DAVID CROCKETT
SCOUT
David Crockett
SCOUT
SMALL BOY, PILGRIM, MOUNTAINEER,
SOLDIER, BEAR-HUNTER, AND CONGRESSMAN
BY
FRONTISPIECE BY
“The fittest place where man can die is where he dies for man”
—M. J. Barry.
PHILADELPHIA & LONDON
COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
FIFTEENTH IMPRESSION
PRINTED IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
To
GUARDIAN, COMRADE, AND KINDLY LIGHT
PREFACE
The story of David Crockett stands apart fromall others in our history—a nebulous collection oftraditions about a great array of facts. To theunnumbered thousands to whom his name is familiarhe is often as unreal as the hero of a mediævalromance or of Scandinavian mythology. Thisbook will follow his history with close attention todates, and without recognition of the impossiblelegends of many writers. To accomplish this hasrequired much reading and research, much weighingof evidence, and the help of others. The portraitof David Crockett, now for the first time published,is after the original in the Alamo, painted bythe famous artist Chapman while Crockett was aCongressman. It is a picture that reveals the secretof his success in winning friends and fame.
For the use of the picture thanks are due to Mrs.Rebecca Fisher, of Austin, Texas, the venerablePresident of the Daughters of the Republic ofTexas, and to Mrs. Marie B. Urwitz, the Chairman[viii]of the Executive Committee of the same Society.For other favors acknowledgment is made to MissJennie Moore, of Flag Pond, Tenn.; Prof. EricDoolittle, of the University of Pennsylvania; JudgeW. T. Rogers, of Denver; Mr. and Mrs. MarkF. Postlewaite, of San Antonio, Texas; and toRichard A. Paddock, for much information in regardto Reelfoot Lake.
It is hoped that this unpretentious volume mayhelp to a better understanding of the life and motivesof a man whose footsteps went into no darkplaces, and who died an honor to his race and hiscountrymen—a hero sans peur et sans reproche.
Charles Fletcher Allen.
Denver, Colorado, Jun