life was spared because he was a slave.

419
00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:13,919
Speaker 3: I realize that's just two paragraphs about these guys, but

420
00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:17,200
Speaker 3: sounds like they were pretty wild. And now these two

421
00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:19,280
Speaker 3: are struggling to see who's gonna lead.

422
00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:24,960
Speaker 1: Eventually, these two men put together an olive branch. They

423
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:27,399
Speaker 1: come together. They realize they need to stick together to

424
00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:30,760
Speaker 1: defend the town in the best interest of the defensive Texas.

425
00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:33,600
Speaker 1: And so for the next few days, I imagine that

426
00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:36,480
Speaker 1: they're really trying to assess the situation. How can they

427
00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:39,520
Speaker 1: with their meager force of maybe one hundred and fifty

428
00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:42,800
Speaker 1: volunteers at this time, how can they defend the town.

429
00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:46,080
Speaker 1: They realize they really can't if they were to be

430
00:26:46,119 --> 00:26:50,120
Speaker 1: attacked now based on the reports, But they can continue

431
00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:54,200
Speaker 1: fortifying the Alamo. The Alamo is an old Spanish mission.

432
00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:57,959
Speaker 1: It has been converted into a fortress and used as

433
00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:02,600
Speaker 1: a military outpost. Ever sense the mission was desecularized in

434
00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:05,880
Speaker 1: seventeen ninety three. So there it is the Alamo, four

435
00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:10,280
Speaker 1: and a half acre compound, fortified with eighteen pieces of artillery.

436
00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:15,000
Speaker 1: They realize if the Mexican army were to arrive, they

437
00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:19,040
Speaker 1: would have to retreat into the Alamo. Now every single day,

438
00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:23,400
Speaker 1: Travis and Buie, I mean, they're just they're wearing themselves out,

439
00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:28,439
Speaker 1: trying to receive reinforcements, receive supplies, try and get some

440
00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:32,840
Speaker 1: sort of response out of this forming government within Texas,

441
00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:34,520
Speaker 1: and they can't.

442
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:35,840
Speaker 2: They can't.

443
00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:42,240
Speaker 1: On February twenty third, Santa Anna and the Mexican army arrive.

444
00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:51,640
Speaker 3: The people in San Antonio were very surprised at Santa

445
00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:53,200
Speaker 3: Anna's early arrival.

446
00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:58,879
Speaker 1: Santa Anna's attached to the vanguard. They number roughly fifteen

447
00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:04,639
Speaker 1: hundred Travis Bowie Crockett. They realize again they cannot defend

448
00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:07,520
Speaker 1: the town, so they withdraw in to the Alamo. Slowly

449
00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:13,200
Speaker 1: but surely. The Mexican army arrive without resistance, they take

450
00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:17,399
Speaker 1: the town. They mount a blood red banner from the

451
00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:19,840
Speaker 1: top the bell tower of the San Fernando Church. That

452
00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:24,000
Speaker 1: blood red banner meaning death tall Traders, Death tall Pirates.

453
00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:28,560
Speaker 1: It is Santa Anna's symbol to the Bahar Garrison or

454
00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:31,480
Speaker 1: the Alamo Garrison at this point that he is there

455
00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:36,000
Speaker 1: to carry out the Tornell Decree, which by Mexican law states,

456
00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:40,000
Speaker 1: if you rebel against the Mexican government under an unrecognized flag,

457
00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:42,800
Speaker 1: you are labeled a pirate and put to the sword.

458
00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:46,480
Speaker 1: So Santa Anna is going to follow that.

459
00:28:46,560 --> 00:28:51,960
Speaker 3: To the tee, Death to all pirates. Turns out pirates

460
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:54,800
Speaker 3: don't need water. The word pirate means a person who

461
00:28:54,840 --> 00:28:59,560
Speaker 3: appropriates or reproduces the work of another without permission. So

462
00:28:59,600 --> 00:29:02,880
Speaker 3: Santa Anna has taken the city and the Texas soldiers

463
00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:05,360
Speaker 3: and the people of the town have retreated into this

464
00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:09,480
Speaker 3: old Spanish fort, the Alamo. The second day of the siege,

465
00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:13,680
Speaker 3: Bowie becomes deathly ill and turns over full command to Travis.

466
00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:18,240
Speaker 3: Travis wrote a famous letter on that day pleading for reinforcements,

467
00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:22,880
Speaker 3: and he signed it Victory or Death. In Billy Bob

468
00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:26,360
Speaker 3: Thornton's two thousand and four movie on Crockett, it shows

469
00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:29,360
Speaker 3: Crockett on the wall of the Alamo playing the fiddle

470
00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:33,640
Speaker 3: for the Mexican army. To hear Crockett playing the fiddle

471
00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:36,840
Speaker 3: at the Alamo is likely a myth because it didn't

472
00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:40,400
Speaker 3: show up in the literature until almost fifty years after

473
00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:44,080
Speaker 3: the battle, and we're not even entirely sure that he

474
00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:45,520
Speaker 3: knew how to play the fiddle.

475
00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:47,200
Speaker 2: This is important stuff.

476
00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:52,400
Speaker 1: The very next day of February twenty fifth, third day

477
00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:55,320
Speaker 1: of the siege, the Mexican army is already starting to

478
00:29:55,400 --> 00:30:00,280
Speaker 1: be to surround the Alamo fort with artillery, batteries and

479
00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:04,040
Speaker 1: the fort. It's the same day that sant Anna decides

480
00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:07,040
Speaker 1: to test the defenses on the southern end of the fort,

481
00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:13,200
Speaker 1: and the Mexican army begins to attack on the south side,

482
00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:17,320
Speaker 1: and for two and a half hours, the Alamo garrison

483
00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:23,240
Speaker 1: is holding their own. Crockett, in a letter written by Travis,

484
00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:26,480
Speaker 1: is seen at all points, animating the men to do

485
00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:32,480
Speaker 1: their duty. So Crockett, having been in battles, been in conflict,

486
00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:36,080
Speaker 1: his natural leadership skills are coming through. And at the

487
00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:39,120
Speaker 1: age of forty nine. You know, I'm sure Crockett's you know,

488
00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:42,320
Speaker 1: firing the rifle himself. But he is out there despite

489
00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:45,600
Speaker 1: being a private, acting like Colonel Crockett.

490
00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:49,520
Speaker 3: I think this is an important part of the story

491
00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:52,920
Speaker 3: if we're trying to know who Crockett was. This isn't myth,

492
00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:56,480
Speaker 3: but was recorded in an official letter from the commanding

493
00:30:56,640 --> 00:31:00,320
Speaker 3: officer that Crockett is out there leading and fighting, which

494
00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:03,280
Speaker 3: seems entirely consistent with the crocket we've seen.

495
00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:06,680
Speaker 1: The siege lasts for thirteen days, and a great deal

496
00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:10,840
Speaker 1: of that time is spent by these men endearing an

497
00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:17,200
Speaker 1: artillery bombardment, living off of rations. The Mexican Army eventually

498
00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:22,640
Speaker 1: cuts off their access to water, and so the slaves

499
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:26,480
Speaker 1: within the fortress are likely assigned to dig a new

500
00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:30,720
Speaker 1: well inside of the fort. Morale is just going down.

501
00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:34,480
Speaker 1: They're waiting and waiting for reinforcements, thinking that any day

502
00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:36,920
Speaker 1: now Fannin is going to arrive.

503
00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:41,600
Speaker 3: Fannin is the leader of the closest garrison of Texas troops,

504
00:31:41,840 --> 00:31:45,080
Speaker 3: and they've been communicating with him, but he just can't

505
00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:46,040
Speaker 3: get there in time.

506
00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:49,560
Speaker 1: There's some debate as to whether towards the end of

507
00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:54,800
Speaker 1: the siege, Travis requests a parley. There's some debate as

508
00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:57,560
Speaker 1: to whether or not Travis is trying to save the

509
00:31:57,600 --> 00:32:01,320
Speaker 1: lives of his men, but eventually the the answer is

510
00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:04,920
Speaker 1: very clear that they're not going to march out of

511
00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:10,040
Speaker 1: that fort alive. So the end of the siege, Travis

512
00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:15,800
Speaker 1: gathers his men and has a talk. Now, there's one

513
00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:19,440
Speaker 1: rendition of this story that comes to us from William P.

514
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:23,160
Speaker 1: Zuber that Travis drew a line in the sand asking

515
00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:27,040
Speaker 1: his men to stay and fight with him. But whether

516
00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:30,440
Speaker 1: that happened or not, the Alamo garrison that they stay.

517
00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:32,640
Speaker 1: Crockett stays.

518
00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:40,440
Speaker 2: My luck gargo, not a lod.

519
00:32:57,080 --> 00:32:59,959
Speaker 1: The heartbreak for me personally, when I try and get

520
00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:03,480
Speaker 1: into the minds of these men is what was their

521
00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:07,440
Speaker 1: headspace like, you know, Crockett. Crockett came all this way

522
00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:11,400
Speaker 1: for forty nine years he had been trying. He's come

523
00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:13,520
Speaker 1: all this way to now get stuck inside of a

524
00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:19,200
Speaker 1: fort in a foreign country. I'm sure he's dealing with

525
00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:23,959
Speaker 1: some reluctance. All of these men are scared. But come Sunday,

526
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,720
Speaker 1: March sixth, five point thirty in the morning, one six

527
00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:31,000
Speaker 1: hundred Centralist Mexican soldiers attack the fort from all sides.

528
00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:45,840
Speaker 1: So it's very possible that Crockett is somewhere along the

529
00:33:45,840 --> 00:33:48,600
Speaker 1: west wall or even the north wall. During the battle,

530
00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:53,160
Speaker 1: the Mexican army spills into the compound, and all of

531
00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:56,000
Speaker 1: this action is taking place so quickly that the Alama

532
00:33:56,040 --> 00:34:00,600
Speaker 1: defenders are unable to spike or disable their artillery. So

533
00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:03,600
Speaker 1: as the Alamo defenders retreat into the Long Barrack, into

534
00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:07,160
Speaker 1: the old convent of the Spanish Mission, the Mexican army

535
00:34:07,600 --> 00:34:11,120
Speaker 1: turned the cannons inward and them through the doors in

536
00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:16,239
Speaker 1: fire across the plaza. The Mexican army, now congregating in

537
00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:18,839
Speaker 1: the heart of the fort inside of the plaza, now

538
00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:23,960
Speaker 1: race across and they begin sweeping through each individual rooms

539
00:34:24,680 --> 00:34:27,800
Speaker 1: of the Long Barrack, where we would see the last

540
00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:30,919
Speaker 1: stand at the Battle of the Alamo. This is the

541
00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:35,280
Speaker 1: deadliest grizzliest hand to hand fighting taking place.

542
00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:43,960
Speaker 3: I hesitated to use these clichet sounds of battle with

543
00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:48,440
Speaker 3: the corny dramatic music. These were real humans, real fear,

544
00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:52,480
Speaker 3: real blood, real pain. In the moment, these men weren't

545
00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:56,760
Speaker 3: thinking about being immortalized he rose on TV or in books.

546
00:34:57,160 --> 00:35:00,680
Speaker 3: They were trying not to die and be swallowed by.

547
00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:03,440
Speaker 1: And by seven o'clock in the morning, the battle of

548
00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:07,239
Speaker 1: the Alamo is over. The moment the Battle of the

549
00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:11,000
Speaker 1: Alamou is over, that's when you can really begin to

550
00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:17,879
Speaker 1: track the myth of the death of David Crockett. How

551
00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:22,160
Speaker 1: did Crockett die? To me, it doesn't matter how Crockett died,

552
00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:25,920
Speaker 1: because he fought and died at the Alamo. But after

553
00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:30,480
Speaker 1: the battle, survivor Susannah Dickinson, who was the only English

554
00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:34,160
Speaker 1: speaking female survivor. The rest were Tehana. They spoke Spanish.

555
00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:37,520
Speaker 1: As she is escorted out of the church, holding her

556
00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:41,360
Speaker 1: fifteen month old daughter, Angelina and also nursing a wounded

557
00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:45,120
Speaker 1: ankle she had been shot. She states in her account,

558
00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:48,879
Speaker 1: which was dictated later in life, she states, I saw

559
00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:52,839
Speaker 1: Colonel Crockett lying dead between the church and the two

560
00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:58,239
Speaker 1: story barrack building. Mutilated with his peculiar cap lying by

561
00:35:58,280 --> 00:35:59,600
Speaker 1: his side.

562
00:36:00,239 --> 00:36:04,680
Speaker 3: That peculiar hat was most likely a Coonskin hat for real,

563
00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:08,319
Speaker 3: because there are two different accounts of Crockett wearing it

564
00:36:08,360 --> 00:36:11,319
Speaker 3: when he was leaving Tennessee, one from his daughter and

565
00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:14,120
Speaker 3: another from a guy named John Davis who saw him

566
00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:17,400
Speaker 3: wearing a Coonskin hat when he left Memphis. This is

567
00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:20,640
Speaker 3: one place I like Crockett better than Boone. A man's

568
00:36:20,680 --> 00:36:23,080
Speaker 3: got to have a touch of pizzazz, and a Coonskin

569
00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:26,520
Speaker 3: hat delivers that. It was said that Daniel Boone wore

570
00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:30,359
Speaker 3: a beaver Felt hat, and now that's pretty classy. And

571
00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:33,800
Speaker 3: that's why I actually wear both, not at the same time.

572
00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:39,440
Speaker 3: In case you're wondering, Josh Landbridge spilmaker makes my coonskin hats,

573
00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:43,600
Speaker 3: and Seeing Hat Company made me my one hundred percent

574
00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:45,919
Speaker 3: beaver Felt hat that I wear a lot.

575
00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:51,160
Speaker 1: Now this is Crockett's body being identified. Of course, we

576
00:36:51,239 --> 00:36:56,680
Speaker 1: don't know how Crockett died. Most accounts state that Crockett

577
00:36:56,719 --> 00:37:00,520
Speaker 1: went down fighting, but of course those accounts, for the

578
00:37:00,520 --> 00:37:04,680
Speaker 1: most part, are not from reliable sources. And then we

579
00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:09,360
Speaker 1: have the account of Lieutenant Colonel Jose Enrique de Lapina,

580
00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:15,640
Speaker 1: who states that Crockett identifies himself as a naturalist, one

581
00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:19,760
Speaker 1: of seven amongst a group of survivors. Shortly after the battle,

582
00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:23,839
Speaker 1: they are brought before Santa Anna. Where Santa Anna he's

583
00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:27,799
Speaker 1: going to carry out the Tornello decree deathall pirates, and

584
00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:32,560
Speaker 1: these men are executed. They are beaten to death by swords.

585
00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:35,040
Speaker 2: Here's doctor Crisp.

586
00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:38,440
Speaker 3: We're gonna learn that he one hundred percent believes in

587
00:37:38,520 --> 00:37:42,279
Speaker 3: the accuracies of the day La Pina Diaries. But I

588
00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:45,759
Speaker 3: want to ask him appointed question. Why do you think

589
00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:50,760
Speaker 3: it's so important for the legacy of Texas for Crockett

590
00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:54,680
Speaker 3: to have died fighting rather than, you know, just being

591
00:37:54,719 --> 00:37:58,279
Speaker 3: taken to captive. Why is that so important do you

592
00:37:58,320 --> 00:37:59,000
Speaker 3: think to people?

593
00:37:59,280 --> 00:38:03,560
Speaker 4: Well, you can and get some clues from the paintings.

594
00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:07,800
Speaker 4: I'm looking at the cover of my book Slothing the Alamo,

595
00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:13,440
Speaker 4: and there's a painting done around nineteen one nineteen two.

596
00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:17,720
Speaker 4: It's the last moments of Crockett's life when he's fighting

597
00:38:18,080 --> 00:38:22,719
Speaker 4: there at the Alamo. And this figure of Crockett is

598
00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:28,239
Speaker 4: actually copied from a figure of George Armstrong Custer, which

599
00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:31,400
Speaker 4: was at the time the most famous painting in lithograph

600
00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:36,640
Speaker 4: in America, it's the same pose. And what Custer is

601
00:38:36,640 --> 00:38:39,919
Speaker 4: doing is he's fighting the Indians and he's about to die.

602
00:38:40,480 --> 00:38:43,080
Speaker 4: And the way I try to interpret this is that

603
00:38:43,160 --> 00:38:47,120
Speaker 4: people were saying, there are certain enemies that you never

604
00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:47,880
Speaker 4: surrender to.

605
00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:52,279
Speaker 3: I can understand how this idea could be important to

606
00:38:52,320 --> 00:38:56,440
Speaker 3: a state's identity. Doctor Chris believes that it's rooted in

607
00:38:56,640 --> 00:38:59,879
Speaker 3: ideas of racial supremacy, and when you hear him out,

608
00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:03,400
Speaker 3: he makes a compelling point. But was that the true

609
00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:06,879
Speaker 3: motivation of this painting and the whole reason that these

610
00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:09,440
Speaker 3: people are passionate about Crockett died in battle?

611
00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:15,520
Speaker 4: Why were people angry at me and writing and writing

612
00:39:15,719 --> 00:39:18,400
Speaker 4: hate mail to me when I said, look, the Mexicans

613
00:39:18,719 --> 00:39:22,680
Speaker 4: executed Crockett, and they were accusing me of being pro Mexican.

614
00:39:23,719 --> 00:39:27,360
Speaker 4: They just couldn't take the idea that Crockett had allowed

615
00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:30,479
Speaker 4: himself to be captured. I never used the S word,

616
00:39:30,520 --> 00:39:36,080
Speaker 4: that is surrender. Crockett was captured when his weapons were

617
00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:39,839
Speaker 4: no longer useful, when he was out of ammunition, when

618
00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:44,040
Speaker 4: these half dozen men were taken, and Santa Anna got

619
00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:46,600
Speaker 4: very angry. He said, I told you no prisoners today,

620
00:39:47,239 --> 00:39:50,600
Speaker 4: and so he immediately ordered the men around him to

621
00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:54,120
Speaker 4: execute the prisoners. He gave the order to the Zappadores,

622
00:39:54,719 --> 00:39:59,120
Speaker 4: but instead of firing their guns, the Sappers didn't fire

623
00:39:59,160 --> 00:40:03,120
Speaker 4: their guns, and and his own retinue, his own junior

624
00:40:03,160 --> 00:40:06,680
Speaker 4: officers stepped forth and killed the men with swords and bayonets.

625
00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:10,239
Speaker 4: They weren't executed firing squad style. They were executed with

626
00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:13,239
Speaker 4: bayonets and swords. And what Dellapinia said, and it was

627
00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:16,120
Speaker 4: mistranslated into English, but what he said into the Spanish

628
00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:21,200
Speaker 4: is that they died moaning, but they did not humiliate themselves.

629
00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:23,680
Speaker 4: That's what he said about the men who were killed.

630
00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:27,600
Speaker 4: There's a mindset that anyone who says something like this

631
00:40:27,680 --> 00:40:32,160
Speaker 4: about Crockett, you know that Crockett was killed after the battle,

632
00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:40,600
Speaker 4: is somehow tearing down the Texan myth, the Texan personality,

633
00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:47,560
Speaker 4: the Texan attitude, everything that makes Texans Texans. I'm a historian.

634
00:40:47,600 --> 00:40:49,760
Speaker 4: I have to look at the evidence, and the evidence

635
00:40:49,800 --> 00:40:52,560
Speaker 4: is overwhelming that Crockett was executed.

636
00:40:53,560 --> 00:40:57,319
Speaker 3: Big if true. Big if true. Here's his thoughts on

637
00:40:57,400 --> 00:40:59,440
Speaker 3: the day La Poena Diaries.

638
00:40:59,719 --> 00:41:02,600
Speaker 4: The Deleapinia diary. Since I worked on it has been

639
00:41:02,640 --> 00:41:08,640
Speaker 4: subjected to forensic analysis, paper, water damage, insect damage, inc.

640
00:41:09,320 --> 00:41:13,799
Speaker 4: It passed every test, every test, and those are by

641
00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:17,360
Speaker 4: experts at the University of Texas. So I don't have

642
00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:21,520
Speaker 4: any doubt about the authenticity, and I don't have much

643
00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:24,760
Speaker 4: doubt at all about the accuracy. I know it's authentic.

644
00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:29,840
Speaker 4: I believe because they're corroborating witnesses that it was, that

645
00:41:29,880 --> 00:41:34,680
Speaker 4: it was accurate. You know, history is not religion. You

646
00:41:34,680 --> 00:41:36,759
Speaker 4: don't learn it on your mother's knee and just know

647
00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:42,279
Speaker 4: it's true. You need to take a look at how

648
00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:44,719
Speaker 4: you know what you know. A lot of people don't

649
00:41:44,719 --> 00:41:47,480
Speaker 4: ever want to do that. They tell me what they believe.

650
00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:49,640
Speaker 4: I say, how do you know? And most of them

651
00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:52,680
Speaker 4: don't have a good answer for that. When I first

652
00:41:52,680 --> 00:41:54,919
Speaker 4: started talking to high school students after I got into

653
00:41:54,920 --> 00:41:58,160
Speaker 4: this controversy, one of the students said, listen, you can't

654
00:41:58,280 --> 00:42:02,920
Speaker 4: change history, as if it all got written down by somebody,

655
00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:05,320
Speaker 4: and now we have to take everything that was written

656
00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:09,239
Speaker 4: down as true, no matter what the documents say, no

657
00:42:09,239 --> 00:42:13,000
Speaker 4: matter what other eyewitnesses say. But most people who think

658
00:42:13,040 --> 00:42:17,719
Speaker 4: they know history don't know how they know what they

659
00:42:17,719 --> 00:42:18,239
Speaker 4: think they know.

660
00:42:20,080 --> 00:42:24,000
Speaker 3: Doctor Chris believes the Daila poena diary to be accurate.

661
00:42:24,680 --> 00:42:27,040
Speaker 3: Here's what our boy Wade thinks.

662
00:42:27,600 --> 00:42:32,080
Speaker 1: I don't think Crockett was executed. I think Crockett died

663
00:42:32,440 --> 00:42:36,880
Speaker 1: in battle, whether he was shot crossing the plaza or

664
00:42:36,960 --> 00:42:41,400
Speaker 1: he went down fighting swinging his rifle as depicted in

665
00:42:41,440 --> 00:42:45,359
Speaker 1: popular culture. The reason I don't believe Crockett was executed

666
00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:51,239
Speaker 1: is well, I have a hard time buying that the

667
00:42:51,239 --> 00:42:55,560
Speaker 1: most famous American at the time is brought face to

668
00:42:55,640 --> 00:43:01,399
Speaker 1: face to Santa Ana. He's identified and executed, Whereas if

669
00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:04,480
Speaker 1: Santa Anna realized who Crockett was, Santa Anna would have

670
00:43:04,680 --> 00:43:10,080
Speaker 1: used him as leverage of American intervention in this war.

671
00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:15,080
Speaker 1: I see that if Santa Anna truly realized who Crockett was,

672
00:43:15,160 --> 00:43:18,279
Speaker 1: that Santa Anna may have spared him sent him back

673
00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:22,759
Speaker 1: down to Mexico to show of a foreign involvement. Instead,

674
00:43:23,160 --> 00:43:26,759
Speaker 1: Santa Anna, after the battle, sends down to Mexico the

675
00:43:26,840 --> 00:43:31,560
Speaker 1: flag of the New Orleans Grays, showing American involvement, and

676
00:43:31,640 --> 00:43:34,680
Speaker 1: he writes in a letter stating that he had seen

677
00:43:34,760 --> 00:43:39,440
Speaker 1: the bodies of the leader Travis, the Braggart Bowie, and

678
00:43:39,520 --> 00:43:40,880
Speaker 1: some man named Crockett.

679
00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:44,200
Speaker 3: So that would mean that he didn't execute Crockett. He

680
00:43:44,480 --> 00:43:46,440
Speaker 3: just saw the body of Crockett.

681
00:43:46,840 --> 00:43:50,480
Speaker 1: Yes, I think that's what happened. I think Travis's slave

682
00:43:50,600 --> 00:43:53,759
Speaker 1: Joe is identifying the bodies of the leaders, and of

683
00:43:53,760 --> 00:43:56,440
Speaker 1: course Joe has the task of trying to find the

684
00:43:56,440 --> 00:44:00,360
Speaker 1: bodies in the midst of this chaos. And Joe in

685
00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:03,680
Speaker 1: his account that Crockett was surrounded by friend and foe,

686
00:44:05,320 --> 00:44:08,360
Speaker 1: so like he died fighting quite possibly.

687
00:44:08,800 --> 00:44:08,960
Speaker 5: Now.

688
00:44:09,040 --> 00:44:13,160
Speaker 1: Now, of course, if Crockett was involved in an execution scenario,

689
00:44:13,239 --> 00:44:15,920
Speaker 1: that could have occurred anywhere inside of the fort, and

690
00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:20,359
Speaker 1: of course there's bodies strewn throughout. I just think the

691
00:44:20,480 --> 00:44:23,879
Speaker 1: likelihood of that happening is it's It sounds too good

692
00:44:24,280 --> 00:44:30,560
Speaker 1: to be true. Really, it sounds like well, Hollywood, Yeah,

693
00:44:30,160 --> 00:44:33,400
Speaker 1: I think Crockett went down in battle.

694
00:44:35,280 --> 00:44:35,560
Speaker 2: Hmm.

695
00:44:36,760 --> 00:44:41,200
Speaker 3: Interesting. I love the passion of both of these positions.

696
00:44:41,760 --> 00:44:46,239
Speaker 3: Are you starting to develop a gut feeling? Here's doctor crisp.

697
00:44:47,320 --> 00:44:49,320
Speaker 4: So you know, you believe what you want to believe.

698
00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:52,440
Speaker 4: Very often it becomes a matter of ideology and a

699
00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:57,640
Speaker 4: matter of self definition, a self image. Dan Kilgore, who

700
00:44:57,640 --> 00:45:00,640
Speaker 4: first published the Little book How did Davy Die? And

701
00:45:00,680 --> 00:45:03,760
Speaker 4: who looked at the evidence and decided that dell opinion

702
00:45:03,880 --> 00:45:07,960
Speaker 4: was correct. He was called a communist. People told me

703
00:45:08,000 --> 00:45:10,399
Speaker 4: I ought to wash his mouth out with soap. They

704
00:45:10,400 --> 00:45:13,560
Speaker 4: called him a smut peddler because they didn't want to

705
00:45:13,600 --> 00:45:18,000
Speaker 4: hear his conclusion. And at one time Dan Kilgore said, well,

706
00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:19,799
Speaker 4: I wouldn't mind so much if they had just read

707
00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:22,080
Speaker 4: the book. But they didn't read it. They just saw

708
00:45:22,080 --> 00:45:25,040
Speaker 4: the conclusion and they knew they didn't like him, and

709
00:45:25,080 --> 00:45:28,759
Speaker 4: so then they attacked him personally. You know, there's a

710
00:45:28,760 --> 00:45:33,160
Speaker 4: lot of that going on today. Still. I've experienced some

711
00:45:33,239 --> 00:45:37,840
Speaker 4: of it myself, although I have, in fact made friends

712
00:45:38,040 --> 00:45:41,399
Speaker 4: of some people who originally wanted to, as one woman said,

713
00:45:41,440 --> 00:45:43,520
Speaker 4: gut me with a bowie knife because hanging is too.

714
00:45:43,440 --> 00:45:43,960
Speaker 2: Good for me.

715
00:45:44,719 --> 00:45:46,680
Speaker 4: I met her in front of the animal That's when

716
00:45:46,680 --> 00:45:49,320
Speaker 4: she said that, and I said, have you read the article?

717
00:45:49,680 --> 00:45:53,040
Speaker 4: She said no, I'm just a Crockett loyalist. She later

718
00:45:53,120 --> 00:45:57,479
Speaker 4: became a good friend and decided I wasn't a bad

719
00:45:57,520 --> 00:45:58,239
Speaker 4: guy after all.

720
00:45:58,520 --> 00:46:03,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, we get to these ideas of our heroes, and

721
00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:06,520
Speaker 3: then when they're torn down, we think that that that

722
00:46:06,640 --> 00:46:07,960
Speaker 3: idea is.

723
00:46:08,040 --> 00:46:10,840
Speaker 4: Well, let's be careful about using the Let's be careful

724
00:46:10,840 --> 00:46:14,120
Speaker 4: about using the term toned down. People accused me of

725
00:46:14,200 --> 00:46:17,200
Speaker 4: the very beginning when I first published this stuff, of

726
00:46:17,200 --> 00:46:19,839
Speaker 4: saying that Crockett was a coward. And I said, wait,

727
00:46:20,160 --> 00:46:24,080
Speaker 4: just a minute. Were the guys at Batan and Corrigador cowards?

728
00:46:25,239 --> 00:46:28,320
Speaker 4: These were guys who held out until they just couldn't

729
00:46:28,320 --> 00:46:34,160
Speaker 4: hold out anymore. Are these cowards? Absolutely? And so by

730
00:46:34,200 --> 00:46:37,759
Speaker 4: saying that someone was, it's like John McCain, Is John

731
00:46:37,800 --> 00:46:40,759
Speaker 4: McCain some kind of coward, some kind of you know,

732
00:46:40,840 --> 00:46:44,560
Speaker 4: awful guy because he allowed himself to be captured. No,

733
00:46:45,719 --> 00:46:47,880
Speaker 4: Crockett was a Crockett was a good guy. I like

734
00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:50,600
Speaker 4: David Crockett more a lot more than I like Andrew Jackson.

735
00:46:52,440 --> 00:46:55,640
Speaker 4: You know, Crockett was a very admirable person. He was

736
00:46:55,640 --> 00:47:00,799
Speaker 4: a popular figure in America, and deservedly so.

737
00:47:03,760 --> 00:47:07,040
Speaker 3: I asked Wade why he thought the way David Crockett

738
00:47:07,040 --> 00:47:08,880
Speaker 3: died with such an important question.

739
00:47:09,840 --> 00:47:15,880
Speaker 1: I think it has everything to do with closure. Everybody

740
00:47:15,920 --> 00:47:21,480
Speaker 1: needs closure in their lives. Everybody needs answers, especially to

741
00:47:21,560 --> 00:47:26,080
Speaker 1: big questions. And unfortunately, a lot of the big questions

742
00:47:26,120 --> 00:47:31,840
Speaker 1: in our lives will go unanswered, and in regards to

743
00:47:32,840 --> 00:47:37,279
Speaker 1: in regards to Crockett, will likely never know for sure.

744
00:47:38,760 --> 00:47:41,799
Speaker 3: Wade is such a Crockett Alamo die hard that he's

745
00:47:41,840 --> 00:47:46,719
Speaker 3: working on a fully illustrated book about Crockett. Basically, it's

746
00:47:46,760 --> 00:47:50,319
Speaker 3: a really cool, detailed comic book that will be a

747
00:47:50,320 --> 00:47:53,920
Speaker 3: couple hundred pages long when it's finished. I wanted to

748
00:47:53,960 --> 00:47:58,440
Speaker 3: ask him why the Alamo was so special to him.

749
00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:02,719
Speaker 1: It's a story of so few against so many. It's

750
00:48:02,719 --> 00:48:08,200
Speaker 1: an underdog story. You have this congregation of all of

751
00:48:08,239 --> 00:48:14,040
Speaker 1: these very colorful characters at this one spot. It's almost

752
00:48:14,120 --> 00:48:16,360
Speaker 1: too good to be true, but it happens.

753
00:48:17,480 --> 00:48:21,120
Speaker 3: I wanted to ask Wade why Crockett was so important

754
00:48:21,120 --> 00:48:22,120
Speaker 3: to him.

755
00:48:22,520 --> 00:48:26,640
Speaker 1: With David Crockett, my appeal to him has always been

756
00:48:27,440 --> 00:48:32,640
Speaker 1: he's the common man, and he's the common man who

757
00:48:32,760 --> 00:48:36,879
Speaker 1: is always hit with these obstacles in his life, death

758
00:48:36,920 --> 00:48:41,240
Speaker 1: in the family, loss of his businesses, but he always

759
00:48:41,280 --> 00:48:45,200
Speaker 1: finds the strength to keep going to as he would say,

760
00:48:45,480 --> 00:48:50,520
Speaker 1: go ahead. Yeah, Crockett lost a lot, and that connected

761
00:48:50,560 --> 00:48:52,960
Speaker 1: with me and my father because we lost a lot.

762
00:48:54,080 --> 00:48:58,520
Speaker 1: My mother, my dad's wife, passed away in nineteen ninety eight,

763
00:49:00,520 --> 00:49:04,640
Speaker 1: we lost the house to foreclosure, lost Uncle Jamie to cancer.

764
00:49:05,360 --> 00:49:11,000
Speaker 1: So you know, when putting all of that together, trying

765
00:49:11,040 --> 00:49:13,400
Speaker 1: to make sense of things and just you know, realizing

766
00:49:14,400 --> 00:49:17,520
Speaker 1: that other people have been through the same thing you

767
00:49:17,640 --> 00:49:21,359
Speaker 1: have and in you know the context, Crockett he took

768
00:49:21,400 --> 00:49:24,080
Speaker 1: that pain, he took those struggles, and you know he

769
00:49:24,120 --> 00:49:24,840
Speaker 1: pushed forward.

770
00:49:26,719 --> 00:49:30,640
Speaker 3: Do we love Crockett because of his failure? Most American

771
00:49:30,719 --> 00:49:34,279
Speaker 3: heroes we love because of how successful they were, But

772
00:49:34,400 --> 00:49:38,760
Speaker 3: in almost every area of Crockett's life, he seemed to fail.

773
00:49:39,520 --> 00:49:41,520
Speaker 3: Even at the very end of his life.

774
00:49:41,760 --> 00:49:42,960
Speaker 2: They lost.

775
00:49:43,600 --> 00:49:47,480
Speaker 3: The Alamo movie was John Wayne's passion project. He made

776
00:49:47,600 --> 00:49:53,040
Speaker 3: several promotional and inspirational videos about his movie. I want

777
00:49:53,120 --> 00:49:56,000
Speaker 3: us to hear from the Duke what he thinks about.

778
00:49:55,800 --> 00:49:56,600
Speaker 2: The Alamo.

779
00:49:59,440 --> 00:50:07,560
Speaker 5: Boy. Travis and Dickenson and the others had died in

780
00:50:07,600 --> 00:50:13,799
Speaker 5: the Alimal held off an army for thirteen days, and

781
00:50:13,880 --> 00:50:17,200
Speaker 5: it's hard to believe that they ever existed, had become

782
00:50:17,320 --> 00:50:20,920
Speaker 5: legends before the smoke over the battle had blown away.

783
00:50:21,680 --> 00:50:24,920
Speaker 5: What kind of men were they? Well, we know that

784
00:50:24,960 --> 00:50:28,479
Speaker 5: they died and that they were heroes, But nobody wants

785
00:50:28,600 --> 00:50:32,160
Speaker 5: to die, and nobody just decided to be a hero

786
00:50:32,960 --> 00:50:37,160
Speaker 5: has to be forced on you. That's what happened to them,

787
00:50:37,560 --> 00:50:40,040
Speaker 5: was forced on them. Because they were stuck with ideas

788
00:50:40,120 --> 00:50:46,160
Speaker 5: like freedom and the rights of the individual, hatred a dictators. Crockett,

789
00:50:46,160 --> 00:50:48,680
Speaker 5: for instance, refused to sign the Health of Allegiance. The

790
00:50:48,719 --> 00:50:51,840
Speaker 5: Government of Texas in the late changed it to the

791
00:50:51,880 --> 00:50:56,319
Speaker 5: Republican Government of Texas. Living free meant a lot more

792
00:50:56,400 --> 00:51:01,719
Speaker 5: to them than cowering in security. Another thing about Crockett,

793
00:51:02,440 --> 00:51:04,840
Speaker 5: When he left for the Alamo, he said his children

794
00:51:04,920 --> 00:51:08,440
Speaker 5: this message, I hope you'll do the best you can.

795
00:51:09,520 --> 00:51:14,160
Speaker 5: I'll do the same. Don't be uneasy about me. I

796
00:51:14,160 --> 00:51:18,160
Speaker 5: am with my friends. Worked out just about that way.

797
00:51:19,239 --> 00:51:22,400
Speaker 5: He stayed with his friends, and he did the best

798
00:51:22,400 --> 00:51:22,920
Speaker 5: he could.

799
00:51:27,680 --> 00:51:30,120
Speaker 3: I really don't think the motivations of those at the

800
00:51:30,160 --> 00:51:34,080
Speaker 3: Alamo were as clarified as John Wayne is proposing in

801
00:51:34,160 --> 00:51:37,560
Speaker 3: his movie promotion. Time has a way of honing the

802
00:51:37,680 --> 00:51:41,560
Speaker 3: narrative of people's motivations, sometimes shaping them into things that

803
00:51:41,600 --> 00:51:45,000
Speaker 3: are far more noble than they were. But sometimes it's

804
00:51:45,000 --> 00:51:48,640
Speaker 3: the opposite, and it makes their motivations way worse than

805
00:51:48,719 --> 00:51:51,600
Speaker 3: they actually were. The only thing we know for sure

806
00:51:51,800 --> 00:51:55,280
Speaker 3: is that those men fought and died for a cause

807
00:51:55,600 --> 00:52:01,319
Speaker 3: that would deeply affect the trajectory of America. Here's our

808
00:52:01,400 --> 00:52:05,040
Speaker 3: old friend Robert Morgan with an overview of how Crockett

809
00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:06,960
Speaker 3: affected America.

810
00:52:07,880 --> 00:52:10,960
Speaker 6: Well, there's several ways that Crockett is very important to

811
00:52:11,000 --> 00:52:15,120
Speaker 6: the history and the culture of this country. I think

812
00:52:15,120 --> 00:52:19,399
Speaker 6: the first is he created the model of the backwoods

813
00:52:19,560 --> 00:52:24,120
Speaker 6: politician with all the jokes and the backwood language and humor,

814
00:52:24,840 --> 00:52:27,920
Speaker 6: which culminates in Abraham Lincoln. As a matter of fact,

815
00:52:27,960 --> 00:52:30,440
Speaker 6: I mean there are many parallels between them their behavior

816
00:52:30,520 --> 00:52:35,440
Speaker 6: in Washington. He has a huge impact on American literature,

817
00:52:36,320 --> 00:52:41,120
Speaker 6: showing how you can create literature in the voice of

818
00:52:41,160 --> 00:52:46,160
Speaker 6: the ordinary people in his autobiography and his speeches. That

819
00:52:46,400 --> 00:52:49,360
Speaker 6: probably culminates in Huckleberry Finn, which has got to be

820
00:52:49,440 --> 00:52:53,520
Speaker 6: one of the two or three greatest novels in American literature.

821
00:52:54,239 --> 00:52:59,959
Speaker 6: He had a huge impact on oratory of bringing back

822
00:53:00,120 --> 00:53:06,040
Speaker 6: woods preaching. It's really preaching that the greatest speaker in

823
00:53:06,080 --> 00:53:11,040
Speaker 6: the American history is almost certainly Tecumse, who could move

824
00:53:11,160 --> 00:53:14,120
Speaker 6: people to do whatever he told them to do. Never

825
00:53:14,200 --> 00:53:16,960
Speaker 6: they wrote down so impressive white people, they had never

826
00:53:17,000 --> 00:53:21,560
Speaker 6: seen anybody who could speak that way, and Crockett had

827
00:53:21,640 --> 00:53:25,000
Speaker 6: some of that. He was from that world, and talking

828
00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:28,919
Speaker 6: to the big talk was a very important thing. Also by

829
00:53:29,000 --> 00:53:32,920
Speaker 6: dying at the Alamo. He was so famous that he

830
00:53:33,120 --> 00:53:37,480
Speaker 6: influenced the sympathy of the whole country for Texas independence.

831
00:53:38,200 --> 00:53:42,800
Speaker 6: Because of Texas independence, it was ten years later annexed

832
00:53:42,880 --> 00:53:45,840
Speaker 6: as a state. Because it was annexed as a state,

833
00:53:46,440 --> 00:53:50,880
Speaker 6: Polk was able to create the Mexican War by sending

834
00:53:50,960 --> 00:53:53,719
Speaker 6: soldiers down there who were attacked on the Rio Grande

835
00:53:53,920 --> 00:53:57,000
Speaker 6: by the Mexican Army. It's an excuse for fighting Mexico.

836
00:53:57,560 --> 00:54:03,000
Speaker 6: Because of the Mexican War, Polk was able to claim

837
00:54:03,360 --> 00:54:18,000
Speaker 6: paying fifteen million dollars for the whole West Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California.

838
00:54:18,280 --> 00:54:22,799
Speaker 3: The Texas Revolution would become a critical component of American expansion,

839
00:54:23,200 --> 00:54:28,160
Speaker 3: and the social popularity supporting that revolution was dramatically influenced

840
00:54:28,160 --> 00:54:33,000
Speaker 3: by crocketts popularity and death at the Alamo. Just hours

841
00:54:33,040 --> 00:54:36,880
Speaker 3: after the Alamo fell, the Texas Declaration of Independence was

842
00:54:36,920 --> 00:54:41,000
Speaker 3: proposed and passed, and that would eventually form the Republic

843
00:54:41,080 --> 00:54:45,200
Speaker 3: of Texas, which stayed an independent nation from eighteen thirty

844
00:54:45,280 --> 00:54:49,480
Speaker 3: six until December twenty ninth, eighteen forty five, when it

845
00:54:49,520 --> 00:54:53,200
Speaker 3: was admitted into the Union of the United States as

846
00:54:53,239 --> 00:54:56,759
Speaker 3: the twenty eighth state. The bodies of the dead at

847
00:54:56,800 --> 00:55:00,200
Speaker 3: the Alamo were burned by the Mexican Army, and their

848
00:55:00,239 --> 00:55:05,480
Speaker 3: ashes are now incorporated into the soil lying beneath the Alamo.

849
00:55:05,880 --> 00:55:09,160
Speaker 3: After the report of Crockett's death, many claim to have

850
00:55:09,280 --> 00:55:13,479
Speaker 3: seen him alive. Crockett's son John Wesley ended up going

851
00:55:13,520 --> 00:55:17,920
Speaker 3: to Texas to investigate his father's death for himself. In

852
00:55:17,960 --> 00:55:22,239
Speaker 3: the mid eighteen fifties, Crockett's widow, Elizabeth, and their two

853
00:55:22,400 --> 00:55:26,120
Speaker 3: sons would receive three hundred and twenty acres of land

854
00:55:26,200 --> 00:55:30,920
Speaker 3: for David's military service and move to Texas, where Elizabeth

855
00:55:30,960 --> 00:55:34,440
Speaker 3: would live until her death at the age of seventy

856
00:55:34,480 --> 00:55:39,919
Speaker 3: two on January thirty first, eighteen sixty in Hood.

857
00:55:39,520 --> 00:55:41,080
Speaker 2: County, Texas.

858
00:55:42,920 --> 00:55:47,200
Speaker 3: I can't thank you guys enough for listening to Bear Grease.

859
00:55:48,040 --> 00:55:51,279
Speaker 3: I hope you'll share our podcast with a friend, and

860
00:55:51,320 --> 00:55:54,880
Speaker 3: I look forward to talking with everybody on the Render

861
00:55:55,600 --> 00:56:02,800
Speaker 3: about Crockett's death at the Alamo next week.