American Legend: The Real-Life Adventures of David Crockett Read Online Free PDF Page B

had war work, as well as law trick, to stand up under. Taking both together, they make a pretty considerable of a load for any one man to carry.” But the resilient Crockett managed to shoulder that load, and more, for the final count shocked everyone and sent tremors rumbling all the way past Memphis to Washington City. The turnout had been excellent, and 2,417 had voted for the barrister Arnold. Alexander received an impressive 3,647, nearly a thousand more than the number that got him elected in 1825. But it was the quirky and enigmatic David Crockett who carried the day, his remarkable 5,868 votes representing a solid whipping laid on his opponents. 20 His election signaled a new era in American politics, one that gave hope to the common fellow. A man like Crockett spoke his piece and then went ahead—no posturing, no empty or blanket campaign promises, no obfuscation and misdirection by belaboring complicated and dull issues. Here was an original straight shooter, a rustic and woodsy neighbor you’d be comfortable with trading yarns at the local tavern, and one in whom a new generation of voters could see themselves.

    The last portrait of Congressman Crockett, dressed as a gentleman, as he would have appeared during his days in Washington. (David Crockett. Portrait by Asher Brown Durand, engraving on paper, copy after Anthony Lewis de Rose, print circa 1835. Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC.)
    The bear hunter from the cane had wrestled and yarned his way into the tricky arena of national politics, and he was heading to Washington City. David Crockett was ready for the challenge, and if it turned out that he wasn’t quite qualified for the job, he was a quick study and he would learn as he went. In truth, he really had no idea precisely what he had gotten himself into. What remained even less clear was whether Washington City was ready for Congressman David Crockett of Tennessee.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
    The literature on David Crockett is substantive and can be overwhelming, especially when including the works that focus on the Crockett legend and the attendant mythology. For those wishing to embark on further Crockett reading and study, the best place to commence is certainly David Crockett ’s own work, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee. The standard is edited by James A. Shackford and Stanley J. Folmsbee, published in 1973, and includes extensive annotations that are useful and interesting. Another good one is the 1987 version edited by Paul Andrew Hutton, which includes an excellent and extensive introduction.
    Of the biographies, since 1956 the definitive work has been James A. Shackford’s David Crockett, The Man and the Legend. The groundbreaking study, which was originally a dissertation presented by Shackford to the Graduate School of Vanderbilt University and was subsequently published by the University of North Carolina Press, remains essential to the Crockett canon. To date, the most authoritative and thorough treatment of Crockett ’s life is William C. Davis’s 1998 Three Roads to the Alamo: The Lives and Fortunes of David Crockett, James Bowie, and William Barret Travis. The book is a monumental volume, masterfully crafted and researched, with an extensive (nearly book-length itself ) notes section. Professor Davis, a noted historian, brilliantly and seamlessly interweaves what could effectively be three stand-alone biographies into one tome, and the result is an impressive volume that promises to stand the test of time and be the standard by which others are measured. Mark Derr’s 1993 biography The Frontiersman: The Real Life and Many Legends of Davy Crockett is also very good.
    Numerous scholars have contributed richly to the ongoing Crockett study, and some are particularly worthy of mention. Joseph Arpad’s 1970 Ph.D. dissertation for Duke University’s Department of English, entitled “David Crockett: An Original Legendary Eccentricity and