May 19, 2025 • 23 mins
Join us on a journey through the life of Davy Crockett, a man whose adventures in the wild and later political life have made him a quintessential American folk hero.
In this episode, we recount our visit to his last cabin in Rutherford, Tennessee; a place steeped in stories of his legendary exploits. From his early days of hunting in the woods and earning a reputation for killing 105 bears in one season to his time as a congressman standing against President Jackson’s controversial policies, Crockett's life is a tapestry of bravery, charisma, and tragedy.
We take a closer look at how his storytelling ability contributed to his fame and how he became a symbol of American independence and courage, especially after his dramatic death at the Alamo. As we sit on the front porch of the cabin, we reflect on what it means to visit a place that once cradled the spirit of such a remarkable man. We also examine the myth versus reality of his life and death, considering the various accounts of how he met his end during the Alamo siege.
Spoiler alert: the truth is as twisty as a coonskin cap!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Davy Crockett made his name asa frontiersman and expert marksman
in Tennessee, where hislegendary hunting skills and charismatic
personality earned him thenickname King of the Wild Frontier.
As a young man, he gainedrecognition for his remarkable ability
to hunt bears or bars, as youmight hear in his song, claiming
(00:21):
to have killed 105 bears in asingle season. His reputation grew
further when he served as ascout under General Andrew Jackson
from 1813 to 1814. Hisknowledge of the wilderness and his
leadership skills making himan invaluable asset. Now this popularity
led to a successful politicalcareer in Tennessee, where he served
three terms in the US House ofRepresentatives. And Crockett became
(00:44):
known for his colorfulpersonality and his eventual opposition
to President Jackson's IndianRemoval act, which we'll talk some
more details about. That astance that showed his independent
thinking but ultimatelycontributed to his political demise.
Now Crockett became a folkhero through his storytelling abilities
and larger than life Persona.He embraced his public image, but
(01:06):
eventually left Tennessee.From the very location that Jen and
I visited and the locationthat we're going to talk about today,
welcome to Talk with History.I'm your host Scott, here with my
wife and historian Jen.
Hello.
On this podcast, we give youinsights to our history Inspired
(01:27):
World Travels, YouTube channelJourney and examine history through
deeper conversations with thecurious, the explorers and the history
lovers out there. Now, Jen,before we get kicked off, it's been
a couple weeks since we'vetechnically recorded because we try
to record in batches. So Ihave a couple shout outs because
(01:50):
we got another podcastsupporter who's supporting us through
the history roadtrip.com Verycool. So the History, if you don't
know the history, Road Trip isour newsletter where we kind of go.
I try to go deeper into kindof our history adventures. I give
some links and Google map, youknow, kind of resources and stuff
like that to kind of help yougive you a resource. If you ever
(02:12):
wanted to go visit thelocations that we visit and through
there, if you want to supportthe podcast, you want to support
us and what we do and all thehistory stuff and us sharing this,
you can become a member overthere and there is some occasional
exclusive content. But we hadCalvin Gifford, he signed up to Support
us@thehistoryroadtrip.com andthank you, Calvin. He actually he
(02:35):
comments on a lot of ourvideos. I think he might even be
a member, a YouTube channelmember where you can get early access
to our videos. So I justwanted to thank Calvin for that because
he's been a huge Supporter ofthe show. He found us the newsletter
over@thehistoryroadtrip.comand I'll flash the. There's a link
in the show notes or I'llflash it up on the screen again if
(02:56):
you want to go over there. Wetry to kind of put out some occasional
newsletter stuff. We are kindof little spoiler alert. We are working
on a documentary, so we'vestarted one and I'm going to try
to put out kind of my journeyin doing kind of a first documentary
over there. A little bit ofbehind the scenes type stuff. So
if you're interested in that,I'm probably going to. I got my first
(03:18):
little behind the scenes, justme speaking my mind after our first
day of kind of testing,filming, stuff like that. So, um,
check us out. But thank you,Calvin, so much for supporting the
podcast. Thank you so much forsupporting the show. If you want
to just leave like a one offtip for us, you can go to talkwith
history.com and find thatsupport link. If you want some more
(03:38):
resources, some occasionalexclusive content, you can find us
over@the historyroadtrip.comand you can find all the links in
the show notes.
We're very appreciative. Allthis goes right back into the channel.
So, Jen, us being Tennesseansnow, right. I can kind of consider
(04:02):
this like our second homestate. Originally from California,
but we've lived in Tennesseeonce before and we're going to call
Tennessee home for a littlewhile. We went and visited basically
the last place that DavyCrockett lived in Tennessee.
Yeah, his last home. Yeah,because he really, like didn't live
in Texas. Like, he went toTexas and made it to the Alamo. And
(04:25):
they didn't think they weregonna stay there. Now, there is a
good argument that DavyCrockett was going to move to Texas.
Like he had went out to fightfor independence for Texas. His idea
was that they were going towin and then he was going to be getting
land as part of that fight.And then he was going to move his
(04:47):
family.
I mean, you think about it,he's a frontiersman. There's another
frontier in Texas. And so he'sprobably going down there to, you
know, fight with people thathe knew down there and try to try
to stake his claim out there.
That was the plan. But DavidCrockett, David Crockett, you know,
he's probably one of the mostfamous people from Tennessee. Right.
Like the whole song about him.And so it's just neat to go and visit
(05:12):
a place that's associated withhim now. You have to remember he's
born in 1786. So he's born 10years after America has declared
their independence and reallyjust five years after the Constitution,
in 1781, after they wonYorktown. Not even like they're in
the midst of writingconstitutions and everything. So
(05:33):
he's born at that time, andhe's born in Tennessee, but they
quickly moved to Pennsylvania.His father has many children, and
his father just keeps gettingin debt and in debt. And what they
did at the time is they could.You could indenture your children
out and to work off your debt.And that's what happened to David
Crockett. He was indenturedout. The people who, who, you know,
(05:58):
had them work for them werevery nice to him, but he was just
sick and tired of doing it.
Now, was this. Was he born in Tennessee?
He was born in Franklin, whichwas the state of Franklin at the
time.
So first. Which is now actualFranklin, Tennessee.
Yeah, which is Franklin, Tennessee.
And if. And if you're notfamiliar with the Nashville area,
so Franklin is just south ofNashville. Franklin's kind of like
(06:19):
the bougie part of Nashville.I mean, now, right. Like, that's
where there's movie stars andcountry music stars. Country music
stars, right. I think JustinTimberlake might have a. Have a home
out there. But that's interesting.
Yeah. So he. That's what. Butthat's where he learns to live off
the land, because as anindentured servant, basically, he's
(06:41):
fending for himself as he'sworking someone else's land. So that's
where he learns to hunt, makehis own clothing and, you know, shoot
all those things, camp. And sothat's where he learns his self survival,
self preservation. And hebasically just walks off at 16 years
(07:02):
old. He's like, I'm not doingthis anymore for my dad. I'm good.
I'm done.
So he. He started, what, whenhe was like 10, did it for a few
years, and then he was like in16, he was like, yeah, I know enough.
I'm going to go kill somebears and do my own thing.
Do my own thing. So I know. Sohe gets. He does get move into Tennessee
and he gets associated withthe War of 1812. And he helps Andrew
(07:25):
Jackson, War of 1812. He goesdown to New Orleans and he does show
people how to scout. He doesshow people how to hunt. He shows.
He is very good at living offthe land. So he grows into infamy
and. And he's a Very goodstoryteller. He likes to hunt bears.
He likes to hunt any kind ofwild animal at the time. And he's
(07:47):
wearing the coonskin hat, he'swearing the buckskins, like, like
a Native American. And so hebecomes synonymous with that Persona.
But he's elected to governmentin 1821, representing Tennessee.
So you think about it too. Imean, he's probably. He's not even
40 yet. Right. So he's beendoing his frontiersman Tennessee
(08:10):
thing for 30 plus years. 35,36 years. He's born in 1786. And
so he's been around. And youthink about the time. This is what
I love about him. And the factthat multiple things say that he
was the storyteller. That goesa long way at that time because not
(08:33):
everybody's reading, notevery. Not everybody's literate necessarily.
Right. That's just. There wasno, like, newspapers weren't all
over the place just becauseit's early America. Right. It's largely
frontier out there. So who'sgoing to get well known? Somebody
who's good at what he does andsomebody who's a great storyteller.
Great storyteller who istouching a lot of people in a wartime
(08:56):
situation. So he's kind oflike helping lead War of 1812. And
so all these people go backhome and said, let me tell you about
this guy who helped us whowore these skins, these buckskins,
and he was killing bears andhe told stories about domesticating
bears and, and people justlike what. And he would wear a coon
skin hat, like he would skin araccoon and wear the hat with the
(09:20):
tail on the back. He's marriedfirst to Paulie in 1806, and she
dies in 1815. And this isbefore he moves to the Rutherford
cabin that we visited. And hehas three children with her. And
then he marries a widow,Elizabeth, and she has two children
of her own. And then they havethree children together. So Davy
(09:41):
Crockett has six children ofhis own, but eight total with Elizabeth's
children. So those are theeight children who are at the Rutherford
cabin. When we go to the cabinand I talk about, it's four rooms,
but the parents are downstairson a main room because they're not
climbing the stairs up anddown all day. And the six, eight
(10:01):
kids are figuring out how tobe in one room upstairs.
Yeah. And. And now Rutherford,Tennessee isn't really as. It's actually
closer to Memphis than it isto Nashville. So it's kind of not
quite due north, kind ofnortheast of where we are in Memphis.
So it's a little bit furtherwest from Nashville. So that's key.
Kind of kept moving west,which again, kind of makes sense
(10:23):
for the time. Kind of keepgoing out on the frontier and that's
the direction to go.
Yeah, he was very much keepsettling, keep getting more land.
Yes, it would. It's considerednorthwest Tennessee, if you're looking
at Tennessee. But for us, it'seast because we're the farthest west
you can go in Memphis. So it'seast and north for us. And it wasn't
a. Wasn't a hard trip. It wasvery easy. But there's nothing really
(10:46):
out there unless you're goingto go see the. It's the replica of
Davy Crack, Davy Crockett'slast home. Now they use the actual
timbers from his house. Andit's. It's in the same style, built
to look exactly like hishouse. And then the furnishing insides
is from the 1800s. Some of itis from Davy Crockett. But it's been
(11:09):
donated. It's not. It may nothave been original to the cabin,
which is.
It's kind of wild because. Solet me. Let me set the scene here.
And I'll put B roll. You know,if you're watching the video, I'll
put some. Some video footageit there. And the video, of course,
will be linked in the shownotes if you're listening and you
want to watch the video. Butwe find this location. It took us
(11:29):
a little bit to find itbecause it's kind of off the beaten
path. Right. Had to showed up.We didn't know if it was open or
not. And there's a sign on thedoor like, yeah, call the county
courthouse. So we call thecounty courthouse and some guy just
drives up in his truck andopens it up for us. And then he basically
just kind of lets us go in.There's a little donation box and
a guest kind of signature.Signature book. And you just get
(11:50):
to walk around with whatever.So there's stuff from the 1800s.
Like, if we had wanted to, Icould have sat down on the bed. I
could have. You know, we wentupstairs and there's the whole kind
of loom thing and that theyused to weave. And there's. There's
all that. It's just right.Sitting right there. It's not behind
protective cases. It's. It'skind of wild. And the guy just left.
(12:13):
And he just left.
He just left. We didn't evenrealize it. He left the door open.
So we Just kind of closed itbehind us and. But it was. It was
really cool.
It was really cool. And sohe's there from 1822 till the fall
of 1835. And like you said, heserves three terms in Congress. But
it's in 1834 that he is votedout of Congress because he comes
(12:37):
against Andrew Jackson in theIndian Removal Act. He doesn't think.
He doesn't. He opposes thatpolicy. He doesn't think it's right
to. To make the AmericanIndians leave their land. And even
though Crockett was anenslaver, he doesn't believe in treating
people less than just based ontheir nationality. So what was interesting
(13:02):
is he gets so upset that hishome state has kind of turned their
back on him. That when hehears that Texas is fighting for
independence, he's like, I'mgoing to go. So in the fall of 1835,
he goes to the Alamo. And he'sthere in 1836 when, of course, the
Alamo is taken by Santa Anaand he's killed. And there's controversy
(13:26):
around what happened at theend of Davy Crockett's life. And
what's hard about this isthere's primary sources for both.
There's primary sources ofpeople who were a part of Santa Ana's
group. And were a part of thepeople that they didn't kill that
were at the Alamo. Some of theservants that said they found Crockett
(13:48):
in a room. After killing 16other men with his knife. In another
man being. Had. Had him beenkilled. So he died fighting. Then
there was a journal that wasfound right at the time when that
Disney movie came out withFess Parker in 1955. They found this
journal. And the journal saidthat some people surrendered. And
(14:12):
Davy Crockett was one of thesurrenderers. And then they were
all executed. People claimthat that wasn't true because it
was part of propaganda withthe movie coming out. But then recently,
the papers have been tested,and they do date back to 1830.
Oh, really?
So what. What's hard is SantaAnna says himself that nobody surrendered.
(14:37):
So you get Santa Anna'stestimony that he said no one surrendered.
They take all the bodies ofthe men and pile them up and put
wood on them and burn themall. And then I think it's two years
later, they. Someone comeswith a coffin and gets the ashes
and buries the coffin in apeach orchard close by. Now, there's
(14:58):
a coffin at the Alamo thatthey claim is that coffin and has
the ashes inside. But inreality, that coffin was buried,
and no one knows exactly whereit is. But because of that, there's
no evidence to support thesurrender or the fighting till the
death.
Well, I mean, let's berealistic. All the evidence we really
(15:19):
need is the Disney movie withFez Parker. Right. That's all the
evidence. Rereleating. That'show most of us know Davy Crockett.
Right. So I pulled up, justfor our podcast guests, I pulled
this little gem up here. Andthis is the song we all know.
(15:42):
Born on a mountaintop inTennessee Greenest stayed in the
land of the free Raised in thewoods Sosy knew every tree Killed
him a bar when he was onlythree Davey Davy Crockett, king of
the.
That is the Davy Crockettsong. I mean, and that's. I remember
that as a kid, and I barelyremember watching this show, but
(16:04):
I knew the song because, youknow, that was kind of like another
way to kind of keep thatlegend going, which was Disney. And
Disney did that with a lot ofkind of, you know, American stories
and stuff like that.
And I tell you this, Like, Ilove that Fess Parker's wearing moccasins.
And, like, the kind ofmoccasins you can buy at the store.
It's so great.
(16:24):
Yeah.
But this is. This is the truthof Davy Crockett is he moves into
this storytelling infamy, andhe does build his life up. I killed
105 bears at this cabin inRutherford, Tennessee. I domesticated
a bear. And he sat with us atthe kitchen table. I could grin a
bear to death. Like, he toldthese stories. And in so much so,
(16:47):
a play was written about himin 1831. That again, like you said,
how do people get their. Theirentertainment at the time? You see
these plays in this play aboutthis frontiersman who's now a politician
and what he did for survivaland how he lives in Tennessee. It
was like he would walk intoCongress just in the buckskins. And
(17:11):
he did do that to live up thisPersona. And it was almost like he
was, like, half animal, halfman, half domesticated, half buffoon,
like, and he enjoyed that. Andso that story about him was really
what resonated. And so that'swhy he felt, I think, so betrayed
(17:31):
when he was pushed out ofCongress is he felt betrayed by his
people because he had builtthis Persona based on Tennessee.
Yeah. And it's one of thosethings that we talk about this all
the time with kind oflegendary people, Whether it's people
that are in. In pop culture insome form or fashion. When they kind
of. They die, you know, atthe. At. In some peak moment. You
(17:55):
know, for James Dean, he wasjust super young, but then a rising
star. You have the MarilynMonroe you have, right? So you have
all these. These people likethis. Now, for Davy Crockett, he
was a little bit older. He wasprobably almost 50 by the time the
Alamo happened, but he stillwas this legend. And then he died
in kind of this legendarymanner at this legendary battle that
(18:17):
was kind of continued on instory in Americana. That's really
what cemented his story,right? And we talk about that all
the time. So this is just aclassic instance of a case like that.
Yeah, he was 49. And the Alamoresonates with people. Remember the
(18:38):
Alamo, right? Because this isa rally cry. Texas is going to get
its independence, right? Andeven though the. The Mexicans have
won that battle, this is whatrallies everyone to come and fight
for Texas's independence. Andremember, the Alamo becomes that
cry. So Davy Crockett movesinto infamy. And when you think of
the Alamo, he's the mostfamous one who died there. I mean,
(19:03):
you can think of Bowie withthe Bowie knife. And there's other
people who are there. And ifyou watch the movie, like, oh, okay,
but Davy Crockett is the mostfamous person who's there. And I
think his famous. Cemented bythat death, how he died fighting
for America. Someone whoserved in Congress, someone who fought
(19:24):
for America in the War of 1812and then made their whole life off
of living off the Americanfrontier. I mean, it's just. He moves
into legend. And so to be ableto go to his cabin and. And sit on
his front porch on the rockingchair, knowing that he was a storyteller
who probably rocked away andwhittled and told these stories,
(19:46):
it was amazing for me as ahistorian to be able to do that growing
up on these stories of Davy Crockett.
Yeah, it was awesome. I willsay. I mean, if you're interested
in visiting, you kind of haveto dedicate a visit to it because
it's off the beaten path,right? It's not super close to Memphis.
It's probably an hour and ahalf from. From us. So. But if you
want to. If you want to makethe effort up there, it's kind of
(20:06):
neat. It's. I will leave somelinks in our show notes if you want
to go to it, because there's acouple Davy Crockett things that
are around Tennessee. Likethere's a museum out in Nashville
and stuff like that. But Iwill definitely leave a link to this
specific site.
Yeah, there are other. I thinkthere's six locations to visit for
Davy Crockett in Tennessee.One is a county named after him,
of course, but he was in EastTennessee. There is a tavern out
(20:29):
there. There's a forest outthere named for him. But remember,
this is his last home. And helives here 1822-1835. So 13 years
he's here in West Tennessee.And this is his last home before
he leaves for the Alamo. Sothat's what's significant about this
location. There's our. Theredefinitely are other places to see.
Associated with Davy Crockett.But this is the last place he will
(20:51):
leave from before going to theAlamo. And his mother passes away
in this location in 1834. Andher grave is also there, right beside
the replica of the cabins. So,again, it's just. There's a lot of
Davy Crockett history in thisone location. And it was definitely
(21:13):
worth the visit. It's therefor you. It's available to you. I
really thought it was awesometo go see.
Yeah, it was pretty neat. Thelife and legend of Davy Crockett
reached its dramatic climax atthe Battle of the Alamo in 1836.
Drawn by the promise of a newfrontier and the struggle for Texas
(21:35):
independence. Crockett'sarrival at the Alamo transformed
him from a frontier politicianinto an immortal American hero. In
February of 36, Crockettjoined fewer than 200 defenders at
the Alamo mission in SanAntonio. Despite facing overwhelming
odds against Mexican GeneralSanta Ana's army of thousands, Crockett
(21:57):
and his fellow defenders heldtheir ground. According to eyewitness
accounts, Crockett's spiritnever wavered during the 13 day siege.
As he kept morale high withhis humor and music, often playing
the fiddle for the troops. OnMarch 6, the Alamo fell to Mexican
forces. While accounts ofCrockett's final moments vary, the
most enduring image is of himfighting to the very end, using his
(22:20):
rifle, Betsy as a club whenammunition ran out. His death at
the Alamo transformed Crockettfrom a popular frontier figure. Into
an American legend,symbolizing courage, independence,
and unwavering dedication toprinciples. Today, Davy Crockett's
legacy lives on in countlessways. The 1950s Disney series starring
(22:41):
Fez Parker introduced him tonew generations, making the Ballad
of Davy Crockett a nationalsensation. His image appears in films,
books and cultural references.While places like the Alamo continue
to draw millions of visitorseach year who come to honor his memory
schools, parks and forestsbear his name, and his famous coonskin
(23:02):
cap remains one of the mostrecognizable symbols of the American
frontier spirit. Thank you.This has been a Walk with History
production. Talk With Historyis created and hosted by me, Scott
Benny. Episode researched byJennifer Benny. Check out the show
(23:23):
notes for links and referencesmentioned in this episode. Talk with
History is supported by ourfans@thehistoryroadtrip.com and Returnal.
Thanks go out to thoseproviding funding to help keep us
going. Thank you to DougMcLiverty, Larry Myers, Patrick Bennie,
Gale Cooper, Christy Khotz,and Calvin Gifford. Make sure you
(23:43):
hit that follow button in thepodcast player and we'll talk to
you next time.
Davy Crockett made his name asa frontiersman and expert marksman
in Tennessee, where hislegendary hunting skills and charismatic
personality earned him thenickname King of the Wild Frontier.
As a young man, he gainedrecognition for his remarkable ability
to hunt bears or bars, as youmight hear in his song, claiming
(00:21):
to have killed 105 bears in asingle season. His reputation grew
further when he served as ascout under General Andrew Jackson
from 1813 to 1814. Hisknowledge of the wilderness and his
leadership skills making himan invaluable asset. Now this popularity
led to a successful politicalcareer in Tennessee, where he served
three terms in the US House ofRepresentatives. And Crockett became
(00:44):
known for his colorfulpersonality and his eventual opposition
to President Jackson's IndianRemoval act, which we'll talk some
more details about. That astance that showed his independent
thinking but ultimatelycontributed to his political demise.
Now Crockett became a folkhero through his storytelling abilities
and larger than life Persona.He embraced his public image, but
(01:06):
eventually left Tennessee.From the very location that Jen and
I visited and the locationthat we're going to talk about today,
welcome to Talk with History.I'm your host Scott, here with my
wife and historian Jen.
Hello.
On this podcast, we give youinsights to our history Inspired
(01:27):
World Travels, YouTube channelJourney and examine history through
deeper conversations with thecurious, the explorers and the history
lovers out there. Now, Jen,before we get kicked off, it's been
a couple weeks since we'vetechnically recorded because we try
to record in batches. So Ihave a couple shout outs because
(01:50):
we got another podcastsupporter who's supporting us through
the history roadtrip.com Verycool. So the History, if you don't
know the history, Road Trip isour newsletter where we kind of go.
I try to go deeper into kindof our history adventures. I give
some links and Google map, youknow, kind of resources and stuff
like that to kind of help yougive you a resource. If you ever
(02:12):
wanted to go visit thelocations that we visit and through
there, if you want to supportthe podcast, you want to support
us and what we do and all thehistory stuff and us sharing this,
you can become a member overthere and there is some occasional
exclusive content. But we hadCalvin Gifford, he signed up to Support
us@thehistoryroadtrip.com andthank you, Calvin. He actually he
(02:35):
comments on a lot of ourvideos. I think he might even be
a member, a YouTube channelmember where you can get early access
to our videos. So I justwanted to thank Calvin for that because
he's been a huge Supporter ofthe show. He found us the newsletter
over@thehistoryroadtrip.comand I'll flash the. There's a link
in the show notes or I'llflash it up on the screen again if
(02:56):
you want to go over there. Wetry to kind of put out some occasional
newsletter stuff. We are kindof little spoiler alert. We are working
on a documentary, so we'vestarted one and I'm going to try
to put out kind of my journeyin doing kind of a first documentary
over there. A little bit ofbehind the scenes type stuff. So
if you're interested in that,I'm probably going to. I got my first
(03:18):
little behind the scenes, justme speaking my mind after our first
day of kind of testing,filming, stuff like that. So, um,
check us out. But thank you,Calvin, so much for supporting the
podcast. Thank you so much forsupporting the show. If you want
to just leave like a one offtip for us, you can go to talkwith
history.com and find thatsupport link. If you want some more
(03:38):
resources, some occasionalexclusive content, you can find us
over@the historyroadtrip.comand you can find all the links in
the show notes.
We're very appreciative. Allthis goes right back into the channel.
So, Jen, us being Tennesseansnow, right. I can kind of consider
(04:02):
this like our second homestate. Originally from California,
but we've lived in Tennesseeonce before and we're going to call
Tennessee home for a littlewhile. We went and visited basically
the last place that DavyCrockett lived in Tennessee.
Yeah, his last home. Yeah,because he really, like didn't live
in Texas. Like, he went toTexas and made it to the Alamo. And
(04:25):
they didn't think they weregonna stay there. Now, there is a
good argument that DavyCrockett was going to move to Texas.
Like he had went out to fightfor independence for Texas. His idea
was that they were going towin and then he was going to be getting
land as part of that fight.And then he was going to move his
(04:47):
family.
I mean, you think about it,he's a frontiersman. There's another
frontier in Texas. And so he'sprobably going down there to, you
know, fight with people thathe knew down there and try to try
to stake his claim out there.
That was the plan. But DavidCrockett, David Crockett, you know,
he's probably one of the mostfamous people from Tennessee. Right.
Like the whole song about him.And so it's just neat to go and visit
(05:12):
a place that's associated withhim now. You have to remember he's
born in 1786. So he's born 10years after America has declared
their independence and reallyjust five years after the Constitution,
in 1781, after they wonYorktown. Not even like they're in
the midst of writingconstitutions and everything. So
(05:33):
he's born at that time, andhe's born in Tennessee, but they
quickly moved to Pennsylvania.His father has many children, and
his father just keeps gettingin debt and in debt. And what they
did at the time is they could.You could indenture your children
out and to work off your debt.And that's what happened to David
Crockett. He was indenturedout. The people who, who, you know,
(05:58):
had them work for them werevery nice to him, but he was just
sick and tired of doing it.
Now, was this. Was he born in Tennessee?
He was born in Franklin, whichwas the state of Franklin at the
time.
So first. Which is now actualFranklin, Tennessee.
Yeah, which is Franklin, Tennessee.
And if. And if you're notfamiliar with the Nashville area,
so Franklin is just south ofNashville. Franklin's kind of like
(06:19):
the bougie part of Nashville.I mean, now, right. Like, that's
where there's movie stars andcountry music stars. Country music
stars, right. I think JustinTimberlake might have a. Have a home
out there. But that's interesting.
Yeah. So he. That's what. Butthat's where he learns to live off
the land, because as anindentured servant, basically, he's
(06:41):
fending for himself as he'sworking someone else's land. So that's
where he learns to hunt, makehis own clothing and, you know, shoot
all those things, camp. And sothat's where he learns his self survival,
self preservation. And hebasically just walks off at 16 years
(07:02):
old. He's like, I'm not doingthis anymore for my dad. I'm good.
I'm done.
So he. He started, what, whenhe was like 10, did it for a few
years, and then he was like in16, he was like, yeah, I know enough.
I'm going to go kill somebears and do my own thing.
Do my own thing. So I know. Sohe gets. He does get move into Tennessee
and he gets associated withthe War of 1812. And he helps Andrew
(07:25):
Jackson, War of 1812. He goesdown to New Orleans and he does show
people how to scout. He doesshow people how to hunt. He shows.
He is very good at living offthe land. So he grows into infamy
and. And he's a Very goodstoryteller. He likes to hunt bears.
He likes to hunt any kind ofwild animal at the time. And he's
(07:47):
wearing the coonskin hat, he'swearing the buckskins, like, like
a Native American. And so hebecomes synonymous with that Persona.
But he's elected to governmentin 1821, representing Tennessee.
So you think about it too. Imean, he's probably. He's not even
40 yet. Right. So he's beendoing his frontiersman Tennessee
(08:10):
thing for 30 plus years. 35,36 years. He's born in 1786. And
so he's been around. And youthink about the time. This is what
I love about him. And the factthat multiple things say that he
was the storyteller. That goesa long way at that time because not
(08:33):
everybody's reading, notevery. Not everybody's literate necessarily.
Right. That's just. There wasno, like, newspapers weren't all
over the place just becauseit's early America. Right. It's largely
frontier out there. So who'sgoing to get well known? Somebody
who's good at what he does andsomebody who's a great storyteller.
Great storyteller who istouching a lot of people in a wartime
(08:56):
situation. So he's kind oflike helping lead War of 1812. And
so all these people go backhome and said, let me tell you about
this guy who helped us whowore these skins, these buckskins,
and he was killing bears andhe told stories about domesticating
bears and, and people justlike what. And he would wear a coon
skin hat, like he would skin araccoon and wear the hat with the
(09:20):
tail on the back. He's marriedfirst to Paulie in 1806, and she
dies in 1815. And this isbefore he moves to the Rutherford
cabin that we visited. And hehas three children with her. And
then he marries a widow,Elizabeth, and she has two children
of her own. And then they havethree children together. So Davy
(09:41):
Crockett has six children ofhis own, but eight total with Elizabeth's
children. So those are theeight children who are at the Rutherford
cabin. When we go to the cabinand I talk about, it's four rooms,
but the parents are downstairson a main room because they're not
climbing the stairs up anddown all day. And the six, eight
(10:01):
kids are figuring out how tobe in one room upstairs.
Yeah. And. And now Rutherford,Tennessee isn't really as. It's actually
closer to Memphis than it isto Nashville. So it's kind of not
quite due north, kind ofnortheast of where we are in Memphis.
So it's a little bit furtherwest from Nashville. So that's key.
Kind of kept moving west,which again, kind of makes sense
(10:23):
for the time. Kind of keepgoing out on the frontier and that's
the direction to go.
Yeah, he was very much keepsettling, keep getting more land.
Yes, it would. It's considerednorthwest Tennessee, if you're looking
at Tennessee. But for us, it'seast because we're the farthest west
you can go in Memphis. So it'seast and north for us. And it wasn't
a. Wasn't a hard trip. It wasvery easy. But there's nothing really
(10:46):
out there unless you're goingto go see the. It's the replica of
Davy Crack, Davy Crockett'slast home. Now they use the actual
timbers from his house. Andit's. It's in the same style, built
to look exactly like hishouse. And then the furnishing insides
is from the 1800s. Some of itis from Davy Crockett. But it's been
(11:09):
donated. It's not. It may nothave been original to the cabin,
which is.
It's kind of wild because. Solet me. Let me set the scene here.
And I'll put B roll. You know,if you're watching the video, I'll
put some. Some video footageit there. And the video, of course,
will be linked in the shownotes if you're listening and you
want to watch the video. Butwe find this location. It took us
(11:29):
a little bit to find itbecause it's kind of off the beaten
path. Right. Had to showed up.We didn't know if it was open or
not. And there's a sign on thedoor like, yeah, call the county
courthouse. So we call thecounty courthouse and some guy just
drives up in his truck andopens it up for us. And then he basically
just kind of lets us go in.There's a little donation box and
a guest kind of signature.Signature book. And you just get
(11:50):
to walk around with whatever.So there's stuff from the 1800s.
Like, if we had wanted to, Icould have sat down on the bed. I
could have. You know, we wentupstairs and there's the whole kind
of loom thing and that theyused to weave. And there's. There's
all that. It's just right.Sitting right there. It's not behind
protective cases. It's. It'skind of wild. And the guy just left.
(12:13):
And he just left.
He just left. We didn't evenrealize it. He left the door open.
So we Just kind of closed itbehind us and. But it was. It was
really cool.
It was really cool. And sohe's there from 1822 till the fall
of 1835. And like you said, heserves three terms in Congress. But
it's in 1834 that he is votedout of Congress because he comes
(12:37):
against Andrew Jackson in theIndian Removal Act. He doesn't think.
He doesn't. He opposes thatpolicy. He doesn't think it's right
to. To make the AmericanIndians leave their land. And even
though Crockett was anenslaver, he doesn't believe in treating
people less than just based ontheir nationality. So what was interesting
(13:02):
is he gets so upset that hishome state has kind of turned their
back on him. That when hehears that Texas is fighting for
independence, he's like, I'mgoing to go. So in the fall of 1835,
he goes to the Alamo. And he'sthere in 1836 when, of course, the
Alamo is taken by Santa Anaand he's killed. And there's controversy
(13:26):
around what happened at theend of Davy Crockett's life. And
what's hard about this isthere's primary sources for both.
There's primary sources ofpeople who were a part of Santa Ana's
group. And were a part of thepeople that they didn't kill that
were at the Alamo. Some of theservants that said they found Crockett
(13:48):
in a room. After killing 16other men with his knife. In another
man being. Had. Had him beenkilled. So he died fighting. Then
there was a journal that wasfound right at the time when that
Disney movie came out withFess Parker in 1955. They found this
journal. And the journal saidthat some people surrendered. And
(14:12):
Davy Crockett was one of thesurrenderers. And then they were
all executed. People claimthat that wasn't true because it
was part of propaganda withthe movie coming out. But then recently,
the papers have been tested,and they do date back to 1830.
Oh, really?
So what. What's hard is SantaAnna says himself that nobody surrendered.
(14:37):
So you get Santa Anna'stestimony that he said no one surrendered.
They take all the bodies ofthe men and pile them up and put
wood on them and burn themall. And then I think it's two years
later, they. Someone comeswith a coffin and gets the ashes
and buries the coffin in apeach orchard close by. Now, there's
(14:58):
a coffin at the Alamo thatthey claim is that coffin and has
the ashes inside. But inreality, that coffin was buried,
and no one knows exactly whereit is. But because of that, there's
no evidence to support thesurrender or the fighting till the
death.
Well, I mean, let's berealistic. All the evidence we really
(15:19):
need is the Disney movie withFez Parker. Right. That's all the
evidence. Rereleating. That'show most of us know Davy Crockett.
Right. So I pulled up, justfor our podcast guests, I pulled
this little gem up here. Andthis is the song we all know.
(15:42):
Born on a mountaintop inTennessee Greenest stayed in the
land of the free Raised in thewoods Sosy knew every tree Killed
him a bar when he was onlythree Davey Davy Crockett, king of
the.
That is the Davy Crockettsong. I mean, and that's. I remember
that as a kid, and I barelyremember watching this show, but
(16:04):
I knew the song because, youknow, that was kind of like another
way to kind of keep thatlegend going, which was Disney. And
Disney did that with a lot ofkind of, you know, American stories
and stuff like that.
And I tell you this, Like, Ilove that Fess Parker's wearing moccasins.
And, like, the kind ofmoccasins you can buy at the store.
It's so great.
(16:24):
Yeah.
But this is. This is the truthof Davy Crockett is he moves into
this storytelling infamy, andhe does build his life up. I killed
105 bears at this cabin inRutherford, Tennessee. I domesticated
a bear. And he sat with us atthe kitchen table. I could grin a
bear to death. Like, he toldthese stories. And in so much so,
(16:47):
a play was written about himin 1831. That again, like you said,
how do people get their. Theirentertainment at the time? You see
these plays in this play aboutthis frontiersman who's now a politician
and what he did for survivaland how he lives in Tennessee. It
was like he would walk intoCongress just in the buckskins. And
(17:11):
he did do that to live up thisPersona. And it was almost like he
was, like, half animal, halfman, half domesticated, half buffoon,
like, and he enjoyed that. Andso that story about him was really
what resonated. And so that'swhy he felt, I think, so betrayed
(17:31):
when he was pushed out ofCongress is he felt betrayed by his
people because he had builtthis Persona based on Tennessee.
Yeah. And it's one of thosethings that we talk about this all
the time with kind oflegendary people, Whether it's people
that are in. In pop culture insome form or fashion. When they kind
of. They die, you know, atthe. At. In some peak moment. You
(17:55):
know, for James Dean, he wasjust super young, but then a rising
star. You have the MarilynMonroe you have, right? So you have
all these. These people likethis. Now, for Davy Crockett, he
was a little bit older. He wasprobably almost 50 by the time the
Alamo happened, but he stillwas this legend. And then he died
in kind of this legendarymanner at this legendary battle that
(18:17):
was kind of continued on instory in Americana. That's really
what cemented his story,right? And we talk about that all
the time. So this is just aclassic instance of a case like that.
Yeah, he was 49. And the Alamoresonates with people. Remember the
(18:38):
Alamo, right? Because this isa rally cry. Texas is going to get
its independence, right? Andeven though the. The Mexicans have
won that battle, this is whatrallies everyone to come and fight
for Texas's independence. Andremember, the Alamo becomes that
cry. So Davy Crockett movesinto infamy. And when you think of
the Alamo, he's the mostfamous one who died there. I mean,
(19:03):
you can think of Bowie withthe Bowie knife. And there's other
people who are there. And ifyou watch the movie, like, oh, okay,
but Davy Crockett is the mostfamous person who's there. And I
think his famous. Cemented bythat death, how he died fighting
for America. Someone whoserved in Congress, someone who fought
(19:24):
for America in the War of 1812and then made their whole life off
of living off the Americanfrontier. I mean, it's just. He moves
into legend. And so to be ableto go to his cabin and. And sit on
his front porch on the rockingchair, knowing that he was a storyteller
who probably rocked away andwhittled and told these stories,
(19:46):
it was amazing for me as ahistorian to be able to do that growing
up on these stories of Davy Crockett.
Yeah, it was awesome. I willsay. I mean, if you're interested
in visiting, you kind of haveto dedicate a visit to it because
it's off the beaten path,right? It's not super close to Memphis.
It's probably an hour and ahalf from. From us. So. But if you
want to. If you want to makethe effort up there, it's kind of
(20:06):
neat. It's. I will leave somelinks in our show notes if you want
to go to it, because there's acouple Davy Crockett things that
are around Tennessee. Likethere's a museum out in Nashville
and stuff like that. But Iwill definitely leave a link to this
specific site.
Yeah, there are other. I thinkthere's six locations to visit for
Davy Crockett in Tennessee.One is a county named after him,
of course, but he was in EastTennessee. There is a tavern out
(20:29):
there. There's a forest outthere named for him. But remember,
this is his last home. And helives here 1822-1835. So 13 years
he's here in West Tennessee.And this is his last home before
he leaves for the Alamo. Sothat's what's significant about this
location. There's our. Theredefinitely are other places to see.
Associated with Davy Crockett.But this is the last place he will
(20:51):
leave from before going to theAlamo. And his mother passes away
in this location in 1834. Andher grave is also there, right beside
the replica of the cabins. So,again, it's just. There's a lot of
Davy Crockett history in thisone location. And it was definitely
(21:13):
worth the visit. It's therefor you. It's available to you. I
really thought it was awesometo go see.
Yeah, it was pretty neat. Thelife and legend of Davy Crockett
reached its dramatic climax atthe Battle of the Alamo in 1836.
Drawn by the promise of a newfrontier and the struggle for Texas
(21:35):
independence. Crockett'sarrival at the Alamo transformed
him from a frontier politicianinto an immortal American hero. In
February of 36, Crockettjoined fewer than 200 defenders at
the Alamo mission in SanAntonio. Despite facing overwhelming
odds against Mexican GeneralSanta Ana's army of thousands, Crockett
(21:57):
and his fellow defenders heldtheir ground. According to eyewitness
accounts, Crockett's spiritnever wavered during the 13 day siege.
As he kept morale high withhis humor and music, often playing
the fiddle for the troops. OnMarch 6, the Alamo fell to Mexican
forces. While accounts ofCrockett's final moments vary, the
most enduring image is of himfighting to the very end, using his
(22:20):
rifle, Betsy as a club whenammunition ran out. His death at
the Alamo transformed Crockettfrom a popular frontier figure. Into
an American legend,symbolizing courage, independence,
and unwavering dedication toprinciples. Today, Davy Crockett's
legacy lives on in countlessways. The 1950s Disney series starring
(22:41):
Fez Parker introduced him tonew generations, making the Ballad
of Davy Crockett a nationalsensation. His image appears in films,
books and cultural references.While places like the Alamo continue
to draw millions of visitorseach year who come to honor his memory
schools, parks and forestsbear his name, and his famous coonskin
(23:02):
cap remains one of the mostrecognizable symbols of the American
frontier spirit. Thank you.This has been a Walk with History
production. Talk With Historyis created and hosted by me, Scott
Benny. Episode researched byJennifer Benny. Check out the show
(23:23):
notes for links and referencesmentioned in this episode. Talk with
History is supported by ourfans@thehistoryroadtrip.com and Returnal.
Thanks go out to thoseproviding funding to help keep us
going. Thank you to DougMcLiverty, Larry Myers, Patrick Bennie,
Gale Cooper, Christy Khotz,and Calvin Gifford. Make sure you
(23:43):
hit that follow button in thepodcast player and we'll talk to
you next time.
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