David Crockett(1459)

**David Crockett** (August 17, 1786) is an American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, and politician. He is commonly referred to in popular culture by the epithet "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives and served in the Texas Revolution.

Crockett grew up in East Tennessee, where he gained a reputation for hunting and storytelling. He was made a colonel in the militia of Lawrence County, Tennessee and was elected to the Tennessee state legislature in 1821. In 1827, he was elected to the U.S. Congress where he vehemently opposed many of the policies of President Andrew Jackson, especially the Indian Removal Act. Crockett's opposition to Jackson's policies led to his defeat in the 1831 elections. He was re-elected in 1833, then narrowly lost in 1835, prompting his angry departure to Texas (then the Mexican state of Tejas) shortly thereafter. In early 1836, he took part in the Texas Revolution and was thought to have been executed at the Battle of the Alamo after being captured by the Mexican Army.

## Family and early life

The Crocketts were of mostly French-Huguenot ancestry, although the family had settled in Ireland before migrating to the Americas. The earliest known paternal ancestor was Gabriel Gustave de Crocketagne, whose son Antoine de Saussure Peronette de Crocketagne was given a commission in the Household Troops under French King Louis XIV. Antoine married Louise de Saix and immigrated to Ireland with her, changing the family name to Crockett. Their son Joseph Louis was born in Ireland and married Sarah Stewart. Joseph and Sarah emigrated to New York, where their son William David was born in 1709. He married Elizabeth Boulay. William and Elizabeth's son David was born in Pennsylvania and married Elizabeth Hedge. They were the parents of William, David Jr., Robert, Alexander, James, Joseph, and John, the father of David Crockett who died at the Alamo.

John was born c. 1753 in Frederick County, Virginia. The family moved to Tryon County, North Carolina c. 1768. In 1776, the family moved to northeast Tennessee, in the area now known as Hawkins County. John was one of the Overmountain Men who fought in the Battle of Kings Mountain during the American Revolutionary War. He was away as a militia volunteer in 1777 when David and Elizabeth were killed at their home near today's Rogersville by Creeks and Chickamauga Cherokees led by war chief Dragging Canoe. John's brother Joseph was wounded in the skirmish. His brother James was taken prisoner and held for seventeen years.

John married Rebecca Hawkins in 1780. Their son David was born August 17, 1786, and they named him after John's father. David was born in what is now Greene County, Tennessee (at the time part of North Carolina), close to the Nolichucky River and near the community of Limestone. John continually struggled to make ends meet, and the Crocketts moved to a tract of land on Lick Creek in 1792. John sold that tract of land in 1794 and moved the family to Cove Creek, where he built a gristmill with partner Thomas Galbraith. A flood destroyed the gristmill and the Crockett homestead. The Crocketts then moved to Mossy Creek in Jefferson County, Tennessee, but John forfeited his property in bankruptcy in 1795. The family next moved on to property owned by a Quaker named John Canady. At Morristown in the Southwest Territory, John built a tavern on a stage coach route.

When David was 12 years old, his father indentured him to Jacob Siler to help with the Crockett family indebtedness. He helped tend Siler's cattle as a cowboy on a 400-mile (640 km) trip to near Natural Bridge in Virginia. He was well treated and paid for his services but, after several weeks in Virginia, he decided to return home to Tennessee. The next year, John enrolled his sons in school, but David played hookey after an altercation with a fellow student. Upon learning of this, John attempted to whip him but was outrun by his son. David then joined a cattle drive to Front Royal, Virginia for Jesse Cheek. Upon completion of that trip, he joined teamster Adam Myers on a trip to Gerrardstown, West Virginia. In between trips with Myers, he worked for farmer John Gray. After leaving Myers, he journeyed to Christiansburg, Virginia, where he apprenticed for the next four years with hatter Elijah Griffith.

n 1802, David journeyed by foot back to his father's tavern in Tennessee. His father was in debt to Abraham Wilson for $36 (equivalent to $651 in 2020), so David was hired out to Wilson to pay off the debt. Later, he worked off a $40 debt to John Canady. Once the debts were paid, John Crockett told his son that he was free to leave. David returned to Canady's employment, where he stayed for four years.

### Marriages and children

Crockett fell in love with John Canady's niece Amy Summer, who was engaged to Canady's son Robert. While serving as part of the wedding party, Crockett met Margaret Elder. He persuaded her to marry him, and a marriage contract was drawn up on October 21, 1805. Margaret had also become engaged to another young man at the same time and married him instead.

He met Polly Finley and her mother Jean at a harvest festival. Although friendly towards him in the beginning, Jean Finley eventually felt Crockett was not the man for her daughter. Crockett declared his intentions to marry Polly, regardless of whether the ceremony was allowed to take place in her parents' home or had to be performed elsewhere. He arranged for a justice of the peace and took out a marriage license on August 12, 1806. On August 16, he rode to Polly's house with family and friends, determined to ride off with Polly to be married elsewhere. Polly's father pleaded with Crockett to have the wedding in the Finley home. Crockett agreed only after Jean apologized for her past treatment of him.

The newlyweds settled on land near Polly's parents, and their first child, John Wesley Crockett, who became a United States Congressman, was born July 10, 1807. Their second child, William Finley Crockett, was born November 25, 1808. In October 1811, the family relocated to Lincoln County. Their third child Margaret Finley (Polly) Crockett was born on November 25, 1812. The Crocketts then moved to Franklin County in 1813. He named the new home on Beans Creek "Kentuck".  His wife died in March 1815, and Crockett asked his brother John and his sister-in-law to move in with him to help care for the children. That same year, he married the widow Elizabeth Patton, who had a daughter, Margaret Ann, and a son, George. David and Elizabeth's son, Robert Patton, was born September 16, 1816. Daughter Rebecca Elvira was born December 25, 1818. Daughter Matilda was born August 2, 1821

### Tennessee militia

Andrew Jackson was appointed major general of the Tennessee militia in 1802. The Fort Mims massacre occurred near Mobile, Mississippi Territory on August 30, 1813 and became a rallying cry for the Creek War. On September 20, Crockett left his family and enlisted as a scout for an initial term of 90 days with Francis Jones's Company of Mounted Rifleman, part of the Second Regiment of Volunteer Mounted Riflemen. They served under Colonel John Coffee in the war, marching south into present-day Alabama and taking an active part in the fighting. Crockett often hunted wild game for the soldiers, and felt better suited to that role than killing Creek warriors. He served until December 24, 1813.

The War of 1812 was being waged concurrently with the Creek War. After the Treaty of Fort Jackson in August 1814, Andrew Jackson, now with the U.S. Army, wanted the British forces ousted from Spanish Florida and asked for support from the Tennessee militia. Crockett re-enlisted as third sergeant for a six-month term with the Tennessee Mounted Gunmen under Captain John Cowan on September 28, 1814. Crockett's unit saw little of the main action because they were days behind the rest of the troops and were focused mostly on foraging for food. Crockett returned home in December. He was still on a military reserve status until March 1815, so he hired a young man to fulfill the remainder of his service.

### Public career

In 1817, Crockett moved the family to new acreage in Lawrence County, where he first entered public office as a commissioner helping to configure the new county's boundaries. On November 25, the state legislature appointed him county justice of the peace. On March 27, 1818, he was elected lieutenant colonel of the Fifty-seventh Regiment of Tennessee Militia, defeating candidate Daniel Matthews for the position. By 1819, Crockett was operating multiple businesses in the area and felt his public responsibilities were beginning to consume so much of his time and energy that he had little left for either family or business. He resigned from the office of justice of the peace and from his position with the regiment.

### Tennessee General Assembly

In 1821, he resigned as commissioner and successfully ran for a seat in the Tennessee General Assembly, representing Lawrence and Hickman counties. It was this election where Crockett honed his anecdotal oratory skills. He was appointed to the Committee of Propositions and Grievances on September 17, 1821, and served through the first session that ended November 17, as well as the special session called by the governor in the summer of 1822, ending on August 24. He favored legislation to ease the tax burden on the poor. Crockett spent his entire legislative career fighting for the rights of impoverished settlers who he felt dangled on the precipice of losing title to their land due to the state's complicated system of grants. He supported 1821 gubernatorial candidate William Carroll, over Andrew Jackson's endorsed candidate Edward Ward.

Less than two weeks after Crockett's 1821 election to the General Assembly, a flood of the Tennessee River destroyed Crockett's businesses. In November, Elizabeth's father Robert Patton deeded 800 acres (320 ha) of his Carroll County property to Crockett. Crockett sold off most of the acreage to help settle his debts, and moved his family to the remaining acreage on the Obion River, which remained in Carroll County until 1825 when the boundaries were reconfigured and put it in Gibson County. In 1823, he ran against Andrew Jackson's nephew-in-law William Edward Butler and won a seat in the General Assembly representing the counties of Carroll, Humphreys, Perry, Henderson and Madison. He served in the first session, which ran from September through the end of November 1823, and in the second session that ran September through the end of November 1824, championing the rights of the impoverished farmers. During Andrew Jackson's election to the United States Senate in 1823, Crockett backed his opponent John Williams.

### United States House of Representatives

On October 25, 1824, Crockett notified his constituents of his intention to run in the 1825 election for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He lost that election to incumbent Adam Rankin Alexander. A chance meeting in 1826 gained him the encouragement of Memphis mayor Marcus Brutus Winchester to try again to win a seat in Congress. The *Jackson Gazette* published a letter from Crockett on September 15, 1826 announcing his intention of again challenging Rankin, and stating his opposition to the policies of President John Quincy Adams and Secretary of State Henry Clay and to Rankin's position on the cotton tariff. Militia veteran William Arnold also entered the race, and Crockett easily defeated both political opponents for the 1827–29 term. He arrived in Washington, D.C. and took up residence at Mrs. Ball's Boarding House, where a number of other legislators lived when Congress was in session. Jackson was elected as president in 1828. Crockett continued his legislative focus on settlers getting a fair deal for land titles, offering H.R. 27 amendment to a bill sponsored by James K. Polk.

Crockett was re-elected for the 1829–31 session, once again defeating Adam Rankin Alexander. He introduced H.R. 185 amendment to the land bill on January 29, 1830, but it was defeated on May 3. On February 25, 1830, he introduced a resolution to abolish the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York because he felt that it was public money going to benefit the sons of wealthy men. He spoke out against Congress giving $100,000 to the widow of Stephen Decatur, citing that Congress was not empowered to do that. He opposed Jackson's 1830 Indian Removal Act and was the only member of the Tennessee delegation to vote against it. Cherokee chief John Ross sent him a letter on January 13, 1831 expressing his thanks for Crockett's vote. His vote was not popular with his own district, and he was defeated in the 1831 election by William Fitzgerald.

Crockett ran against Fitzgerald again in the 1833 election and was returned to Congress, serving until 1835. On January 2, 1834, he introduced the land title resolution H.R. 126, but it never made it as far as being debated on the House floor. He was defeated for re-election in the August 1835 election by Adam Huntsman. During his last term in Congress, he collaborated with Kentucky Congressman Thomas Chilton to write his autobiography, which was published by E. L. Carey and A. Hart in 1834 as *A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, Written by Himself*, and he went east to promote the book. In 1836, newspapers published the now-famous quotation attributed to Crockett upon his return to his home state:

### Texas Revolution

By December 1834, Crockett was writing to friends about moving to Texas if Jackson's chosen successor Martin Van Buren was elected president. The next year, he discussed with his friend Benjamin McCulloch raising a company of volunteers to take to Texas in the expectation that a revolution was imminent. His departure to Texas was delayed by a court appearance in the last week of October as co-executor of his deceased father-in-law's estate; he finally left his home near Rutherford in West Tennessee with three other men on November 1, 1835 to explore Texas. His youngest child Matilda later wrote that she distinctly remembered the last time that she saw her father:

Crockett traveled with 30 well-armed men to Jackson, Tennessee, where he gave a speech from the steps of the Madison County courthouse, and they arrived in Little Rock, Arkansas on November 12, 1835. The local newspapers reported that hundreds of people swarmed into town to get a look at Crockett, and a group of leading citizens put on a dinner in his honor that night at the Jeffries Hotel. Crockett spoke "mainly to the subject of Texan independence," as well as Washington politics.

Crockett arrived in Nacogdoches, Texas in early January 1836. On January 14, he and 65 other men signed an oath before Judge John Forbes to the Provisional Government of Texas for six months: "I have taken the oath of government and have enrolled my name as a volunteer and will set out for the Rio Grande in a few days with the volunteers from the United States." Each man was promised about 4,600 acres (1,900 ha) of land as payment. On February 6, he and five other men rode into San Antonio de Bexar and camped just outside the town.

Crockett arrived at the Alamo Mission in San Antonio on February 8. A Mexican army arrived on February 23 led by General Antonio López de Santa Anna, surprising the men garrisoned in the Alamo, and the Mexican soldiers immediately initiated a siege. Santa Anna ordered his artillery to keep up a near-constant bombardment. The guns were moved closer to the Alamo each day, increasing their effectiveness. On February 25, 200–300 Mexican soldiers crossed the San Antonio River and took cover in abandoned shacks approximately 90 to 100 yards (82 to 91 m) from the Alamo walls. The soldiers intended to use the huts as cover to establish another artillery position, although many Texians assumed that they actually were launching an assault on the fort. Several men volunteered to burn the huts. To provide cover, the Alamo cannons fired grapeshot at the Mexican soldiers, and Crockett and his men fired rifles, while other defenders reloaded extra weapons for them to use in maintaining a steady fire. The battle was over within 90 minutes, and the Mexican soldiers retreated. There were limited stores of powder and shot inside the Alamo, and Alamo commander William Barret Travis ordered the artillery to stop returning fire on February 26 so as to conserve precious ammunition. Crockett and his men were encouraged to keep shooting, as they were unusually effective.

As the siege progressed, Travis sent many messages asking for reinforcements. Several messengers were sent to James Fannin who commanded the group of Texian soldiers at Presidio La Bahia in Goliad, TX. Fannin decided that it was too risky to reinforce the Alamo, although historian Thomas Ricks Lindley concludes that up to 50 of Fannin's men left his command to go to Bexar. These men would have reached Cibolo Creek on the afternoon of March 3, 35 miles (56 km) from the Alamo, where they joined another group of men who also planned to join the garrison.

There was a skirmish between Mexican and Texian troops that same night outside the Alamo. Historian Walter Lord speculates that the Texians were creating a diversion to allow their courier John Smith to evade Mexican pickets. However, Alamo survivor Susannah Dickinson said in 1876 that Travis sent out three men shortly after dark on March 3, probably a response to the arrival of Mexican reinforcements. The three men—including Crockett—were sent to find Fannin. Lindley states that Crockett and one of the other men found the force of Texians waiting along Cibolo Creek just before midnight; they had advanced to within 20 miles (32 km) of the Alamo. Just before daylight on March 4, part of the Texian force managed to break through the Mexican lines and enter the Alamo. A second group was driven across the prairie by Mexican cavalry.

The siege ended on March 6 when the Mexican army attacked just before dawn while the defenders were sleeping. The daily artillery bombardment had been suspended, perhaps a ploy to encourage the natural human reaction to a cessation of constant strain. But the garrison awakened and the final fight began. Most of the noncombatants gathered in the church sacristy for safety. According to Dickinson, Crockett paused briefly in the chapel to say a prayer before running to his post. The Mexican soldiers climbed up the north outer walls of the Alamo complex, and most of the Texians fell back to the barracks and the chapel, as previously planned. Crockett and his men, however, were too far from the barracks to take shelter and were the last remaining group to be in the open. They defended the low wall in front of the church, using their rifles as clubs and relying on knives, as the action was too furious to allow reloading. After a volley and a charge with bayonets, Mexican soldiers pushed the few remaining defenders back toward the church.

The Battle of the Alamo lasted almost 90 minutes, and all of the defenders were killed. Santa Anna ordered his men to take their bodies to a nearby stand of trees, where they were stacked together and wood piled on top. That evening, they lit a fire and burned their bodies to ashes. The ashes were left undisturbed until February 1837, when Juan Seguin and his cavalry returned to Bexar to examine the remains. A local carpenter created a simple coffin, and ashes from the funeral pyres were placed inside. The names of Travis, Crockett, and Bowie were inscribed on the lid. The coffin is thought to have been buried in a peach tree grove, but the spot was not marked and can no longer be identified.

## Powers, Skill's and Abilities

* **Regenerative Healing Factor:** Crockett primary mutant power is an accelerated healing process that enables him to regenerate most (if not all) damaged or destroyed areas of his anatomy with far greater efficiency than an ordinary human. The rate of regeneration is proportional to the damage caused. This process is automatic and David seems to have no control over it. His healing factor, however, does not seem to stop him from feeling the pain of his wounds nor the pain of his body regenerating itself.
	+ **Contaminant Immunity:** David natural healing also affords him the virtual immunity to poisons, viruses, diseases, and most drugs.
	+ **Fatigue Resistance:** David is partially resistant to fatigue poisons produced from physical activity.
	+ **Decelerated Aging:** In addition, Crockett healing factor provides him with an extended lifespan by slowing the effects of the aging process; He was born In 1786
* **Superhuman Senses:** David possess superhuman senses.
	+ **Sight:** David has enhanced night vision due to containing twice the average number of retina in his eyes. This also allows to see in the infra-red as well as visible spectrum. However, due to his more animalistic nature he may be colorblind
	+ **Hearing:** David has extraordinarily accurate hearing as he could hear light breathing from 200 ft away.
	+ **Smell:** David has a highly developed olfactory sense and memory allow him to detect and track a scent over 8 hours old with a concentration of 20 parts per million.
	+ **Taste:** David can detect 1 part in 10,000 with his sense of taste.
	+ **Superhuman Touch:** David sense of touch is so acute that his finger can feel the faint impressions of ink on a printed page, allowing him to read by touch, though laminated pages prevent him from touching and thus reading the ink impressions at a much faster pace than a normal person would be able to read. The rest of his skin is equally sensitive, enabling him by concentration to feel minute temperature and pressure changes in the atmosphere around him. Even with his senses of smell and hearing blocked, he can feel the presence of a person standing five feet away from him simply by his or her body heat and disturbance of air. A side effect of his sense of touch is Crockett's ability to manipulate his muscles and internal organs. The sense of touch is not just external, but internal too (central nervous system), thereby giving him the ability to have total body control, increasing his strength and speed to peak human levels, his agility and reflexes to superhuman levels, and also giving him the ability to numb himself to pain.
* **Claws:** David has claws on each of his fingers and toes, that can penetrate most flesh and many natural materials. it also allows him to scale many walls and surfaces.
* **Fangs:** David posses’ animal like canine teeth which he can retract into his gums and are capable of chewing through substances as strong as bone.
* **Superhuman Strength:** The sense of touch is not just external, but internal too (central nervous system), thereby giving him the ability to have total body control, increasing his strength and speed to peak human levels
* **Peak Human Speed:** The sense of touch is not just external, but internal too (central nervous system), thereby giving him the ability to have total body control, increasing his strength and speed to peak human levels
* **Superhuman Stamina:** David's healing factor grants him superhuman stamina and is partially immune to fatigue toxins generated by physical exertion and thus has greater endurance than actual humans. His stamina has been described as metahuman
* **Superhuman Durability:** David has superhuman durability due a to of his healing factor.

### Abilities

* **Skilled Tracker:** Due to his superhuman sense, Natural skills and experience Crockett is an extraordinary tracker.

* **Hand-to-Hand Combat** David is highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat, not in any real formal training, but in Pure experience.

### Weaknesses

Due to the similarities between his and Wolverine’s powers, he likely shares a similar set of weaknesses:

* **Muramasa Blade:**
* **Carbonadium Poisoning:** David's healing factor can be dramatically slowed if Carbonadium is implanted inside of him, such as swallowing something made of Carbonadium or being wounded by a bullet composed of it. It causes his healing factor to be reduced to a slow crawl, at least in comparison to its normal speed, but doesn't fully suppress it.
* **Vulnerable Senses:** his heightened senses can be taken advantage of.
* **Drowning:** Of the few ways to kill Sabretooth, given drowning cuts the brain's oxygen supply.
* **Decapitation/Severe Spinal Damage:** Crockett can be killed if his head becomes separated from his body, causing his brain to be unable to send signals to the section(s) of his body that needs healing.