WEBVTT - Ep. 122: David Crockett - The Alamo (Part 4) 0:00:05.640 --> 0:00:10.680 They're wearing themselves out trying to receive reinforcements, receive supplies, 0:00:11.400 --> 0:00:12.120 and they can't. 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:13.440 They can't. 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:18.840 On February twenty third, Santa Anna and the Mexican Army arrive. 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:23.639 The final episodes of these series are always somber for me. 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:26.400 I think we all know what's about to happen to 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:30.280 our boy, David Crockett. I'm interested in the best information 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:33.280 that we have about the Alamo, not the narrative we've 0:00:33.320 --> 0:00:36.279 heard from the likes of John Wayne and Walt Disney, 0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:41.760 or maybe their narratives were right. Sometimes nationalistic narratives have 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:45.960 to be sorted through, because I'm mainly interested in not that, 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:49.559 but the inner workings and character and fabric of the 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:53.840 man David Crockett. I'm also interested in why people from 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:57.880 Texas are so crazed about the Alamo and passionate about 0:00:57.880 --> 0:01:01.639 how Crockett died. Learned that it was far more important 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:05.440 in US history than you might think. Holly's Comet soared 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:08.520 over North America in eighteen thirty five and thirty six 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:11.800 and was blamed for some of the time's ill fate. 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:16.640 Andrew Jackson sarcastically commissioned Crockett to catch it by the 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:20.200 tail before it hit the United States, destroying the country. 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:23.600 He didn't catch it, but he did help change the 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:27.960 course of this nation by his death. And we're gonna 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:32.479 learn did Crockett die fighting or was he executed? And 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:36.199 why do we care? I really doubt that you're gonna 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:37.040 want to miss this one. 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:42.479 Most people who think they know history don't know how 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:44.240 they know what they think they know. 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:55.600 My name is Clay Knukem, and this is the Bear 0:01:55.680 --> 0:02:00.639 Grease Podcast, where we'll explore things forgotten but relevant, search 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:04.360 for insight and unlikely places, and where we'll tell the 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:06.720 story of Americans. 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:08.520 Who live their lives close to the land. 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:14.920 Presented by FHF Gear, American made, purpose built hunting and 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:18.440 fishing gear that's designed to be as rugged as the 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:37.920 places we explore. Over twenty buckskin clad horsemen are riding 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:41.360 through the dry plains of Texas. One sure looks a 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:45.080 lot like John Wayne, and he's wearing a coonskin hat. 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:47.120 I think that's Davy Crockett. 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:51.360 Well that you big down after twenty days a hard riding, 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:54.519 we're gonna have to learn the lingo they use down here, Davy. 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:57.120 Why don't we go davy to the town or to 0:02:57.200 --> 0:02:58.839 the part part. 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:01.880 It's an all make you better take a better look. 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:03.640 A lot of people moving in there. 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:08.280 Them guns don't give it no mistion. Look to me, Arnel, 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:15.480 what do you see? A n ti and a spell cantina? 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:17.679 Do it mean what I think you do it? 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:20.600 Dude, it means all of these DearS gets it into 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:21.680 our boobie. 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:29.160 This was near the opening scene of John Wayne's nineteen 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:34.600 sixty movie titled The Alamo. It's rife with historical inaccuracies, 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:38.800 but this scene depicting these guys entering into San Antonio 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:43.040 as more relaxed than they should have been, is probably accurate. 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:48.920 On February eighth, eighteen thirty six, the real David Crockett, 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:54.240 our gentlemen from the Cane, America's first celebrity, voluntarily rode 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:57.960 into a Mexican war zone. His one month in San 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:02.720 Antonio would be the most scrutinized, studied, and mythologized portions 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:06.240 of his storied life, because on the morning of March sixth, 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:09.640 eighteen thirty six, he and one hundred and eighty eight 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:13.360 other men would die at the hands of the Mexican army, 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:17.159 making this one of the most infamous days in Texas 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:21.880 and American history. The mystery of this day, because of 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:25.120 the lack of survivors, would set many Americans on a 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:29.960 lifelong journey to understand what happened, including John Wayne, whose 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:34.360 passion project was this Alamo movie, which he directed and funded. 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:39.159 But it wasn't just the Duke who was passionate about 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:39.640 the Alamo. 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:40.320 And Crockett. 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:47.200 Yeah, Crockett's bigger than Disney and John Wayne. Even John 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:50.160 Wayne couldn't play Davy Crockett. John Wayne played John Wayne 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:57.000 playing Davy Crockett. So before my moved to Texas, my 0:04:57.160 --> 0:05:02.400 dad had renovated his childhood home, Jacksonville Beach, Florida, with 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:07.040 the bell shaped parapet of the Alamo. So here we 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:10.840 were ten minutes from the Atlantic Ocean, and we had 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:13.599 neighbors asking why we were building a taco bell in 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:19.960 the middle of the neighborhood. Unfortunately, my dad was eventually 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:22.960 hit with foreclosure. We knew we were going to lose 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:26.599 the house, and so I was about twenty at the time. 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:30.240 I'm thirty four. Now I realized I had to leave 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:34.640 the nest. So I moved to San Antonio in twenty 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:39.120 ten and within four months of living in San Antonio, 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:40.400 I was working at the Alamo. 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:45.520 Passion comes in many shapes, but it's the special breed 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:49.320 that are passionate about the Alamo that was the voice 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:54.200 of David Crockett. Fanatic and historical illustrator Wade Dylon. He 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:57.680 worked for eight years at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:02.400 which to many people surprised despite Wayne's movie, is still standing, 0:06:02.600 --> 0:06:05.240 well most of it in John Wayne's movie, it got 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:08.200 blown up. The real Battle of the Alamo is a 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:11.960 central feature in the Texas Revolution that eventually led Texas 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:15.679 to independence and statehood, and though Texas is now part 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:19.640 of these United States, many would say that that statehood 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:24.839 didn't remove that Texas independence. The most debated question of 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:29.120 the Alamo, though, is how did David Crockett die? This 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:33.440 has become a really important question. John Wayne's version showed 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:36.000 that he died the iconic death of a hero in 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:39.760 the midst of battle. However, there is another version of 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:42.760 his death that many aren't happy about. 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:46.800 The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, the editor asked me if I 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:50.760 would review a new book that a New York City 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:55.240 fireman by the name of Bill Groeneman, whose amateur historian 0:06:55.760 --> 0:07:00.760 had written it was called Defense of a Legend, David 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:03.920 Crockett and the Delapinia Diary. And to make a long 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:07.520 story short, Delapeno was a junior officer in the Mexican 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:11.120 Army who wrote a diary. Later re rote it as 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:14.160 a memoir, but it's almost always called his diary. And 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:18.880 he witnessed the capture and execution of a handful of 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:22.480 men after the Battle of the Alamo. They were captured 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:26.120 right at the end, executed within a few minutes, and 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:28.600 he identifies one of them as being David Crockett. 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:33.280 Wait a minute, did our ears just partake of an 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:38.040 account of pure heresy? Everybody who knows our Crockett, the 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:41.240 king of the wild Frontier, who knows no fear, they 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:45.440 would know that Crockett would never surrender to anyone. You 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:52.480 can't just capture a Bobcat grinnin Whirlwind Brothers. That was 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:57.120 doctor James E. Crisp, Professor Emeritus at North Carolina State 0:07:57.240 --> 0:08:01.120 University in Texas. Native He is from te He's a 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:04.720 national expert on the last five minutes of David Crockett's life, 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:07.760 and his whole career has been involved In this debate, 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:11.480 he wrote a book called Sleuthing the Alamo and another 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:13.680 titled How did Davy Die? 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:15.840 And Why Do We Care so much? 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:20.640 The Lapoena Diary is big news, but there's more. 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:21.960 Here's way. 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:26.840 Now, this is where the controversy comes into play. The 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:31.400 Dailapenia Diary shows up after the big crocket craze of 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:32.360 the nineteen fifties. 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:35.360 All right, so like one hundred and twenty five years later, 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:38.880 this diary shows up, which is kind of convenient. 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:42.200 Well, the thing about the diary is a great deal 0:08:42.240 --> 0:08:47.560 of the diary is legitimate, is authentic. But what is 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:52.480 debated is the section that specifically talks about the execution 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:56.120 of David Crockett. The pages of that section of the 0:08:56.160 --> 0:09:00.920 diary are different sizes, and they're quite popossibly forged. 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:06.600 Wait a minute, the whole diary is legit, but just 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:08.960 the section about Crockett's death is a fraud. 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:12.320 I'm no detective, but that sounds sketchy. 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:15.360 But it also sounds sketchy that it appeared in nineteen 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:20.440 fifty five, conveniently right when Walt Disney resurrected Crockett's legacy 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:24.559 with the trilogy of films. Weren't there security cameras or 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:27.360 military body cams that we can review to see how 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:28.920 our boy Crockett died. 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:34.199 Within weeks after the fall of the Alamo, two stories 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:36.559 had reached New Orleans and was printed in the New 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:40.760 Orleans papers. One was that Crockett had died fighting like 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:44.679 a tiger and fell in combat, and the other that 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:49.240 he was among those handful of men who were captured 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:52.920 and executed. Both stories were there from the very beginning. 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:57.440 There's an artist from Texas who painted two pictures of 0:09:57.480 --> 0:10:01.080 Crockett in the Alamo. One was him fighting and one 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:04.960 was him captive. That was in the nineteen thirties, so 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:08.880 the stories were always there. But by the time they 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:12.160 started making you know, the John Wayne movie and the 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:16.880 Fest Parker Disneyland version of Crockett, they went with the 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:22.520 alternate stories. In fest Parker, he dies, you know, swinging 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:25.600 his rifle, although they never show him die. And in 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:28.120 John Wayne, I believe he gets blown up in the 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:32.720 powder magazine after getting stabbed through the chest. We're living 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:37.599 in a age right now where there's so much falsehood 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:41.400 put out as conclusions that people don't look at how 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:44.520 the conclusions were arrived at what you have to do, 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:49.199 as a professional historian or someone who reads professional historians 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:52.920 is look at the evidence. And what I've done is 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:57.880 describe the evidence. There are no eyewitnesses to Crockett dying 0:10:57.920 --> 0:11:00.400 in combat. Zero. 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:04.640 This man speaks with conviction, and by the end of 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:07.280 this episode, you're gonna have a gut feeling of what 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:08.599 happened to Crockett. 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:12.079 But that's all. It will be, just a feeling. 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:16.280 There are multiple first hand accounts of seeing Crockett's dead 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:20.600 body with his Coonskin hat by his side, no joke. 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:22.199 There are zero. 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:26.400 Accounts of anyone actually seeing him die fighting, and there 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:29.720 are three accounts from soldiers in the Mexican Army of 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:33.040 him being executed, but none of them seemed to be 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:37.240 rock solid. But before we can answer those questions, we 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:40.840 need to understand why our Tennessee boy was in Texas. 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:45.120 In episode three of our Crockett series, we left him 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:47.760 in eighteen thirty five, when he'd been defeated in a 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:49.840 race for Congress by Adam Huntsman. 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:52.120 The defeat chapped him bad. 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:55.760 He said he was rascaled out of the election, and 0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:59.160 then he finalized a plan that he'd likely had for 0:11:59.240 --> 0:11:59.960 some time. 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:05.560 Crockett had been in Congress and he lost an election. 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:08.400 He was defeated by a guy with a wooden leg, 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:13.160 and he told his constituents, if you're going to vote 0:12:13.160 --> 0:12:15.360 for that Timbertow instead of me, you can all go 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:18.600 to Hell, and I'm going to Texas. Now. The question 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:22.400 is why would he choose Texas well. Texas was a 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:27.960 wide open place for American immigration to where they could 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:32.560 get good land very cheap, and Crockett needed that because 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:34.880 he was not a wealthy man. In fact, Crockett had 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:38.040 lost his life savings more than once in his life. 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:42.360 Crockett is forty nine years old, and in the words 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:45.720 of Bono, he still hasn't found what he's looking for, 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:49.800 which was primarily land in a stable life. Crockett had 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:52.920 vowed that if Martin van Buren was elected president, he'd 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:56.720 leave the country, and he famously said, you can all 0:12:56.880 --> 0:12:59.600 go to h double hockey sticks, and. 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:02.320 I'll go to Texas. And he did just that. 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:06.840 Matilda Crockett's daughter, wrote that when her father left their 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:10.640 home in Rutherford, Tennessee, he was quote dressed in his 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:14.240 hunting shirt, wearing a coonskin cap, and carried a fine 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:17.640 rifle presented to him by his friends in Philadelphia. He 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:20.880 seemed very confident the morning he went away that he 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:24.199 would soon have us all join him in Texas. 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:25.480 End of quote. 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:29.080 Crockett would cross the Mississippi River, and he arrived in 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:33.440 Little Rock, Arkansas on November the twelfth, where it's recorded 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:36.800 that he killed a deer and skinned it behind the 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:40.040 Jeffreys Hotel and was entertained by a puppet showed a 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:40.960 local tavern. 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:42.000 That's no joke. 0:13:42.600 --> 0:13:45.320 It was reported that hundreds of people gathered and held 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:49.000 a banquet for Crockett at a hotel, and the newspaper 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:53.280 quoted Crockett as saying, I kid you not. He said quote, 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:56.360 if I could rest anywhere, it would be in Arkansas, 0:13:56.720 --> 0:14:00.000 where the man a real half horse, half alligator, breathe 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:02.720 such as grow nowhere else on the face of the 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:06.840 universal Earth, but just around the backbone of North America. 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:11.640 I am literally blushing with pride. I didn't make that up. 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:16.000 But Crockett did leave the Creation State and went to Texas. 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:20.240 The editor of an Arkansas newspaper would write, quote, we 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:24.440 shall die contented. We have seen the honorable David Crockett, 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:27.120 who arrived in this place this evening on his way 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:32.040 to Texas, where he contemplates ending his days. It's not 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:35.600 entirely known what this editor meant by this cryptic statement, 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:38.400 but the prophetic utterance was accurate. 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:44.800 Crockett leaves for Texas November of eighteen thirty five. He's traveling. 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:49.360 In each major town that he's crossing through, he's receiving 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:54.560 updates as to the politics of Texas. They're in the 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:58.720 middle of a war, so the northern Federalist States of 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:02.280 Mexico that includes Texas. 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:02.960 Now. 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:07.000 Of course, at this time, Texas is filled with American 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:12.720 and European immigrants who have brought their ideologies and practices 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:17.040 with them. Mexican Representative mere Itehan, when he took a 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:20.760 tour of Texas, stated that the American immigrants carried their 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:22.320 constitutions in their pockets. 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:26.800 These people were energized by the new ideals of America. 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:29.600 The handwriting was on the wall that this place was 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:32.000 about to be its own country and it would likely 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:36.360 be a lot more like America than Mexico. But why 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:37.600 was Crockett there. 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:44.040 Crockett comes down to Texas volunteering for six months because 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:49.840 he realizes during wartime land offices are likely closed, and 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:52.480 the quickest way for him to acquire land at this 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:55.360 point upon arrival is by volunteering. 0:15:56.680 --> 0:16:00.280 All these guys were always looking for land. That he 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:03.640 had been promised over four thousand acres of land for 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:07.080 his military service. That's a pretty good deal if you 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:10.680 don't die. Other accounts said he was only guaranteed six 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:14.160 hundred and forty acres, but Crockett had more on his 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:17.720 mind than land. Remember, this guy has national fame and 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:20.760 was a potential candidate for U as president, and now 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:23.160 he believes that he can be a significant player in 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:27.920 Texas politics, maybe even president of Texas. Here is Crockett's 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:31.360 last correspondence with his family that he wrote to his 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:36.120 daughter Margaret. This is the first time I've had the 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:39.640 opportunity to write you with convenience. I am now blessed 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:42.280 with excellent health and him in high spirits. 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:43.480 Although I've had. 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:47.160 Many difficulties to encounter and have got through safe and 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:50.960 have been received by everybody with the open arm of friendship. 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:53.880 I am hailed with a hearty welcome to this country, 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:56.560 a dinner and a party of ladies have honored me 0:16:56.960 --> 0:17:00.520 with an invitation to participate with them. Both in naked Dedosius. 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:03.720 In this place. The cannon was fired here on my arrival. 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:06.960 I must say as to what I have seen of Texas, 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:10.040 it is the garden spot of the world. The best 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:12.800 land and the best prospect for health I have ever 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:16.199 saw is here. I do believe it's a fortune to 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:18.600 any man to come here. There is a world of 0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:21.640 country to settle, and it's not required here to pay 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:24.920 down for your league of land. Every man is entitled 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:28.080 to his head right of four thousand, four hundred and 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:30.880 twenty eight acres. They might have the money to pay 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:33.920 it off the land. This is just how this letter reads, 0:17:33.920 --> 0:17:36.760 So this grammar's kind of wild. I expect an all 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:39.680 probability to settle on the Bow Dark or the chalktaw 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:42.239 by you, the Red River that I have found, no 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:45.600 doubt the richest country in the world, good land, plenty 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:49.359 of timber, and the best springs and good millstreams, good range, 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:52.719 clear water, in every appearance of good health and gain plenty. 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:55.520 It is in the past where the buffalo passes from 0:17:55.520 --> 0:17:58.879 north to south back twice a year, in bees and 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:01.480 honey plenty. I have a great hope of getting the 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:04.280 agency to settle that country, and I would be glad 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:07.320 to see every friend I have settled there. It would 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:09.679 be a fortune to them all. I have taken the 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:12.119 oath of the government and have enrolled my name as 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:14.560 a volunteer for six months, and will set out for 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:16.920 the Rio Grand in a few days with the volunteers 0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:20.800 from the United States. All volunteers is entitled to a 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:23.600 vote for a member of the Convention, or to be 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:27.120 voted four and I have but little doubt of being 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:31.080 elected a member to form a constitution for this province. 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:34.159 I am rejoiced at my fate and had rather be 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:37.040 in my present situation than to be elected to a 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:40.080 seat in Congress for life. I am in hopes of 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:43.880 making a fortune for myself and family, as bad as 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:47.719 have been my prospects. I have not wrote to William, 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:50.240 but have requested John to direct him what to do. 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:52.439 I hope you will show this letter to him and 0:18:52.560 --> 0:18:55.600 also your brother John, as it is not convenient at 0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:58.440 this time for me to write them. I hope you 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:00.399 will do the best you can, and I will do 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:03.639 the same. Do not be uneasy about me, for I 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:07.920 am with friends. I must close with great respects, your 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:15.680 affectionate father Farewell, signed David Crockett, January ninth, eighteen thirty six. 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:25.639 This letter leaves little speculation of the intentions of Crockett 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:29.560 in Texas. He encountered many people during his time there, 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:33.000 one of which was a Swisher family. They would later 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:35.399 write about their time with Crockett. 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:37.240 This is what they said. Quote. 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:41.480 He conversed about himself in the most unaffected manner, without 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:46.040 the slightest attempt to display any genius or smartness. He 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:49.680 told us many great anecdotes, many of which were commonplace 0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:54.359 and amounted to nothing within themselves, but his inimitable way 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:57.120 of telling them would convulse us in laughter. 0:19:57.680 --> 0:19:58.920 End of quote. 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:02.880 This reminds me of John Gadsby Chapman, the portrait painters 0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:06.200 recollections of Crockett. Sounds like it would have been. 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:08.040 Hard not to like him. 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:11.600 This land deal was good for most folks, but there 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:14.359 were some groups who didn't get a good deal at all. 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:16.119 This is interesting. 0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:20.320 Crockett was going to where lots of Americans were going. 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:25.040 The population had gone up to close to thirty thousand 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:29.040 people from the United States, including two or three thousand 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:32.119 slaves that they had brought in, and slavery was a 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:35.720 touchy subject in Mexico because good many people in Mexico 0:20:35.800 --> 0:20:38.119 wanted to get rid of it. By the time of 0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:40.480 the Texas Revolution, they had gotten rid of it, and 0:20:40.560 --> 0:20:44.679 virtually all of Mexico except for Texas. Texas had been accepted, 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:49.719 had been allowed to keep slavery legal. You weren't supposed 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:52.760 to bring slaves in, but they got around that by 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:58.200 signing ninety nine year in dentures with their slaves. I've 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:00.720 seen a copy of one of those. You know, I 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:03.080 the slave in order to learn the art and science 0:21:03.080 --> 0:21:06.720 of agriculture hereby pledge ninety nine years of labor to 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:08.320 this guy who's taking me in. 0:21:10.760 --> 0:21:13.720 Crockett had crossed into Texas near Clarksville on the Red 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:17.280 River in late December eighteen thirty five, traveling with his 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:21.200 nephew and two neighbors from Tennessee. It takes him about 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:24.320 a month, and we're not sure why, but he ends 0:21:24.359 --> 0:21:26.280 up in San Antonio. 0:21:26.480 --> 0:21:30.440 There, in San Antonio de Bajar, he arrives around February 0:21:30.560 --> 0:21:36.000 nineth eighteen thirty six. He arrives outside of town near 0:21:36.040 --> 0:21:40.840 the old Campo Santo, the old town cemetery, and he's 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:45.000 greeted with a kind of grizzly scene. I kind of 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:48.240 see it as foreshadowing in regards to Crockett. But he 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:53.160 arrives at the cemetery. That's an acre of land surrounded 0:21:53.160 --> 0:21:55.040 by an eight foot wall, and in the center of 0:21:55.080 --> 0:21:58.720 the cemetery is a large cross, and at the base 0:21:58.760 --> 0:22:02.520 of this cross are human skulls, and then throughout the 0:22:02.560 --> 0:22:06.760 cemetery are just boones promiscuously scattered throughout. 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:13.040 A soldier would later write about this cemetery, describing the 0:22:13.080 --> 0:22:16.200 poorly buried human remains on the surface of the ground. 0:22:16.840 --> 0:22:21.679 In twenty seventeen, the Children's Hospital of San Antonio found 0:22:21.720 --> 0:22:25.440 the remains of seventy people when they discovered this spot. 0:22:25.800 --> 0:22:29.920 The Campo Santo Cemetery the same one that likely greeted 0:22:29.960 --> 0:22:33.840 Crockett when he arrived. Just f why if you haven't 0:22:33.880 --> 0:22:37.000 been to what remains of the Alamo. It's literally in 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:43.320 downtown San Antonio. Shortly after Crockett gets there, things escalate quickly. 0:22:43.760 --> 0:22:46.919 There are two divisions of the Texas military that Wade 0:22:46.960 --> 0:22:51.000 talks about, the Bahard and the Golead Garrisons. 0:22:51.720 --> 0:22:55.680 Meanwhile, the Bahart Garrison, as well as the Mendana Goliad 0:22:56.080 --> 0:22:59.920 are receiving reports that the Mexican Army is marching north. 0:23:00.560 --> 0:23:04.640 They have crossed through the presidiod Ario Grande and they're 0:23:04.680 --> 0:23:09.560 heading into Texas. And there's a lot of disbelief because 0:23:09.560 --> 0:23:11.919 it's winter. They don't think the Mexican Army is going 0:23:12.000 --> 0:23:15.280 to come up until the spring because all their pack animals, 0:23:15.440 --> 0:23:18.640 they don't have grass to feed. What they don't realize 0:23:18.680 --> 0:23:21.520 is that the Mexican Army has marched through two blizzards 0:23:22.000 --> 0:23:25.639 to put down this rebellion. You're going to have a 0:23:25.680 --> 0:23:29.120 division of the Mexican Army under General Jose Urea head 0:23:29.119 --> 0:23:37.720 towards Goliad. Santa Anna will head towards Bajart. So Crockett, yeah, 0:23:38.840 --> 0:23:40.760 he is in the thick of it. 0:23:42.800 --> 0:23:46.159 San Antonio was the key to Texas. That's why they 0:23:46.200 --> 0:23:49.760 needed to defend it and why Santa Ana wanted to 0:23:49.840 --> 0:23:53.560 take it. The Bahart Garrison has two guys struggling for 0:23:53.600 --> 0:23:57.879 the leadership of the group, James Bowie and William Travis. 0:23:58.520 --> 0:24:02.080 Both of these guys were wild dudes. Here's an excerpt 0:24:02.080 --> 0:24:07.320 from Michael Wallace's biography of Crockett, titled David Crockett And Again, 0:24:07.560 --> 0:24:09.919 if you're looking for a Crockett biography. This is the 0:24:09.920 --> 0:24:12.919 one I would suggest. Here's what he said about Bowie 0:24:13.080 --> 0:24:17.840 and Travis. Beside making a fortune as a dealer in 0:24:17.960 --> 0:24:22.560 human cargo and subverting the ban on the slave trade, Bowie, 0:24:22.920 --> 0:24:26.639 like Stephen Austin, also became a land speculator. He sold 0:24:26.720 --> 0:24:31.720 fraudulent claims in Arkansas Territory, masterminded a series of property 0:24:31.760 --> 0:24:36.399 swindles in Louisiana, and speculated in Texas land. Bowie saw 0:24:36.480 --> 0:24:39.000 that there was an immense profit to be made in 0:24:39.080 --> 0:24:42.640 Texas real estate. He learned Spanish, joined the Catholic Church, 0:24:42.680 --> 0:24:45.720 and became a Mexican citizen, and married into one of 0:24:45.800 --> 0:24:50.000 San Antonio's prominent Tehano families. When his wife and two 0:24:50.080 --> 0:24:54.359 children died during a colliria epidemic, Bowie went into an 0:24:54.400 --> 0:24:58.080 alcoholic depression that lasted until his death in his sick 0:24:58.119 --> 0:25:01.720 bed at the Alamo, where he's served as commander of 0:25:01.880 --> 0:25:06.720