08 - Life on the Obion

Chapter 8: Life on the Obion
Focuses on his time living on the Obion River, detailing hunting achievements, community involvement, and personal anecdotes from that period.   Summary by Dream Audiobooks

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Chapter eight of David Crockett His Life and Adventures. This
is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
LibriVox dot org. Recording by Brett W. Downey. David Crockett,
His Life and Adventures by John S. C Abbott, Chapter eight,

(00:23):
Life on the Obian. The next day, after building the
cabin to which Crockett intended to move his family, it
began to rain, as he says, rip roariously. The river
rapidly rose, and the boatmen were ready to resume their voyage.
Crockett stepped out into the forest and shot a deer,
which he left as food for Abram, Henry and his

(00:44):
little boy, who were to remain in the cabin until
his return. He expected to be absent six or seven days.
The stream was very sluggish. By polling as it was called,
that is, by pushing the boat with long poles, they
reached the incumbrance caused by the hurricane, where they stopped
for the night. In the morning, as soon as the

(01:05):
day dawned, Crockett, thinking it impossible for them to get
through the fallen timber. That day took his rifle and
went into the forest in search of game. He had
gone but a short distance when he came across a
fine buck. The animal fell before his unerring aim, and
taking the prize upon his shoulders, he commenced a return
to the boat. He had not proceeded far before he

(01:28):
came upon the fresh tracks of a herd of elks.
The temptation to follow their trail was, to a veteran
hunter irresistible. He threw down his buck and had not
gone far before he came upon two more bucks, very
large and splendid animals. The beautiful creatures, though manifesting some timidity,
did not seem disposed to run, but with their soft,

(01:50):
womanly eyes gazed with wonder upon the approaching stranger. The
bullet from Crockett's rifle struck between the eyes of one,
and he fell dead. The other, his companion, exhibited almost
human sympathy. Instead of taking to flight, he clung to
his lifeless associate, looking down upon him as if some
incomprehensible calamity had occurred. Crockett rapidly reloaded his rifle, and

(02:15):
the other buck fell dead. He hung them both upon
the limb of a tree so that they should not
be devoured by wolves, and followed on in the trail
of the elks. He did not overtake them until nearly noon.
They were then beyond rifle shot, and kept so, luring
him on quite a distance. At length he saw two
other fine bucks, both of which he shot. The intellectual

(02:37):
culture of the man may be inferred from the following
characteristic description which he gives of these events. I saw
two more bucks, very large fellows too. I took a
blizzard at one of them, and up he tumbled. The
other ran off a few jumps and stopped, and I
stood there until I loaded again and fired at him.
I knocked his trotters from under him, and then I

(02:58):
hung them both up. A push on again, and about
sunset I saw three other bucks. I downed one of them,
and the other two ran off. I hung this one up, also,
having killed six that day. I then pushed on till
I got to the hurricane, and at the lower edge
of it, about where I expected the boat was here.
I hollered as hard as I could roar, but could

(03:20):
get no answer. I fired off my gun, and the
men on the boat fired one too. But quite contrary
to my expectations. They had got through the timber and
were about two miles above me. It was now dark,
and I had to crawl through the fallen timber the
best way I could. And if the reader don't know
it was bad enough, I'm sure I do, for the

(03:40):
vines and briars had grown all through it, and so
thick that a good fat coon couldn't much more than
get along. I got through it last and went on
to near where I had killed my last deer, and
once more fired off my gun, which was again answered
from the boat, which was a little above me. I
moved on as fast as I could, but soon came
to water, and not knowing how deep it was, I

(04:02):
halted and hollered till they came to me with a skiff.
I now got to the boat without further difficulty, but
the briars had worked on me at such a rate
that I felt like I wanted sewing up all over.
I took a pretty stiff horn, which soon made me
feel much better, but I was so tired that I
could scarcely work my jaws to eat. The next morning,

(04:24):
Crockett took a young man with him and went out
into the woods to bring in the game he had shot.
They brought in two of the bucks, which afforded them
all the supply of venison they needed, and left the
others hanging upon the trees. The boatmen then pushed their
way up the river. The progress was slow, and eleven
toilsome days passed before they reached their destination. Crockett had

(04:45):
now discharged his debt and prepared to return to his cabin.
There was a light skiff attached to the large, flat
bottomed boat in which they had ascended the river. This skiff,
Crockett took, and, accompanied by a young man by the
name of Flavius Harris, who had decided to go back
with him, speedily paddled their way down the stream to
his cabin. There were now four occupants of this lonely,

(05:07):
dreary hut, which was surrounded by forests and fawn trees,
and briars and brambles. They all went to work vigorously
and clearing some land for a corn field that they
might lay in a store for the coming winter. The
spring was far advanced and the season for planting nearly gone.
They had brought some seed with them on their pack horse,
and they soon had the pleasure of seeing the tender

(05:28):
sprouts pushing up vigorously through the luxuriant virgin soil. It
was not necessary to fence their field, Crockett rights. There
was no stock nor anything else to disturb our corn
except the wild varmints, and the old serpent himself, with
a fence to help him, couldn't keep them out here.
Crockett and his three companions remained through the summer and

(05:48):
into the autumn until they could gather in their harvest
of corn. During that time they lived as they deemed
sumptuously upon game. To kill a grizzly bear was ever
considered achievement of which any hunter might boast. During the summer,
Krockett killed ten of these ferocious monsters. Their flesh was
regarded as a great delicacy, and their shaggy skins were

(06:11):
invaluable in the cabin for beds and bedding. He also
shot deer in great abundance. The smaller game he took
of fat turkeys, partridges, pigeons, et cetera. He did not
deem worth enumerting it was a very lazy, lounging, indolent life.
Crockett could any morning go into the woods and shoot
a deer, he would bring all the desirable parts of

(06:32):
it home upon his shoulders, or he would take his
pack horse out with him for that purpose. At their
glowing fire outside of the cabin, if the weather were
pleasant inside if it rained, they would cook the tender steaks.
They had meal for corn bread, and it will also
be remembered that they had sugar and ten gallons of whiskey.
The deer skins were easily tanned into soft and plant leather.

(06:54):
They all knew how to cut these skins, and with
tough sinews to sew them into hunting shirts, Makas said,
and other needed garments. Sitting Indian fashion on mattresses or
cushions of bearskin, with just enough to do gently to
interest the mind, with no anxiety or thought even about
the future, they would loiter listlessly through the long hours
of the summer days. Occasionally two or three Indians on

(07:17):
a hunting excursion would visit the cabin. These Indians were
invariably friendly. Crockett had no more apprehension that they would
trouble him than he had that the elk or deer
would make a midnight attack upon his cabin. Not unfrequently
they would have a visit from mister Owen's household, or
they would all go up to his hut for a carrause.
Two or three times during the summer, small parties exploring

(07:40):
the country came along and would rest a day or
two under Crockett's hospitable roof. Thus, with these men, with
their peculiar habits and tastes, the summer probably passed away
as pleasantly as with most people in this world of
care and trouble. Early in the autumn, Crockett returned to
central Tennessee to fetch his family to the new home.
Upon reaching his cabin in Giles County, he was met

(08:02):
by a summons to attend a special session of the legislature.
He attended and served out his time, though he took
but little interest in legislative affairs. His thoughts were elsewhere,
and he was impatient for removal before cold weather should
set in to his far distant home. Late in October,
he set out with his little family on foot for
their long journey of one hundred and fifty miles through

(08:24):
an almost pathless forest. His poverty was extreme, but the
peculiar character of the man was such that he did
not seem to regard that at all two pack horses
conveyed all their household goods. Crockett led the party with
a child on one arm and his rifle on the other.
He walked gaily along, singing as merrily as the birds.

(08:44):
Half a dozen dogs followed him. Then came the horses
in single file, his wife and older children following one
after the other in single file along the narrow trail
closed up the rear. It was a very singular procession,
thus winding its way through fort and more over hills
and prairies to the silent shores of the Mississippi. The

(09:05):
eventful journey was safely accomplished, and he found all things
as he had left them. A rich harvest of golden
ears was waving in his corn field, and his comfortable
cabin in all respects as comfortable as the one he
had left, was ready to receive its inmates. He soon
gathered in his harvest and was thus amply supplied with
bread for the winter. Fuel directly at his hand was abundant,

(09:27):
and thus, as we may say, his coal bin was full.
Game of every kind excepting buffaloes was ranging the woods,
which required no shelter or food at his expense, and
from which he could at pleasure select any variety of
the most delicious animal food he might desire. Thus his
larder was full to repletion. The skins of animals, furnished

(09:48):
them with warm and comfortable clothing, easily decorated with fringes,
and some bright coloring, whose beauty was tasteful to every eye.
Thus the family wardrobe was amply stored. Many might have
deemed Crockett a poor man. He regarded himself as one
of the lords of creation. Christmas was drawing nigh. It
may be doubted whether Crockett had the slightest appreciation of

(10:09):
the sacred character of that day, which commemorates the advent
of the Son of God to suffer and die for
the sins of the world. With Crockett, it had ever
been a day of jollification. He fired salutes with his rifle,
He sung his merriest songs, he told his funniest stories.
He indulged himself in the highest exhilaration which whiskey could induce.

(10:30):
As this holiday approached, Crockett was much troubled in finding
that his powder was nearly expended, and that he had
none to fire Christmas guns. This seemed really to annoy
him more than that he had none to hunt with.
In the meantime, a brother in law had moved to
that region and had reared his cabin at a distance
of six miles from the hut of David Crockett, on

(10:50):
the western bank of Rutherford's Fork, one of the tributaries
of the Obian River. He had brought with him a
cake of powder for Crockett, which had not yet been delivered.
The region all around was low and swampy. The fall
rains had so swollen the streams that vast extents of
the territory were inundated. All the river bottoms were covered
with water. The meadows which lined the Obion, where Crockett

(11:13):
would have to pass, were so flooded that it was
all of a mile from shore to shore. The energy
which Crockett displayed on the difficult and perilous journey illustrates
those remarkable traits of character which have given him such
wide renown. There must be something very extraordinary about a
man which can make his name known throughout a continent,
and of the forty millions of people in the United States,

(11:34):
there scarcely one of mature years who has not heard
the name of David Crockett. When Crockett told his wife
that he had desired to go to his brother's for
the powder, she earnestly remonstrated, saying that it was at
the imminent hazard of his life. The ground was covered
with snow. He would have to walk at least a
mile through icy water up to his waist, and would

(11:55):
probably have to swim the channel. He then, with dripping
clothes and through the old wintry blast, would have to
walk several miles before he could reach his brother's home.
Crockett persisted in his determination, saying, I have no powder
for Christmas, and we are out of meat. He put
on some woolen wrappers and a pair of deerskin moccasins.

(12:15):
He then tied up a small bundle of clothes with
shoes and stockings, which he might exchange for his dripping
garments when he should reach his brother's cabin. I crowd
from his own account of the adventure. I didn't before
know how much a person could suffer and not die.
The snow was about four inches deep when I started,
and when I got to the water, which was only

(12:36):
about a quarter of a mile off. It looked like
an ocean. I put in and waited on till I
came to the channel where I crossed that on a
high log. I then took water again, having my gun
and all my hunting tools along, and waited till I
came to a deep slough that was wider than the
river itself. I had often crossed it on a log,
but behold, when I got there, no log was to

(12:59):
be seen. I knowed of an island in the slough,
and a sapling stood on it, close to the side
of that log, which was now entirely under water. I'd
knowed further that the water was about eight or ten
feet deep under the log, and I judged it to
be three feet deep over it. After studying a little
what I should do, I determined to cut a forked
sapling which stood near me, so as to lodge it

(13:21):
against the one that stood on the island. In this
I succeeded very well. I then cut me a pole,
and then crawled along on my sapling till I got
to the one it was lodged against, which was about
six feet above the water. I then felt about with
a pole till I found the log, which was just
about as deep under the water as I had judged.

(13:42):
I then crawled back and got my gun, which I
had left at the stump of the sapling I had cut,
and again made my way to the place of lodgment,
and then climbed down the other sapling so as to
get on the log. I felt my way along with
my feet in the water about waist deep, but it
was a mighty ticklish business. However, I got over, and

(14:02):
by this time I had very little feelings in my
feet and legs, as I had been all the time
in the water, except what time I was crossing the
high log over the river and climbing my launched sapling.
I went but a short distance when I came to
another slough over which there was a log, but it
was floating on the water. I thought I could walk it,
so I mounted on it. But when I got about

(14:23):
the middle of the deep water, somehow or somehow else
it turned over and in I went up to my head.
I waded out of this deep water and went ahead
till I came to the highland, where I stopped to
pull off my wet clothes and put on the others,
which I held up with my gun above water when
I fell in. This exchanging of his dripping garments for
dry clothes. Standing in the snow four inches deep and

(14:47):
exposed to the wintry blast must have been a pretty
severe operation. Hardy as Crockett was, he was so chilled
and numbed by the excessive cold that his flesh had
scarcely any feeling. He tied his wet clothes together and
hung them upon the limb of a tree to drip
and dry. He thought he would then set out on
the full run and endeavor thus to warm himself by

(15:07):
promoting the more rapid circulation of his blood. But to
his surprise, he could scarcely move. With his utmost exertions,
he could not take a step more than six inches
in length. He had still five miles to walk through
a rough pathless forest, encumbered with snow. By a great
and painful effort, he gradually recovered the use of his limbs, and,

(15:27):
toiling along for two or three hours. Late in the evening,
was cheered by seeing the light of a bright fire
shining through the chinks between the logs of his brother's
lonely cabin. He was received with the utmost cordiality. Even
his hearty pioneer brother listened with astonishment to the narrative
of the perils he had surmounted and the sufferings he
had endured. After the refreshment of a warm supper, Crockett

(15:49):
wrapped himself in a bear skin, and, lying down upon
the floor with his feet to the fire, slept the sweet,
untroubled sleep of a babe. In the morning, he awoke
as well as ever, felling no bad consequences from the
hardships of the preceding day. The next morning, a freezing
gale from the north wailed through the snow whitened forest,
and the cold was almost unendurable. The earnest persuasions of

(16:11):
his brother and his wife induced him to remain with
them for the day, but with his accustomed energy, instead
of enjoying the cozy comfort of the fireside, he took
his rifle and went out into the woods, waiting the
snow and breasting the gale. After the absence of an
hour or two, he returned, tottering beneath the load of
two deer which he had shot, and which he brought

(16:32):
to the cabin on his shoulders. Thus he made a
very liberal contribution to the food of the family, so
that his visit was a source of profit to them,
not of loss. All the day and during the long
wintry night, the freezing blasts blew fiercely, and the weather
grew more severely cold. The next morning, his friends urged
him to remain another day. They all knew that the

(16:53):
water would be frozen over, but not sufficiently hard to
bear his weight, and this would add greatly to the
difficulty and the danger of his return. It seemed impossible
that any man could endure on such a day fording
a swollen stream a mile in breadth, the water most
of the way up to his waist, in some places
above his head, and breaking the ice at every step.

(17:13):
The prospect appalled even Crockett himself. He therefore decided to
remain till the next morning. Though he knew that his
family would be left in a state of great anxiety,
he hoped that an additional day and night might so
add to the thickness of the ice that it would
bear his weight. He therefore shouldered his musket and again
went into the woods on a hunt. Though he saw

(17:34):
an immense bear and followed him for some distance. He
was unable to shoot him. After several hours absence, he
returned empty handed. Another morning dawned lurid and chill over
the gloomy forest. Again. His friends entreated him not to
run the risk of an attempt to return in such
fearful weather. It was bitter cold, he writes, but I'd

(17:55):
knowed my family was without meat, and I determined to
get home to them or die a trying. We will
let Crockett tell his own story of his adventures in
going back. I took my keg of powder and all
my hunting tools and cut out. When I got to
the water, it was a sheet of ice as far
as I could see. I put on to it, but
hadn't got far before it broke through with me, and

(18:18):
so I took out my tomahawk and broke my way
along before me for a considerable distance. At last, I
got to where the ice would bear me for a
short distance, and I mounted on it and went ahead.
But it soon broke in again, and I had to
wait on till I came to my floating log. I
found it so tight this time that I'd knowed it
couldn't give me another fall, as it was frozen in

(18:39):
with the ice. I crossed over it without much difficulty,
and worked along till I came to my lodge sapling
and my log under the water. The swiftness of the
current prevented the water from freezing over it, and so
I had to wade, just as I did when I
crossed it before. When I got to my sapling, I
left my gun and climbed out with my powder, keg first,

(19:00):
and then went back and got my gun. By this
time I was nearly frozen to death, but I saw
all alarm before me where the ice had been fresh broke,
and I thought it must be a bear struggling about
in the water. I, therefore fresh primed my gun, and
cold as I was, I was determined to make war
on him if we met. But I followed the trail

(19:20):
till it led me home. Then I found that it
had been made by my young man that lived with me,
who had been sent by my distressed wife to see
if he could what had become of me, for they
all believed that I was dead when I got home.
I wasn't quite dead, but mighty ny it, but had
my powder, and that was what I went for the
night after Crockett's return, a heavy rain fell, which toward

(19:43):
morning turned to sleep, but there was no meat in
the cabin. There were at that time three men who
were inmates of that lowly hut, Crockett, a young man,
Flavius Harris, who had taken up his abode with the pioneer,
and a brother in law who had recently emigrated to
that wild and had reared his cabin not far distant
from Crockett's. They all turned out hunting. Crockett, hoping to

(20:07):
get a bear, went up the river into the dense
and almost impenetrable thickets where the gigantic forest had been
swept low by the hurricane. The other two followed down
the stream in search of turkeys, grouse, and such small game.
Crockett took with him three dogs, one of which was
an old hound, faithful sagacious, but whose most vigorous days
were gone. The dogs were essential in hunting bears. By

(20:30):
their keen scent they would find the animal, which fact
they would announce to the hunter by their loud barking.
Immediately a fierce running fight would ensue. By this attack,
the bear would be greatly retarded in his flight, so
that the hunter could overtake him, and he would often
be driven into a tree, where the unerring rifle bullet
would soon bring him down. The storm of sleet still raged,

(20:52):
and nothing could be more gloomy than the aspect of
dreariness and desolation which the wrecked forest presented with its
dense growth of briars and thorns. Crockett toiled through the
storm and the brush about six miles up the river
and saw nothing. He then crossed over about four miles
to another stream. Still no game appeared. The storm was

(21:13):
growing more violent, the sleep growing worse and worse. Even
the bears sought shelter from the pitiless wintry gale. The
bushes were all bent down with the ice, which clung
to their branches, and were so bound together that it
was almost impossible for any one to force his way
through them. The ice upon the stream would bear Crockett's weight.
He followed it down a mile or two. When his

(21:34):
dogs started up a large flock of turkeys, he shot
two of them. They were immensely large, fat and heavy.
Tying their legs together, he slung them over his shoulder,
and with this additional burden pressed on his toilsome way.
Ere long, he became so fatigued that he was compelled
to sit down upon a log to rest. Just then
his dogs began to bark furiously. He was quite sure

(21:57):
that they had found a bear. Eagerly, he followed the
direction they indicated as fast as he could force his
way along. To his surprise, he found that the three
dogs had stopped near a large tree and were barking
furiously at nothing. But as soon as they saw him approaching,
they started off again, making the woods resound with their baying.
Having run about a quarter of a mile, he could

(22:17):
perceive that again they had stopped. When Crockett reached them,
there was no game in sight. The dogs barking furiously again.
As soon as they saw him approaching, plunged into the
thicket for a third time, and a fourth time this
was repeated. Crockett could not understand what it meant. Crockett
became angry at being thus deceived, and resolved that he
would shoot the old hound, whom he considered the ringleader

(22:39):
in the mischief, as soon as he got near enough
to do so. With this intention, he says, I pushed
on the harder till I came to the edge of
an open prairie, and looking on before my dogs, I
saw about the biggest bear that was ever seen in America.
He looked at the distance he was from me, like
a large black bull. My dogs were afraid to attack him,

(23:01):
and that was the reason they had stopped so often,
that I might overtake them. This is certainly a remarkable
instance of animal sagacity. The three dogs, by some inexplicable
conference among themselves, decided that the enemy was too formidable
for them to attack alone. They therefore summoned their master
to their aid. As soon as they saw that he
was near enough to lend his cooperation. Then they fearlessly

(23:23):
assailed the monster. The sight inspired Crockett with new life.
Through thickets, briars, and brambles, they all rushed, bear, dogs
and hunter at length. The shaggy monster, so fiercely assailed,
climbed for refuge a large black oak tree, and, sitting
down among the branches, looked composedly down upon the dogs,
barking fiercely at its foot. Crockett crept up within about

(23:46):
eighty yards, and, taking deliberate aim at his breast, fired
the bullet struck and pierced the monster directly upon the
spot at which it was aimed. The bear uttered a
sharp cry and made a convulsive movement with one pall
and remained as before. Speedily, Crockett reloaded his rifle and
sent another bullet to follow the first. The shaggy brute

(24:07):
shuddered in every limb and then tumbled headlong to the
icy ground. Still he was not killed. The dogs plunged
upon him, and there was a tremendous fight. The howling
of the bear and the frenzied barking of the dogs,
with their sharp cries of pain as the claws of
the monster tore their flesh, and the deathly struggle witnessed
as they rolled over and over each other in the
fierce fight presented a terrific spectacle. Crockett hastened to the

(24:31):
aid of his dogs. As soon as the bear saw
him approach, he forsook the inferior and turned with all
fury upon the superior foe. Crockett was hurrying forward with
his tomahawk in one hand and his big butcher knife
in the other, when the bear, with eyes flashing fire,
rushed upon him. Crockett ran back, seized his rifle and
with a third bullet penetrated the monster's brain, and he

(24:52):
fell dead. The dogs and their master seemed to rejoice
alike in their great achievement. By the route which Crockett
had pursued, he was about twelve miles from home. Leaving
the huge carcass where the animal had fallen, endeavored to
make a straight line through the forest to his cabin,
that he might find his way back again. He would
at every little distance blaze, as it was called, a sapling,

(25:14):
that is, chip off some of the bark with his hatchet.
When he got within a mile of home, this was
no longer necessary. The other two men had already returned
to the cabin, as the wolves might devour the valuable
meat before morning. They all three set out immediately, notwithstanding
there fatigue and the still raging storm, and taking with
them four pack horses, hastened back to bring in their treasure.

(25:36):
Crockett rights, we got there just before dark and struck
a fire and commenced butchering my bear. It was some
time in the night before we finished it, and I
can assert on my honor that I believe he would
have weighed six hundred pounds. It was the second largest
I ever saw. I killed one a few years after
that weighed six hundred and seventeen pounds. I now felt

(25:59):
fully compensated for my sufferings in going back after my powder,
and well satisfied that a dog might sometimes be doing
a good business, even when he seemed to be bucking
up the wrong tree. We got our meat home, and
I had the pleasure to know that we now had
a plenty, and that of the best. And I continued
through the winter to supply my family abundantly with bear
meat and venison from the woods. In the early spring,

(26:22):
Crockett found that he had a large number of valuable
skins on hand, which he had taken during the winter.
About forty miles southeast from Crockett's cabin, in the heart
of Madison County, was the thriving little settlement of Jackson.
Crockett packed his skins on a horse, shouldered his rifle, and,
taking his hearty little son for a companion, set off

(26:42):
there to barter his pelts for such articles of household
use as he could convey back upon his horse. The
journey was accomplished with no more than the ordinary difficulties.
A successful trade was effected, and with a rich store
of coffee, sugar, powder, lead, and salt. The father and
son prepared for their return. Crockett found there were some

(27:02):
of his old fellow soldiers of the Creek War. When
all things were ready for a start, he went to
bid adieu to his friends and to take a parting
dram with them. There were three men present who were
candidates for the state legislature. While they were having a
very merry time, one as though uttering a thought which
had at that moment occurred to him, exclaimed, why, Crockett,

(27:22):
you ought to offer yourself for the legislature for your district.
Crockett replied, I live at least forty miles from any
white settlement here. The matter dropped. About ten days after
Crockett's returned home, a stranger passing along stopped at Crockett's
cabin and told him that he was a candidate for
the legislature, and took from his pocket a paper and

(27:43):
read to him the announcement of the fact. There was
something in the style of the article which satisfied Crockett
that there was a little disposition to make fun of him,
and that his nomination was intended as a burlesque. This
roused him, and he resolved to put in his claim
with all his zeal ssequently hired a man to work
upon his farm, and set out on an electioneering tour.

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Though very few people had seen Crockett, he had obtained
very considerable renown in that community of backwoodsmen as a
great bear hunter. Doctor Butler, a man of considerable pretensions,
and by marriage, a nephew of General Jackson. Was the
rival candidate, and a formidable one. Indeed, he and his
friends quite amused themselves with the idea that the gentlemen

(28:26):
from the Cane, as they contemptuously designated Crockett, could be
so infatuated as to think that there was the least
chance for him. A population of that wilderness region was
so scarce that the district for which a representative was
to be chosen consisted of eleven counties. A great political
gathering was called, which was to be held in Madison County,

(28:46):
which was the strongest of them all. Here speeches were
to be made by the rival candidates and their friends,
and electioneering was to be practiced by all the arts
customary in that rude community. The narrative of the events
which ensued in in reduces us to a very singular
state of society. At the day appointed, there was a
large assembly in every variety of Backwood's costume, among the

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stumps and the lowly cabins of Jackson. Crockett mingled with
the crowd, watching events, listening to everything which was said,
and keeping himself as far as possible. Unknown Doctor Butler,
seeing a group of men, entered among them and called
for whiskey to treat them all. The doctor had once
met Crockett, when a few weeks before he had been
in Jackson selling his furs. He however, did not recognize

(29:31):
his rival among the crowd. As the whiskey was passing
freely around, Crockett thought it a favorable moment to make
himself known and to try his skill at an electioneering speech.
He was a good looking man with a face beaming
with fun and smiles, and a clear, ringing voice. He
jumped up on a stump and shouted out in tones

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which sounded far and wide, and which speedily gathered all
around him. Hallo, doctor Butler. You don't know me, do you,
But I'll make you know me mighty well before August.
I see that they have weighed you out against me,
but I'll beat you mighty badly. Butler pleasantly replied, Ah,
Colonel Crockett, is that you Where did you come from?

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Crockett rejoined, Oh, I've just crept out from the cane
to see what discoveries I can make among the white folks.
You think you have greatly the advantage of me, Butler
tis true. I live forty miles from any settlement. I
am poor and you are rich. You see, it takes
two coonskins here to buy a court. But I've good dogs,
and my little boys at home will go to their

(30:34):
death to support my election. They are mighty industrious. They
hunt every night till twelve o'clock, and it keeps the
little fellows mighty busy to keep me in whisky. When
they gets tired, I takes my rifle and goes out
and kills a wolf, for which the state pays me
three dollars. So one way or the other, I keeps
knocking along. Crockett perhaps judged correctly that the candidate who

(30:56):
could furnish the most whisky would get the most votes.
He thus adroitly informed these thirsty men of his readiness
and his ability to furnish them with all the liquor
they might need. Strange, as his speech seems to us,
it was adapted to the occasion, and was received with
roars of laughter and obstreperous applause. Well, colonel, said doctor Butler,

(31:17):
endeavoring to clothe his own countenance with smiles. I see
you can beat me electioneering, my dear fellow, shouted out Crockett.
You don't call this electioneering, do you? When you see
me electioneering? I goes fixed for the purpose. I've got
a suit of deer leather clothes with two big pockets.
So I puts a bottle of whiskey in wand and

(31:38):
a twist of tobacco into other, and starts out. Then
if I meets a friend, why I pulls out my
bottle and gives him a drink. He'll be mighty apt
before he drinks to throw away his tobacco. So when
he's done, I pulls my twist out of the out
of pocket and gives him a chaw. I never likes
to leave a man worse off than when I found him.

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If I'd given him a drink and he had lost
his tobacco, he would not have made much. But give
him tobacco and a drink too, and you are mighty
apt to get his vote. With such speeches as these,
interlarded with fun and anecdote, and a liberal supply of whiskey,
Crockett soon made himself known through all the grounds, and
he became immensely popular. The backwoodsmen regarded him as their man,

(32:21):
belonging to their class and representing their interests. Doctor Butler
was a man of some culture, and a little proud
and overbearing in his manners. He had acquired what those
poor men deemed considerable property. He lived in a framed house,
and in his best room he had a rug or
carpet spread over the middle of the floor. This carpet
was a luxury which many of the pioneers had never

(32:43):
seen or conceived of. The doctor, standing one day at
his window, saw several persons whose votes he desired passing along,
and he called them in to take a drink. There
was a table in the center of the room with
choice liquors upon it. The carpet beneath the table covered
only a small portion of the floor, leaving on each
side a vacant space around the room. The men cautiously

(33:05):
walked around this space, without daring to put their feet
upon the carpet. After many solicitations from doctor Butler, and
seeing him upon the carpet, they ventured up to the
table and drank. They, however, were under great restraint and
soon left manifestly not pleased with their reception. Calling in
at the next log house to which they came, they

(33:25):
found there one of Crockett's warm friends. They inquired of
him what kind of man the great bear hunter was,
and received in reply that he was a first rate man,
one of the best hunters in the world. That he
was not a bit proud that he lived in a
log cabin without any glass for his windows, and with
the earth alone for his floor. Ah, they exclaimed with
one voice, He's the fellow for us. We'll never give

(33:48):
our votes for such a proud man as Butler. He
called us into his house to take a drink and
spread down one of his best bed quilts for us
to walk on. It was nothing but a piece of pride.
The day of a life action came and Crockett was
victorious by a majority of two hundred and forty seven votes.
Thus he found himself a second time a member of
the legislature. Of the State of Tennessee, and with a

(34:10):
celebrity which caused all eyes to be turned towards the
gentleman from the cane, end of chapter recording by Brett Downey,