Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-12-29
Some Further "reminiscences
Ofthe Distinguished Fam
lily Of Big Men.
How Col. Bob ana lack Wharton
Used to Keep the Army
Mess in a Roar.
Col. Robert Crockett, Jr.'s, valiant
Effort to Ford the Missis-
sippi at Memphis.
OLD DAvY AT THE ALAMO,

FRANKFORT, NY, December 20
You have a Texas correspondence
forget his name-who, in a recent
communication, professed to give a
full account Of all the living descend
ants of that brave olGHioneer and IL
lustrious martyr Of the s..rao, Col
onel DSyy Crcokert. Now, without
knowing a great deal about those de-
scendants, excepting those who, after
the old hero's death, returned to, and
for a time resided in, Western Ten
nessee (my own former home), l do
know that said correspondent has left
out of his memoir the following facts,
which, it viii be seen, are important
enough to make him liable to the hack
neyed criticism of having attempted
ito give the drama Of Hamlet with
the part of Hamlet omitted !"
ROBERT H. CROCKETT, sR.,
who was always understood by us
M~emphians to be Davy Crockett's
only son, during his residence in West
Tennessee represented his fathers old
district Tor a large portion of it) in
congress for at least one term. He
was also Wing elector either in "A or
'4S, and was the senior partner in a
cotton commission house doing bust
ness both in Memphis and New Or
leans-"Crockett, Henderson & Co."
being, to the best of my recollection,
the style Of the firm.
But the most singular omission made
by your Texas correspondent is that
he makes no mention whatever of Col.
Robert II. Crockett, Jr., son of the
foregoing, who for a long time resided
at or in the vicinity of Memphis, and
a few years before the war removed to
Arkansas, where at last accounts he
was still living. leading the life of a
cotton planter, somewhere on White
river, between Devall's Bluff and
Helena, During the war he command
ed an Arkansas Confederate regiment.
serving most Of the time with General
Sterling Price, and was noted for his
gallantry in the field and his matchless
wit and humor in the social circle.
Before the war he gained considerable
distinction as an attractive and very
successful popular orator. He was.
indeed, a man of great natural n
dowments, but never very fond of
study or of books or Of hard work
and Of course therefore never likely
to attain to that broad national re-
nown he.might otherwise have surely
won. His father is a logician, well
posted in the politics of his time, and
always entertaining and instructive, if
not convincing; but Bob" Jr. was
a brilliant rhetorician, who stirred up
and carried captive all hearers. Very
few, even in the South, could match
him in the telling and application of
an anecdote. Inheriting the mental
gifts, as well as the heroic spirit, of
his illustrious grandsire, he was re-
garded in the army as one ofthe finest
mimies of his time-one who might
have made his fortune on the stage.
With his friends around the co~nyiyial
board, he had but one equal in the
army, and that was Col. Jack Whar-
ton, then Of Texas, (now, alasl Of the
New Orleans ring Of Radical scala
wags and carpet baggers), and no big
dinner occasion among the officers
was considered complete without one
or both.of these
ACCOMPLISHED, INIMITABLE WITS.
As raconteurs they we're both une-
qualed, but Bob Crockett was the best
mimic. Jack Wharton's scintllations
Of wit sparkled all through his stories.
while Bob's yarns were generally
ornamented with one or two big hits
toward the close. Either, could. bv
himself, set and keep any sized table
in a roar, from the soup through all
the courses, to the pous cafe c'pine
top generality; but, when both stars"
happen to come together around the
festive board, the fun vas sure to be-
come furious tremendous -Cvclo-
peon; and the riot act would have to
be read, or a strong stream Of ice cold
water turned on to prevent a conAa-
grafton.
Colonel Robert Crockett, Jr.. was
married twice during his residence at
Memphis, both ladies being dauph-
tiers Of DR.. Bagby, Of that city. and
collateral descendants of General
Washington. Although prepared for
the bar, he did not have much incli-
nation to practice law, aud so turned
his attention to journalism for a short
time, but, subsequently and more per
manently, to agricultural pursuits.
He started at Brownsville, Tennessee.
the first newspaper known in this
country by the striking title Of "The
Locomotive. This episode in his
life l remember we'll, for. being AZ
the time one Of the proprietors of a
Memphis daily journal, | assisted him
IN the selection ofa name and in get
ting out two or three of the first
numbers of"The Locomotive"
When still quite young, and unmar-
! ried, he was regarded as a little EAST"
for a while, but soon got through with
the sowing Of his wild oats, and, mar
rying, soon afterward settled down to
the realities oflife as a useful citizen.
respected and beloved by all who
knew him. On one occasion-one
Sunday, / think-during his rapid
days-he actually attempted TO ford
the Mississippi river at Memphis with
a line buggy and horse he had hired at
one OF the livery stables. He had
read somewhere, he said, that his
ancestor, old Davy,
HAD WADED ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI
on a tall pair of stills, and he'd be
t~abbergasted if he couldn't drive
across the same stream, like a gentle
man, In a buggy" And, sure enough
he plunged in-and great was tbe
plunge thereof, the water being from
A. NNAAA AANNN