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DATE DUE 
 
 _ , Cornell University Library 
 
 F 436.C93A3 1902 
 
 L fe of David Crockett, ttie original humo 
 
 3 1924 014 245 223 
 
(froiitupiecc — The Life of David Crockett) 
 
THE LIFE OF 
 
 DAVID CROCKETT 
 
 The Original Humorist and Irrepressible 
 Backwoodsman 
 
 AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
 
 To which is added An Account of His Glorious Death 
 
 at the Alamo while Fighting in Defense 
 
 of Texan Independence 
 
 A. L. BURT COMPANY, ^ ^ j» j* 
 j» j» jt PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK 
 
Copyright, 190S. 
 Bt e. a. BRAINERD. 
 
 1a^ Z— 
 
 PRINTED IN U. S. A. 
 
PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. 
 
 Colonel David Cbookett was one of the most re- 
 markable men of the times in which he lived. Born 
 in humble life, but gifted with a strong will, an in- 
 domitable courage, and unremitting perseverance, 
 as well as an aptitude for accumulating information, 
 from his intercourse with men of superior education, 
 he rose to posts of high honor and distinction. His 
 talent for ordinal humor caused his sayings to be 
 admired and quoted, reported in newspapers, and 
 received with applause throughout America and 
 Europe. 
 
 In his military career, which was confined to the 
 
 Greek war of 1813-1814, he served in the ranks as a 
 
 private soldier ; and although in these circumstances, 
 
 he never had an extensive separate command, 
 
 he was frequently sent upon scouting and hunting 
 
 expeditions in which he acquitted himself with 
 
 credit. His entrance into public life was unsought 
 
 on his own part, and was entirely the result of that 
 
 ascendency which an able and independent mind 
 
 asserts over the masses in the troubles and turmoils 
 
 of politics. The stand which he took in Congress 
 
 against those measures, which he disapproved, of his 
 
 old Commander, General Jackson, when President 
 
 iii 
 
ly PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. 
 
 of the United States, was recognized throughout the 
 country as the evidence of a high degree of political 
 integrity, and rendered him extremely popular with 
 the party at that time opposed to the administration 
 of the General Government. "When this popularity 
 was at its height, Colonel Crockett made the tour 
 of the Middle and Northern States ; and was every 
 where received with the greatest enthusiasm. 
 
 His odd maxims and original remarks had for a 
 long time been circulating in the newspapers, and 
 the greatest curiosity prevailed to hear him speak 
 on political affairs. Under these circumstances, 
 although it was not an easy matter to satisfy the 
 public, his speeches gave general satisfaction and 
 he returned to his constituents crowned with fresh 
 honors. 
 
 But the fiat of power had gone forth against him ; 
 and every nerve was strained by the administration 
 to defeat his re-election. As usual with General 
 Jackson, he succeeded in preventing the return of 
 his adversary to Congress ; and Colonel Crockett 
 was constrained to return to private life. 
 
 But private life had lost its charms for the Colonel ; 
 and as the struggle for the independence of Texas 
 was then going forward, although the cause was 
 apparently in a hopeless state, and the whole band 
 of patriots but a handful of men, Colonel Crockett 
 with his usual ardor and determination threw him- 
 self into the contest, and perished gloriously at the 
 siege of the Alamo. Had he survived that siege, 
 and participated in the subsequent glories of Saij 
 
PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. yf 
 
 Jacinto, it is not easy to imagine to what honors he 
 might not have been advanced by his compatriots 
 after the independence of Texas was secured, and 
 her admission as one of the states of the Union had 
 been accomplished. 
 
 The life of Colonel Crockett was written by him- 
 self, is entirely without literary pretensions ; but it 
 is full of interest as well as instruction. It shows 
 how much may be accomplished by a right aim, a 
 strong will, and an indomitable spirit of perseve- 
 rance. 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924014245223 
 
AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 Fashion is a thing I care mighty little about, 
 except when it happens to run just exactly according 
 to my own notion : and I was mighty uigh sending 
 out my book without any preface at all, until a 
 notion struck me, that perhaps it was necessary to 
 explain a little the reason why and wherefore I 
 had written it. , 
 
 Most of authors seek fame, but I seek for justice, 
 — a holier impulse than ever entered into the am. 
 bitious struggles of the votaries of that jicTde, fiirt 
 ing goddess. 
 
 A publication has been made to the world, which 
 has done me much injustice; and the catchpenny 
 errors which it contains, have been already too long 
 sanctioned by my silence. I don't know the author 
 of the book — and indeed I don't want to know him : 
 for after he has taken such a liberty with my name, 
 and made such an effort to hold me up to public 
 ridicule, he cannot calculate on anything but my 
 displeasure. If he had been content to have written 
 his opinions about me, however contemptuous they 
 might have been, I should have less reason to com- 
 plain. But when he professes to give my narrative 
 
 (as he often does) in my own language, and then 
 
 vii 
 
yiii AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 puts into my mouth such language as would disgrace 
 even an outlandish African, he must himself be sen- 
 sible of the injustice he has done me, and the trick 
 he has played off on the public. I have met with 
 hundreds, if not with thousands of people, who have 
 formed their opinions of my appearance, habits, 
 language, and everything else from that deceptive 
 work. 
 
 They have almost in every instance expressed the 
 most profound astonishment at finding me in human 
 shape, and with the cowntencmce, ouppea/ra/nce^ and 
 cormnon feeUngs of a human being. It is to correct 
 all these false notions, and to do justice to myself, 
 that I have written. 
 
 It is certain that the writer of the book alluded 
 to has gathered up many imperfect scraps of infor- 
 mation concerning me, as in parts of his work there 
 is some little semblance of truth. But I ask him, if 
 this notice should ever reach his eye, how would he 
 have liked it, if I had treated him so ? — if I had put 
 together such a bundle of ridiculous stuff, and headed 
 it with his name, and sent it out upon the world 
 without ever even condescending to ask his permis- 
 sion ? To these questions, all upright men must 
 give the same answer. It was wrong ; and the 
 desire to make money by it, is no apology for such 
 injustice to a fellow-man. 
 
 But I let him pass ; as my wish is greatly more 
 to vindicate myself, than to condemn him. 
 
 In the following pages I have endeavored to give 
 the reader a plain, honest, homespun account of my 
 
AUTHOR'S PREFACE. ij 
 
 state in life, and some few of the difficulties which 
 have attended me along its journey, down to this 
 time. I am perfectly aware, that I have related 
 many small and, as I fear, uninteresting circum- 
 stances ; but if so, my apology is, that it was ren- 
 dered necessary by a desire to link the different 
 periods of my life together, as they have passed, 
 from my childhood onward, and thereby to enable 
 the reader to select such parts of it as he may relish 
 most, if, indeed, there is anything in it which may 
 suit his palate. 
 
 I have also been operated on by another consider- 
 ation. It is this : — I know, that obscure as I am, 
 my name is making a considerable deal of fuss in 
 the world. I can't tell why it is, nor in what it is to 
 end. Go where I will, everybody seems anxious to 
 get a peep at me ; and it would be hard to tell 
 which would have the advantage, if I, and the 
 "Government," and "Black Hawk," and a great 
 eternal big caravan of wild varmints were aU to be 
 showed at the same time in four different parts of 
 any of the big cities in the nation. I am not so sure 
 that I shouldn't get the most custom of any of the 
 crew. There must therefore be something in me, 
 or about me, that attracts attention, which is even 
 mysterious to myself. I can't understand it, and I 
 therefore put all the facts down, leaving the reader 
 free to take his choice of them. 
 
 On the subject of my style, it is bad enough, in 
 all conscience, to please critics, if that is what they 
 are after. They are a sort of vermin, though, that 
 
X AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 I sha'n't even so much as stop to brush off. If they 
 want to work on my book, just let them go ahead ; 
 and after they are done, they had better blot out all 
 their criticisms^ than to know what opinion I would 
 express of them, and by what sort of a curious name 
 I would call them, if I was standing near them, and 
 looking over their shoulders. They will, at most, 
 have only their trouble for their pay. But I rather 
 expect I shall have them on my side. 
 
 But I don't know of anything iij my book to be 
 criticised on hy honorable men. Is it on my spell- 
 ing ? — that's not my trade. Is it on my grammar ? 
 — I hadn't time to learn it, and make no pretensions 
 to it. Is it on the order and arrangement of my 
 book ?— I never wrote one before, and never read 
 very many ; and, of course, know mighty little about 
 that. "Wm it be on the authorship of the book?' — 
 this I claim, and I'll hang on to it like a wax plaster. 
 The whole book is my own, and every sentiment 
 and sentence in it. I would not be such a fool, or 
 knave either, as to deny that I have had it run has- 
 tily over by a friend or so, and that some little alter- 
 ations have been made in the spelling and gram- 
 mar ; and I am not so sure that it is not the worse 
 of even that, for I despise this way of spelling con- 
 trary to nature. And as for grammar, it's pretty 
 much a thing of nothing at last, after all the fuss 
 that's made about it. In some places, I wouldn't 
 suffer either the spelling, or grammar, or anything 
 else to be touched ; and therefore it will be found 
 in. my own way. 
 
AUTHOR'S PREFACE. sj 
 
 But if anybody complains that I have had it looked 
 over, I can only say to him, her, or them — as the 
 case may be — that while critics were learning gram- 
 mar, and learning to spell, I and " Doctor Jackson, 
 LL.D." were fighting in the wars ; and if our books, 
 and messages, and proclamations, and cabinet writ- 
 ings, and so forth, and so on, should need a little 
 looking over, and a little correcting of the spelling 
 and the grammar to make them fit for use, it's just 
 nobody's business. Big men have more important 
 matters to attend to than crossing their fs — , and 
 dotting their •Ps — , and such like small things. But 
 the " Government's " name is to the proclamation, 
 and my name's to the book ; and if I didn't write 
 the book, the " Government " didn't write the proc- 
 Jamation, which no man da/res to deny ! 
 
 But just read for yourself, and my ears for a heel 
 tap, if before you get through you don't say, with 
 many a good-natured smile and hearty laugh, " This 
 is truly the very thing itself — the exact image of its 
 Author, 
 
 DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAO* 
 
 Crockett's descent — His father a soldier in the Revolution- 
 ary War — Fought at the battle of King's Mountain — 
 Settles in Tennessee — Crockett's grandparents murdered 
 by the Indians — One uncle wounded and another cap- 
 tured by the Indians — Birth of David Crockett — Early 
 recollections — Narrow escape of his brothers from 
 di'owning — Shooting a man instead of a deer — His 
 father's removals — Keeps a tavern — David hired to a 
 Dutchman — Escapes from him in a snow storm — Mr. 
 Dunn's kindness — David returns home 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Ua.vid goes to school — Flogs a schoolmate and plays 
 truant — Gets found out — Runs away — Hires himself to 
 Jesse Cheek — Leaves him — Goes with Myers — Afraid to 
 go home — Works for John Gray — Goes to Baltimore — 
 Agrees to go to sea — Made prisoner — Escapes — Befriend- 
 ed by a wagoner — His kindness — David " hires out " 
 to Caldwell — Works for Griffith, the hatter — His master 
 breaks — He starts for home — Perilous adventure in a 
 canoe — Meets his brother — Reaches home — His recep- 
 tion 14 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 David at home — Works out a debt for his father — Hires 
 out with an old Quaker — Gets paid in a Note of his 
 Father's— David falls in love with a Quakeress — Dia- 
 
 ziii 
 
XIV 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PM» 
 
 appointed— Goes to school— Falls in love again— Goes 
 to a Shooting Match— Gets jilted —Sick at heart SH 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Crockett goes a hunting— The Dutch widow— Ugly daugh- 
 ter—Crockett goes to a reaping— The old Irish woman 
 — Crockett dances with her daughter— Makes love to 
 her — A rival — Crockett lost in the woods — Meets his 
 lady-love — Opposition of her mother to the marriage- 
 Crockett married- Mother-in-law reconciled — ^Two sons 
 bom— Removal to Lincoln county — Removal to Frank- 
 lincounty 38 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Creek war— Massacre at Fort Mimms — Crockett 
 volunteers— Joins Captain Jones' company of mounted 
 volunteers — Beaty's Spring — Major Gibson — Crockett 
 goes out a? a scout with Gecrge Russel — Scouting ad- 
 ventxires — Crockett returns, and reports to General 
 Coffee— Express sent to General Jackson — His arrival 
 incamp 47 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Crockett sent oflf with a detachment — Burning of Black 
 Warrior's town — Crockett goes a hunting to supply 
 provision for the detachment — His success — ^Rejoins 
 the main army — Battle with the Indians — Return to 
 Fort Strother — Famine in the camp— Expedition to Fort 
 Taladega — Battle of Taladega — Famine — Mutiny — 
 Crockett goes home with the other volunteers — Rejoins 
 the army — Skirmish near Horse Shoe Bend — Another 
 battle — Courage and skill of General CarroU 67 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Crockett joins the army for the Florida campaign — Passes 
 near Fort Mimms — Arrival at Pensacola — General Jack- 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 PABK 
 
 ■on leaves for New Orleans— Crockett returns with his 
 regiment to Fort Mimms— Description of the Fort and 
 the massacre— March towards Pensaoola— Preparations 
 for a battle— Creeks killed— Expedition of Major Eussell 
 —Return to Pensacola 73 
 
 CHAPTER Vm. 
 
 Start for Chatahachj — ^I^amino in camp — Burning of town 
 on the Chatahachy — i.^'amine again — Crockett goes a 
 hunting — His success — Arrival at Fort Decatur— Crock- 
 ett buys com with bullets — March to Fort Williams — 
 Pass the battleground of Taladega — Pass the Coosa 
 river — Crockett starts for home — Returns home— Joy 
 of his family — Crockett's sentiments on the warrior 
 career— Close of the war 88 
 
 CHAPTER EC. 
 
 Death of Mrs. Crockett — His family — Crockett courts a 
 soldier's widow — ^Tlarries again — ^New family — Emi- 
 grates — Pei'ilous journey — Sickness — Returns home — 
 Second r.ickness— Crockett settles on Shoal Creek — 
 Regulators- Croolrett a magistrate — Amusing account 
 of his proceedings — Learning how to make out written 
 warrant:;, and keep a docket — ^His success as a magis- 
 trate 93 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Captain Matthew's intrigue — Crockett a candidate for 
 military office — Matthew's artful dodge — Detected by 
 Crockett, who defeats him, and is elected Colonel — 
 Crockett a candidate for the Legislature — On the stump 
 — Electioneering — Hunting party — Speech-making 
 tough work — Tells anecdotes — Gains his election — Col- 
 onel Polk — The judiciary — Loss of property — ^Failure — 
 Gives up all to his creditors 102 
 
110 
 
 jy| CONTENTS. 
 
 •MM 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Colonel Crockett emigrates again— Difficult journey- 
 Visit to Mr. Owens— Boating— Hunting— Planting— The 
 Fall's hunt — Perilous winter journey to get a cask of 
 powder — Success 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 All hands turn out for a hunt— Colonel Crockett goes 
 after bear— Kills two wild turkeys — Encounters a very 
 big bear- Three shots fired- Bear killed— Weighs 600 
 lbs. — ^Difficulty in getting him home — Colonel Crockett 
 supplies his family with provisions by hunting 123 
 
 CHAPTER Xm. 
 Colonel Crockett sells his peltry — Meets influential poli- 
 ticians at Jackson — Is invited to become a candidate for 
 the Legislature — Declines — Is advertised for the office 
 without his consent — Determinos to run — Meets his op- 
 ponent — His amusing and characteristic description of 
 his manner of electioneering — Two other candidates 
 proposed — Colonel Crockett is elected — Votes against 
 General Jackson for Senator — Colonel Crockett pro- 
 posed as a candidate for Congress — ^He is defeated— 
 Proposed again for the next Congress 136 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Colonel Crockett engages in a Lumber Speculation— 
 Boatbuilding— Bear hunting— The grubber— More bear- 
 hunting — Bear attacked in a cane brake — Bear attacked 
 in a hollow tree — Three bears killed — Cutting up the 
 bears and salting them 133 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 More bear-hunting— Shooting a bear — Crockett benight- 
 ed in the woods—Night encounter with a bear — Crock- 
 ett nearly frozen to death — Dreadful earthquakt — ^Ten 
 bears killed during this hunt 143 
 
CONTENTS. xvii 
 
 FA09 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 Colonel Crockett attends to his lumber speculations — 
 Goes down the Mississippi with his lumber — Difficult 
 navigation — Boats swamped — Narrow escape of the 
 Colonel from drowning — Result of the speculation a 
 total loss 151 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Colonel Crockett enters on a new canvass for Congress — 
 A friend supplies " the sinews of war "—Electioneer- 
 ing — A Stump speech — Incident of the Guinea-fowls 
 turned to a good accotmt — Crockett elected — Serves in 
 Congress during Adams' administration— Re-elected 
 to Congress — ^Votes against the Indian bill — Political 
 persecution — Crockett proposed for Congress again- 
 Defeated — Crockett's district Gerrymandered to keep 
 himoutof Congress— He is elected 156 
 
 CHAPTER XVm. 
 Colonel Crockett commences his tour to the Northern 
 States — Entertained at Bamum's Hotel in Baltimore — 
 Passage to Philadelphia — Crockett's toast — Grand re- 
 ception at Philadelphia — Arrival at United States Hotel 
 — Crockett's speech — ^Walk round the Quaker City at 
 night — Visited by distinguished citizens — Visit to the 
 Water-'Works, the Mint, and the Asylum for the Insane 
 — Crockett's speech at the exchange — Great applause — 
 Goes to the Walnut Street Theater — Crockett presented 
 with a watch-seal, and rifle — Visits the Navy Yard — 
 Takes a ride with Colonel Reeside — Takes a supper 
 with Mr. Dorrance, and makes a call on Colonel Saint. 16S 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 Colonel Crockett starts for New York — The passage- 
 Grand reception — Committee of young Whigs invite 
 him to go to the American Hotel— Goes to the Park 
 Theater — Sees Fanny Kemble — His opinion of that 
 
3j.yii| CONTENTS. 
 
 PASB 
 
 actress— The Colonel goes to a fire— Makes a speech at 
 the Exchange— Goes to Peale's Museum and the City 
 Hall— Dines with Col. Diaper— Invited to a supper by 
 the young Whigs^Has a ride with Col. Jackson — 
 Visits the Five Points— His opinion of the strange sights 
 there— Introduced to Albert Gallatin— Preparations for 
 building the Astor House— Celebration at the Battery — 
 General Morton — Gideon Lee — Castle Garden— Goes to 
 the Bowery Theater— Colonel Mapes— Grant Thorburn 
 —Rifle shooting— The Colonel gives a specimen 178 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 The Colonel starts for Boston- Passes Hell Gate, and 
 Point Juda— First impressions of New England scenery 
 — Captain Silsbee — Arrives at Tremont House — ^Mr. 
 Boyden— Visit to the gallery of the artist, Chester 
 Harding-.-Sits for his portrait — Faneuil Hall — General 
 Davis — Quincy Market — India-rubber factory — Colonel 
 Perkins— Carpet factOTy-r-Siips wth the young Whigs 
 —Bunker Hill— Whig , dinper— Chantrey's statue of 
 Washington— -Asylum for the Blind IW 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Colonel Crockett is invited to visit Harvard University — 
 Is afraid they will make him a Doctor of Laws, and 
 declines going there — ^Visits the Tremont Theater — 
 Visit to Lowell — The Colonel is delighted with the 
 faptories and tVe factory girls- His remarks on Free 
 Labor— The sea-serpent— The Tariff— The South — Mr. 
 Lawrence presents the Colonel with a suit of broad- 
 cloth of Lt>well manufacture, frpm Mississippi wool — 
 The Colonel dines with the young gentlemen of Lowell 
 — New England hospitality — The Colonel returns to 
 Boston — Spends an evening with Lieutenant-Governor 
 Armstrong — Returns to Providence, New York, and 
 Philadelphia — Visit to Camden, New Jersey — Loses 
 his pocketbook and money — Returns to Baltimore 
 nd Washington 206 
 
CONTENTS. Xix 
 
 PAOC 
 
 CHAPTER XXIL 
 
 Breaking up of Congress^Crockett at Philadelphia— 
 Presentation of the rifle — ^The Colonel's speech — Visdt 
 to the Fish House — Celebration of the Fourth of July 
 — Tlie Colonel's speech at Chestnut Street Theater- 
 Present of gunpowder from Mr. Dupont — Crockett at 
 Pittsburg — His advice to Tennessee — Conversation with 
 Captain Stone — Passage to Cincinnati and Louisville — 
 Speech at Louisville — Return home — Shooting for 
 beef 323 
 
 CHAPTER XXni. 
 
 Electioneering— Stump speech — Price of popularity — 
 Treating — The coon-skin trick — ^The Yankee merchant 
 outwitted — Offer of compensation on the part of the 
 Colonel refused — Adam Huntsman the Colonel's op- 
 ponent 288 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV, 
 
 The Colonel loses his election — How it happened — Poli- 
 tical persecution and corruption — The Colonel's opinions 
 and sentiments on political affairs — Where the public 
 money goes — Anecdote — The Colonel's parting blessing 
 to his constituents — He resolves to go to Texas, and 
 engage in the war for its Independence — Specimen of 
 the Colonel's poetiy 246 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 The Colonel starts for Texas — Amusing incident of the 
 man fighting with his own shadow — Crockett arrives 
 at Little Rock — The Puppet showman — Disappoint- 
 ment — Threats of Lynch Law — The Bookseller who 
 becomes fiddler to the Puppet show — Moral of a Puppet 
 show : S55 
 
XX CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVL 
 
 Crockett offered a public dinner by the citizens of Little 
 Rock— Thinks he will decline— The landlord shows him 
 his larder— The Colonel accepts — Rifle shooting — Cute 
 trick — The dinner — The Colonel's speech — He tells the 
 Little Rock politicians how to get ofSce — A jolly even- 
 ing 269 
 
 CHAPTER XXVU. 
 
 Western hospitality — The Colonel takes leave of his Little 
 Rock friends — Escorted on his way towards Texas — 
 Tries for recruits for the Texan war, without success — 
 Whimsical adventure of the fiddling bookseller — Great 
 utility of fiddling — Account of Arkansas — Eloquence of 
 the parson — The parting — Specimen of impertinent 
 curiosity baffled — JobSnelling — Arrival at Fulton 279 
 
 CHAPTER XXVni. 
 
 Departure from Fulton — Game of thimblerig on the 
 steamboat — Sleight of hand — The Colonel makes Thim- 
 blerig treat the company— The Colonel's toast — His 
 speech — His opinion of Van Buren — Great applause. . . . 293 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Thimblerig relates the events of his life to the Colonel — 
 Thimblerig courts a planter's daughter — Gets a very 
 broad hint to leave — Becomes a play-actor — Refuses 
 to perform the hind legs of the elephant, because it is 
 not a speaking part— Gets discharged — Becomes marker 
 in a gambling house at New Orleans— Quits— Becomes 
 a professional blackleg— Goes to Natchez under the 
 hill— His description of that place— A murder— Punish- 
 ment of the murderer — Punishment of a gambler for 
 cheating- Arrival of the Colonel at Natchitoches 306 
 
OONTSaiTS. zzi 
 
 PAOII 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 Account of Natchitoches— The Colonel advises Thimble- 
 rig to reform and join the Texan patriots— Thimblerig 
 decides to do so — Curious incident of the Yellow Boy — 
 The singer and the politician — A brisk conversation — 
 The singer thrashes the politician— The bee-hunter — 
 He joins the patriots — ^The Colonel, Thimblerig, and 
 the bee-hunter set out for Nacogdoches on their waj to 
 Texas 818 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 Route to Nacogdoches — Accomplishments of the bee- 
 hunter — Story of Andrew Tumlinson — His death- 
 Society in Texas — Arrival at Nacogdoches — Account of 
 that place — Scene between the bee-hunter and his lady 
 love — Departure from Nacogdoches 833 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 Incidents on the road— Tricks upon travelers— The 
 mad dog hoax — Another curious trick — Cane brake — 
 Wolves and game — The party joined by one of Lafltte's 
 pirates and an Indian hunter — Scene at the dinner table 
 — Sudden disappearance of the bee-hunter— The party 
 encounters an immense herd of buffaloes — The Colonel 
 gives chase — Gets lost — Falls in with a herd of mus- 
 tangs — A race with the mustangs— Reaches the Nava- 
 sola river where the mustangs leave him 843 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 fhe Colonel's mustang apparently very ill— The Colonel 
 has a hard flght with a cougar, and kills him— Passes 
 the night in a tree— Loses his mustang — Breakfasts on 
 roast goose — Falls in with a party of Comanches— Ride 
 with them— Singular recovery of his mustang — A 
 prairie on fire— Politeness of the Comanches— Meeting 
 with Thimblerig— Reunion of the wnole party— Meet- 
 ing with a band of Mexicans— A fight— The Mexicans 
 beaten and put to flight— Arrival at the Alamo 360 
 
Xffll 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 Description of the Alajao fortress and Bexar — Capture of 
 the Alamo by the Texan arfjiy-^AOQCunt of Colonel 
 Bowie — His stratagem for deceiving the Comanches — 
 News of the apprpach of Santa Anna— History of Texas 
 —Account of Santa Anna — His ambition — Anecdote — 
 Siege of a convent. 375 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 Thimblerig on a spree — ^The mule train;— News of Santa 
 Anna — The ragged hunter — Unsuccessful attack on 
 Tampico — Fate of the assailants — Approach of the Mexi- 
 cans under Santa Anna — Siege of the Alamo com- 
 menced — ^Raising the Texan flag— TCdlonel Travis sends 
 to Colonel Fanning for reinforcements — Reinforce- 
 ments arrive— Thimblerig wounde4— His revenge on 
 the Mexicans — Colonel Bowie— The fcee-himter cannon 
 ading— Provisions brought in— ^Jeneral Sesma's move- 
 ments — Sharp-shooting — ^Declaration oJF Independence 
 — ^A sortie from the Aliimo— End of Colonel Crock- 
 etfsMS 38« 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 Assault on the 4.1amo directed by Santa Anna-^Des- 
 perate fighting — Six Americans survive^— Crockett one 
 of the number — Death of Thimblerig — Castrillon takes 
 the prisoners to Santa Anna, "Who directs the massacre 
 of the whole— Death of Colonel Crockett— Of Colonel 
 Bowie— Of Colonel Travis— Loss of the Mexicans at 
 the Alamo— Battle of Goliad— Surrender of Colonel 
 Fanning — Massacre of the American prisoners — Rav- 
 ages of the Mexicans on their m&rch to San Jacinto— 
 General Houston— Battle of San Jacinto— Total defeat 
 of the Mexicans and capture of Santa Anna-^Death of 
 Colonel Fanning 404 
 
INTEODUOTORY NOTE. 
 
 This entertaining volume ia chiefly an autobiog- 
 raphy, reciting the main events in David Crockett's 
 varied career as pioneer, hunter, politician^ and ec- 
 centric humorist ; with an account of his setviccs in 
 the war with the Creek Indians, under General Jack-* 
 son, and in the Texan revolt against Mexico. Ap- 
 pended is a supplementary chapter narrating the in- 
 cidents in the assault on the Alamo by the Mexican 
 forces under Santa Anna, and the surrender of the 
 last six men of the Texan garrison, including Crock- 
 ett, and their tragic massacre by the Mexican gen- 
 eral's order. The story is one of the most treasured in 
 the annals of American frontier and scouting life in 
 connection with the Creek war and the war for Texan 
 independence, as well as in Crockett's relations to the 
 politics of the Jackson era, and to Texas prior to the 
 revolutionary movement under General Sam Hous- 
 ton. Of " Old Hickory " we get pleasant glimpses 
 in his Indian fights and candidatures for office, as 
 well as in Crockett's own electioneering and stump- 
 ing campaigns, with the political persecutions which 
 at times annoyingly and often amusingly pursued 
 him. Equally entertaining are Crockett's stories of 
 
 zxiii 
 
XXiv INTRODUCTOKY NOTE. 
 
 his bear hunts and other incidents of his exploits as 
 a hunter and trapper; while most facetious do we 
 find him in his tour in the JSTorthern States, when he 
 had achieved fame, and paid his lionizing visits to 
 the chief cities of the East, with the sights he saw and 
 the " yarns " he amusingly relates. Nor is he less 
 entertaining in his recital of the whimsical adven- 
 tures and other characteristic happenings that occur 
 to him in his eventful journey to Texas and his join- 
 ing the forces of that province in their operations 
 against the Mexicans. In this part of the story we 
 have the rough hero's own account of his relations 
 with Colonel James Bowie, of bowie-knife fame, and 
 of those he had with other associates of the period, 
 such as Colonels Travis and Fanning, who were with 
 him at Alamo when the Texan flag was raised over 
 that mission station and fort, and who perished with 
 him at the close of its terrible siege. The last chap- 
 ters of the narrative are heroic in the tragedy they 
 relate; for even at the last, though each survivoF 
 knew the certain fate that was in store for him, no 
 one of the gallant Texan defenders flinched, while all 
 awaited with stern composure the consummation that 
 approached. They could but trust that their deaths 
 would be avenged; while by their shed blood their 
 loved Texas would be cemented in unity, and the 
 seeds of revolution would at length bear their happy 
 fruitage of freedom and liberty. 
 
 G. Meecbe Adam. 
 
LIFE OF 
 
 COLONEL DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 CHAPTER I, 
 
 Crockett's descent— His father a soldier in the Bevolutionary 
 War— Fought at the battle of King's Mountain— Settles in 
 Tennessee — Crockett's gi-andparents murdered by the Indi- 
 ans— One uncle wounded and another captured by the Indi- 
 ans — Birth of David Crockett — Early recollections — Narrow 
 escape of his brothers from drowning — Shooting a man in- 
 stead of a deer — His father's removals — Keeps a tavern^ 
 David hired to a Dutchman — Escapes from him in a snow- 
 storm — Mr. Dimn's kindness — David returns home. 
 
 As the public seem to feel some interest in the his- 
 tory of an individual so humble as I am, and as that 
 history can be so well known to no person living as 
 to myself, I have, after so long a time, and under 
 many pressing solicitations from my friends and 
 acquaintances, at last determined to put my own 
 hand to it, and lay before the world a narrative on 
 which they may at least rely as being true. And 
 seeking no ornament or coloring for a plain, simple 
 tale of truth, I throw aside all hypocritical and fawn- 
 ing apologies, and according to my own maxim, just 
 " go ahead." Where I am not known, I might, per- 
 
2 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 haps, gain some little credit by having thrown 
 around this volume some of the flowers of learning ; 
 but where I am known, the vile cheatery would soon 
 be detected, and like the foolish jackdaw, that with 
 harrowed tail attempted to play the peacock, I should 
 be justly robbed of my pilfered ornaments, and sent 
 forth to strut without a tail for the balance of my 
 time. I shall commence my book with what little I 
 have learned of the history of my father, as all great 
 Tnen rest many, if not most, of their hopes on their 
 noble ancestry. Mine was poor, but I hope honest, 
 and even that is as much as many a man can say. 
 But to my subject. 
 
 If y father's name was John Crockett, and he was 
 of Irish descent. He was either born in Ireland or 
 on a passage from that countiy to America across 
 the AtlanMo. -He was by profession a farmer, and 
 spent the early part of his life in the State of Penli- 
 sylvania. The name of my mother was Bebecca 
 Ha,wkias. She was an American woman, born in 
 the State of Maryland, between York and Baltic 
 more. It is likely I may have heard where they 
 were married, but, if so, I have forgotten. It is, 
 however, certain that they were, or else the public 
 would never have been troubled with the history of 
 David Crockett, their son. 
 
 I have an imperfect recoUeotion of the part which 
 I have understood my father took in the revolution- 
 ary war. I personally know nothing about it, for it 
 happened to be a little before my day ; but from 
 himself, and many others who were well acquainted 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. g 
 
 with its troubles and afflictions, I have learned that 
 he was a soldier in the revolutionary war, and took 
 part in that bloody struggle. Ho fought, according 
 fto my information, in the battle of King's Mountain, 
 against the British and tories, and in some other en» 
 gagements, of which my remembrance is too imper- 
 fect to enable me to speak with any certainty. At 
 some time, though I cannot say certainly when, my 
 father, as I have understood, lived in Lincoln county^ 
 in the State of North Carolina. How long I don't 
 know. But when he removed from there, he settled 
 in that district of country which is now embraced 
 in the east division of Tennessee, though it was not 
 then erected into a State. ^ 
 
 He settled there under dangerous circumstances, 
 both to himself and his family, as the country was 
 full of Indians, who were at that time very trouble* 
 some. By the Creeks, my grandfather and grand* 
 mother Crockett were both murdered in their own 
 house, and on the very spot of ground where Eogers- 
 ville, in Hawkins county, now stands. At the same 
 time, the Indians wounded Joseph Crockett, a 
 brother to my father, by a ball, which broke his 
 arm ; and took James a prisoner, who was still a 
 younger brother than Joseph, and who, from natural 
 defects, was less able to make his escape, as he was 
 both deaf and dumb. He remained with them for 
 seventeen years and nine months, when he was dis. 
 covered and recollected by my father and his eldest 
 brother, William Crockett ; and was purchased by 
 them from an Indian trader, at a price which I do 
 
4 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 not now remember ; but so it was, that he was de. 
 livered up to them, and they returned him to his 
 relatives. He now lives in Cumberland county, 
 in the State of Kentucky, though I have not seen 
 him for many years. 
 
 My father and mother had six sons and three 
 daughters. I was the fifth son. What a pity I 
 hadn't been the seventh ! For then I might have 
 been, by common consent, called doctor, as a heap of 
 people get to be great men. But, like many of them, 
 I stood no chance to become great in any other way 
 than by accident. As my father was very poor, and 
 living as he did,yiw hack m the iackwoods, he had 
 neither the means nor the opportunity to give me, 
 or any of the rest of his children, any learning. 
 
 But before I get on the subject of my own 
 troubles, and a great many very funny things that 
 have happened to me, like all other historians and bi- 
 ographers, I should inform the public that I was born 
 myself, as well as other folks, and that this impor- 
 tant event took place, according to the best infor- 
 mation I have received on the subject, on the 17th 
 of August, in the year 1786 ; whether by day or 
 night, I believe I never heard, but, if I did, I have 
 forgotten. I suppose, however, it is not very ma- 
 terial to my present purpose, nor to the world, as 
 the more important fact is well attested, that I was 
 born ; and, indeed, it might be inferred, from my 
 present size and appearance, that I was pretty wdl 
 horn, though I have never yet attached myself to 
 that numerous and worthy society. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 5 
 
 At the time my father lived at the mouth of Lima 
 Stone, on the Nolachucky river ; and for the pur- 
 pose, not only of showing what sort of a man I now 
 am, but also to show how soon I began to be a sort 
 of a little mem, I have endeavored to take the hack 
 track of life, in order to fix on the first thing that I 
 can remember. But even then, as now, so many 
 things were happening, that, as Major Jack Down- 
 ing would say, they are all in " a pretty consider- 
 able of a snarl," and I find it " kinder hard " to fix 
 on that thing, among them all, which really hap- 
 pened first. But I think it likely I have hit on the 
 outside line of my recollection ; as one thing hap. 
 pened at which I was so badly scared that it seems 
 to me I could not have forgotten it if it had hap- 
 pened a little time only after I was born. There- 
 fore, it furnishes me with no certain evidence of my 
 age at the time ; but I know one thing very well, 
 and that is that when it happened I had no knowl- 
 edge of the use of breeches, for I had never had 
 any nor worn any. 
 
 But the circumstance was this: My four elder 
 brothers, and a well-grown boy of about fifteen 
 years old, by the name of Campbell, and myself, 
 were all playing on the river's side, when all the 
 rest of them got into my father's canoe and put out 
 to amuse themselves on the water, leaving me on 
 the shore alone. 
 
 Just a little distance below them there was a fall 
 in the river which went slap-right straight down. 
 My brothers, though they were little fellows, had 
 
Q LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 been Used to paddling ihe canoe, and could have 
 carried it safely anywhere about there; but this 
 felloe Campbell wouldn't let them have the paddle, 
 Ibut, fool-like, undertook to manage it himself. I 
 Reckon he had never seen a water-craft before, 
 and it went just any way but the way he wanted 
 it. There he paddled, and paddled, and paddled — 
 all the while going wrong, until, in a short time, 
 here they were all going straight forward, stern 
 foremostj right plump to the falls ; and if they had 
 only a fair shake, they would have gone over as 
 slick as a whistle. It wasn't this, though, that 
 scared me^ for I Avas so infernal mad that they had 
 left me on the shore that I had as soon have seen 
 them all go over the falls a bit as any other way. 
 But their danger was seen by a man by the name of 
 Kendall, but I'll be shot if it was Amos, for I be- 
 lieve I would know him yfet if I was to see him. 
 This man Kendall was working in a field on the 
 bank, and knowing there was no time to lose, he 
 started full tilt, and here he come like a cane brake 
 afire ; and as he ran he threw off his coat, and then 
 his jacket, and then his shirt, for I know when 
 he got to the water he had nothing on but his 
 breeches. But seeing him in such a hurry, and tear- 
 ing off his clothes as he went, I had no doubt but 
 that the devil or something else was after him — 
 and close on him, too — as he was running within an 
 inch of his life. This alarmed me, and I screamed 
 out like a young painter. But Kendall didn't stop 
 for this. He went ahead with all might, and as fuU 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 7 
 
 bent on saving the boys as Amos was on moTing 
 the deposites. When he came to the water, he 
 plunged in, and where it was too deep to wade he 
 would swim, and where it was shallow enough he 
 went bolting on, and by such exertion as I never 
 saw at any other time in my life he reached the canoe 
 when it was within twenty or thirty feet of the 
 falls ; and so great was the suck and so swift the 
 current that poor Kendall had a hard time of it to 
 stop them at last, as Amos will to stop the mouths of 
 the people about his stockjobbing. But he hung on 
 to the canoe till he got it stopp'd, and then draw'd it 
 out of danger. "When they got out, I found the boys 
 were more scared than I had been, and the only 
 thing that comforted me was the belief that it was 
 a punishment on them for leaving me on shore. 
 
 Shortly after this my father removed and settled 
 in the same county, about ten miles above Green- 
 ville. 
 
 There another circumstance happened which 
 made a lasting impression on my memory, though I 
 Was but a small child. Joseph Hawkins, who was 
 a brother to my mother, was in the woods hunting 
 for deer. He was passing near a thicket of brush 
 in which one of our neighbors was gathering some 
 grapes, as it was in the fall of the year, and the 
 grape season. The bod;;^ df the man was hid by the 
 brush, and it was only as he would raise his hand 
 to pull the bunches that any part of him could b« 
 seen. It was a likely place for deer, and my uncle 
 having no suspicion that it was any human being, 
 
8 LIFE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 
 
 but supposing the raising of the hand to be s* 
 occasional twitch of a deer's ear, fired at th« 
 lump, and, as the devil would have it, unfortunately 
 shot the man through the body. I saw my fathet 
 draw a silk handkerchief through the bullet-hoU 
 and entirely through his body, yet after a while h« 
 got well, as little as any one would have thought it 
 What became of him, or whether he is dead oi 
 alive, I don't know, but I reckon he didn't fancj 
 the business of gathering grapes in an out-of-th& 
 way thicket soon again. 
 
 The next move my father made was to the moutk 
 of Cove creek, where he and a man by the name oi 
 Thomas Galbreath undertook to build a mill ia 
 partnership. They went on very well with their 
 work until it was nigh done, when there came s 
 second epistle to Noah's freshet, and away went 
 their mill, shot, lock, and barrel. I remember the 
 water rose so high that it got up into the house we 
 lived in, and my father moved us out of it to keep 
 us from being drowned. I was now about seven or 
 eight years old, and have a pretty distinct recollec- 
 tion of everything that was going on. From his 
 bad luck in that business, and being ready to wash 
 out from mill building, my father again removed, 
 and this time settled in Jefferson county, now in 
 the State of Tennessee, where he opened a tavern 
 on the road from Abbingdon to Knoxville. ^^J 
 
 His tavern was on a small scale, as he was poor, 
 and the principal accommodations which he kept 
 were for the wagoners who traveled the road. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 9 
 
 Here I remained with him until I was twelve yeara 
 old ; and about that time, you may guess, if you 
 belong to Yankee land, or reckon, if like me, you 
 belong to the backwoods, that I began to make up 
 my acquaintance with hard times, and a plenty of 
 them. 
 
 An old Dutchman by the name of Jacob Siler, 
 who was moving from Knox county to Eockbridge, 
 in the State of Yirginia, in passing made a stop at 
 my father's house. He had a large stock of cattle 
 that he was carrying on with him, and I suppose 
 made some proposition to my father to hire some 
 one to assist him. 
 
 Being hard run every way, and having no thought, 
 as I believe, that I was cut out for a Congressman, 
 or the like, young as I was, and as little as I knew 
 about traveling or being from home, he hired me to 
 the old Dutchman to go four hundred miles on foot 
 with a perfect stranger that I had never seen until 
 the evening before. I set out with a heavy heart 
 it is true, but I went ahead until we arrived 
 at the place, which was three miles from what is 
 called the Natural Bridge, and made a stop at the 
 house of a Mr. Hartley, who was father-in-law to 
 Mr. Siler, who had hired me. My Dutch master 
 was very kind to me, and gave me five or six dol- 
 lars, being pleased, as he said, with my services. 
 
 This, however, I think was a bait for me, as he 
 persuaded me to stay with him, and not return any 
 more to my father. I had been taught so many 
 lessons of obedience by my father, that I at first 
 
10 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 supposed I was bound to obey this man, or at least 
 1 was afraid openly to disobey him ; and I therefore 
 staid with him, and tried to put on a look of perfect 
 contentment until I got the family all to believe 
 I was fully satisfied. I had been there about 
 four or five weeks, when one day myself and two 
 other boys were playing on the roadside, some dis- 
 tance from the house. There came along three 
 wagons. One belonged to an old man by the name 
 of Dunn, and the others to two of his sons. They 
 had each of them a good team, and were all bound 
 for Knoxville. They had been in the habit of stop^ 
 ping at my father's as they passed the road, and I 
 knew them. I made myself known to the old gen- 
 tleman, and informed him of my situation ; I ex- 
 pressed a wish to get back to my father and laoiher^ 
 if they could fix any plan for me to do so. They 
 told me that they would stay that night at a tavern 
 aeven miles from there, and that if I could get to them 
 before day the next morning, they would take me 
 home ; and if I was pursued, they would protect me. 
 This was a Sunday evening ; I went back to the 
 good old Dutchman's house, and as good fortune 
 would have it, he and the family were out on a visit. 
 I gathered my clothes and what little money I had, 
 and put them all together under the head of my bed. 
 I went to bed early that night, but sleep seemed to 
 be a stranger to me. For though I was a wild boy, 
 yet I dearly loved my father and mother, and their 
 images appeared to be so deeply fixed in my mind, 
 that I could not sleep for thinking of them. And 
 
LITE or DAVID CROCKETT. H 
 
 then the fear that when I should attempt to go out, 
 I should be discovered and called to a halt, filled 
 me with anxiety ; and between my childish love ol 
 homo, on the one hand, and the fears of which I 
 have spoken, on the other, I felt mighty queer. 
 
 But so it was, aboat three hours before day in the 
 morning, I got up to make my start. When I got 
 out, I found it was snowing fast, and that the snow 
 was then on the ground about eight inches deep. I 
 had not even the advantage of moonlight, and the 
 whole sky was hid by the falling snow, so that I 
 had to guess at my way to the big road, which was 
 about a half mile from the house. I, however, 
 pushed ahead, and soon got to it, and then pursued 
 it in the direction to the wagons. 
 
 I could not have pursued the road if I had not 
 guided myself by the opening it made between the 
 timber, as the snow was too deep to leave any part 
 of it to be known by either seeing or feeling. 
 
 Before I overtook the wagons, the earth was cov- 
 ered about as deep as my knees ; and my tracks 
 filled so briskly after me, that by daylight my 
 Dutch master would have seen no trace which 1 
 left. 
 
 I got to the place about an hour before day. I 
 found the wagoners already stirring, and engaged in 
 feeding and preparing their horses for a start. Mi. 
 Dunn took me in and treated me with great kind- 
 ness. My heart was more deeply impressed by meet- 
 ing with such a friend and "at such a time," than 
 by wading the snow-storm by night, or all the other 
 
12 LIFE OF DAVID CROCEOETT. 
 
 sufferings which my mind had endured. I warmed 
 myself by the fire, for I was very cold, and after an 
 early breakfast, we set out on our journey. The 
 thoughts of home now began to take the entire pos- 
 session of my mind, and I almost numbered the 
 sluggish turns of the wheels, and much more cer- 
 tainly the miles of our travel, which appeared to me 
 to count mighty slow. I continued with my kind 
 protectors until we got to the house of a Mr. John 
 Cole, on Eoanoke, when my impatience became so 
 great, that I determined to set out on foot and go 
 ahead by myself, as I could travel twice as fast in 
 that way as the wagons could. 
 
 Mr. Dunn seemed very sorry to part with me, and 
 used many arguments to prevent me from leaving 
 him. But home, poor as it was, again rushed on my 
 memory, and it seemed ten times as dear to me as 
 it ever had before. The reason was, that my par- 
 ents were there, and aU that I had been accustomed 
 to in the hours of childhood and infancy was there ; 
 and there my anxious little heart panted also to be. 
 "We remained at Mr. Cole's that night, and early in 
 the morning I felt that I could not stay ; so, taking 
 leave of my friends, the wagoners, I went forward 
 on foot, until I was fortunately overtaken by a gen- 
 tleman, who was returning from market, to which 
 he had been with a drove of horses. He had a led 
 horse, with a bridle and saddle on him, and he 
 kindly offered to let me get on his horse and ride him. 
 I did so, and was glad of the chance, for I was tired, 
 and was, moreover, near the first crossing of Boan. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 13 
 
 oke, which I would have been compelled to wade, 
 cold as the water was, if I had not fortunately met 
 this good man. I traveled with him in this way, 
 without anything turning up worth recording until 
 we got within fifteen miles of my father's house. 
 There we parted, and he went on to Kentucky, and 
 I trudged on homeward, which place I reached that 
 evening. The name of this kind gentleman I have 
 entirely forgotten, and I am sorry for it ; for it de- 
 serves a high place in my little book. A remem- 
 brance of his kindness to a little straggling boy, and 
 a stranger to him, has, however, a resting place in 
 my heart, and there it will remain as long as I live. 
 
14 U^ OF DAVID CBOCKEIX 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 David goes to school— Flogs a schoolmate and plays tmaafr- 
 Gets found out— Runs away— Hires himsdf to Jesse Cheek- 
 Leaves him— Gk)es with Myers— Afraid to go home— Worka 
 for John Gray- Goes to Baltimore— Agrees to go to sea- 
 Made prisoner— Escapes^Befriended by a wagoner— Hit 
 kindness— David "hires out" to CaldweU— Works for 
 Griffith, the hatter— His master breaks— He starts f<» 
 home — Perilous adventure in a canoe — Meets his brothei>— 
 Reaches home — His reception. 
 
 Having gotten home, as I have just related, I re- 
 mained with my father until the next fall, at which 
 time he took it into his head to send me to a little 
 country school, which was kept in the neighborhood 
 by a man whose name was Benjamin Kitchen ; 
 though I believe he was no way connected with the 
 cabinet. I went four days, and had just began to 
 learn my letters a little, when I had an unfortunate 
 falling out with one of the scholars, — ^a boy much 
 larger and older than myself. I knew well enough 
 that though the schoolhouse might do for a still 
 hunt, it wouldn't do for a drive, and so I concluded 
 to wait until I could get him out, and then I was 
 determined to give him salt and vinegar. I waited 
 till in the evening, and when the larger scholars 
 were spelling I slipp'd out, and going some distance 
 along his road, I lay by the wayside in the bashe% 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 16 
 
 waiting for him to come along. After awhile, he 
 and his company came on sure enough, and I pitched 
 out from the bushes and set on him like a wild cat. 
 I scratched his face all to a flitter jig, and soon 
 made him cry out for quarters in good earnest- The 
 fight being over, I went on home, and the next 
 morning was started again to school ; but do you 
 think I went ? No, indeed. I was very clear of it ; 
 for I expected the master would lick me up as bad 
 as I had the boy. So, instead of going to the 
 achoolhouse, I laid out in the woods all day until 
 in the evening the scholars were dismissed, and my 
 brothers, who were also going to school, came along, 
 returning home. I wanted to conceal this whole 
 bnsiness from my father, and I persuaded them not 
 to tell on me, which they agreed to. 
 
 Things went on in this way for several days ; I 
 starting with them to school in the morning, and 
 returning with them in the evening, but lying out in 
 the woods all day. At last, however, the master 
 wrote a note to my father, incpiring why I was not 
 sent to school. When he read this note he called 
 me up, and I knew very well that I was in a devil 
 of a hobble, for my father had been taking a few 
 horns, and was in a good condition to make the fur 
 fly. He called on me to know why I had not been 
 at school. I told him I was afraid to go, and that 
 the master would whip me, for I knew quit© well if 
 I was turned over to this old Kitchen, I should be 
 eooked up to a cracklin' in little or no time. But I 
 soon found that I was not to expect a much better 
 
16 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 fate at home; for my father told me, in a very 
 angry manner, that he would whip me an eternal 
 sight worse than the master if I didn't start im. 
 mediately to the school. I tried again to beg off, but 
 nothing would do but to go to the school. Finding 
 me rather too slow about starting, he gathered 
 about a two-year-old hickory, and broke after me. 
 I put out with all my might, and soon we were both 
 up to the top of our speed. "We had a tolerable 
 tough race for about a mile ; but mind me, not on 
 the sohoolhouse road, for I was trying to get as far 
 the t'other way as possible. And I yet believe, if 
 my father and the schoolmaster could both have 
 levied on me about that time, I should never have 
 been called on to sit in the councils of the nation, 
 for I think they would have used me up. But for- 
 tunately for me, about this time I saw just before 
 me a hill, over which I made headway, like a young 
 steamboat. As soon as I had passed over it I 
 turned to one side, and hid myself in the bushes. 
 Here I waited until the old gentleman passed by, 
 puffing and blowing, as though his steam was high 
 enough to burst his boilers. I waited until he gave 
 up the hunt, and passed back again ; I then cut out, 
 and went to the house of an acquaintance a few miles 
 off, who was just about to start with a drove. His 
 name was Jesse Cheek, and I hired myself to go 
 with him, determining not to return home, as home 
 and the sohoolhouse had both become too hot for 
 me. I had an elder brother, who also hired to go 
 vith the same drove. We set out and went on 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 17 
 
 through Abbingdon, and the county seat of Withe 
 county, in the State of Virginia ; and then through 
 Lynchburgh, by Orange courthouse, and Charlottes- 
 ville, passing through what was called Chester Glap, 
 on to a town called Front Eoyal, where my employer 
 sold out his drove to a man by the name of Van- 
 metre and I was started homeward again, in com- 
 pany with a brother of the first owner of the drove, 
 with one horse between us ; having left my brother 
 to come on with the balance of the company. 
 
 I traveled on with my new comrade about three 
 days' journey ; but much to his discredit, as I then 
 thought, and stUl think, he took care all the time to 
 ride, but never to tie ; at last I told him to go ahead, 
 and I would come when I got ready. He gave me 
 four dollars to bear my expenses upwards of four 
 hundred miles, and then cut out and left me. 
 
 I purchased some provisions, and went on slowly, 
 until at length I fell in with a wagoner, with whom 
 I was disposed to scrape up a hasty acquaintance. 
 I inquired where he lived, and where he was going, 
 and all about his affairs. He informed me that he 
 lived in Greenville, Tennessee, and was on his way 
 to a place called Gerardstown, fifteen miles below 
 Winchester. He also said, that after he should 
 make his journey to that place, he would immedi- 
 ately return to Tennessee. His name was Adam 
 Myers, and a jolly good fellow he seemed to be. On 
 a little reflection, I determined to turn back and go 
 with him, which I did ; and we journeyed on slowly, 
 as wagons commonly do, but merrily enough. I 
 
 3 
 
18 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 often thought of home, and, indeed, wished bad 
 enough to be there; but, when I thought of the 
 schoolhouse, and Kitchen, my master, and the race 
 with my father, and the big hickory he carried, and 
 of the fierceness of the storm of wrath that I had 
 left him in, I was afraid to venture back ; for I knew 
 my father's nature so well, that I was certain hia 
 anger would hang on to him, like a turtle does to a 
 fisherman's toe, and that, if I went back in a hurry, 
 he would give me the devil in three or four ways. 
 But I and the wagoner had traveled two days when 
 we met my brother, who, I before stated, I had left 
 behind when the drove was sold out. He persuaded 
 me to go home, but I refused. He pressed me hard, 
 and brought up a great many mighty strong argu- 
 ments to induce me to turn back again., He pictured 
 the pleasure of meeting my mother, and my sisters, 
 who all loved me dearly, and told me what uneas- 
 iness they had already suffered about me. I could 
 not help shedding tears, which I did not often do, 
 and my affections all pointed back to those dearest 
 friends, and as I thought, nearly the only ones I 
 had in the world, but then the promised whipping 
 —that was the thing. It came right slap down on 
 every thought of home ; and I finally determined 
 that make or break, hit or miss, I would just hang 
 on to my journey, and go ahead with the wagoner. 
 My brother was much grieved at our parting, but he 
 went his way, and so did I. We went on until at 
 last we got to Gerardstown, where the wagoner 
 tried to get a back load, but he could not withoat 
 
LIFB OF DAVID CROCKETT. 10 
 
 going to Alexandria. He engaged to go there, and 
 I concluded that I would wait until he returned. ] 
 set in to work for a man by the name of John Gray, 
 at twenty.five cents per day. My labor, however, 
 was light, such as plowing in some small grain, in 
 which I succeeded in pleasing the old man very well. 
 I continued working for him until the wagoner got 
 back, and for a good long time afterwards, as he 
 continued to run his team back and forward, haul- 
 ing to and from Baltimore. In the next spring, 
 from the proceeds of my daily labor, small as it was, 
 I was able to get me some decent clothes, and con- 
 cluded I would make a trip with the wagoner to 
 Baltimore, and see what sort of a place that was, 
 and what sort of folks lived there. I gave him the 
 balance of what money I had for safekeeping, 
 which, as well as I recollect, was about seven dol- 
 lars. We got on well enough until we came near 
 Ellicott's Mills. Our load consisted of flour in bar- 
 rels. Here I got into the wagon for the purpose of 
 changing my clothing, not thinking that I was in 
 any danger ; but, while I was in there, we were met 
 by some wheelbarrow men, who were working on 
 the road, and the horses took a scare and away they 
 went, like they had seen a ghost. They made a 
 sadden wheel around, and broke the wagon tongue 
 slap, short off, as a pipe-stem ; and snap went both 
 of the axletrees at the same time, and of all devil- 
 ish flouncing about of flour barrels that ever was 
 seen, I reckon this took the beat. Even a rat 
 Would have stood a bad> chance in dii\straight race 
 
30 LTFB OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 among them, and not much better in a crooked one; 
 for he would have been in a good way to be ground 
 up as fine as ginger by their rolling over him. But 
 this proved to me, that if a fellow is born to be 
 hung, he will never be drowned ; and, further, that 
 if he is bom for a seat in Congress, even flour bar- 
 rels can't make a mash of him. All these dangers 
 I escaped unhurt, though, like most of the office- 
 holders of these times, for a while I was afraid to 
 say my soul was my own ; for I didn't know how 
 soon I should be knocked into a cocked hat, and get 
 my walking papers for another country. 
 
 We put our load into another wagon, and hauled 
 ours to a workman's shop in Baltimore, having de- 
 livered the flour, and there we intended to remain 
 two or three days, which time was necessary to re- 
 pair the runaway wagon. While I was there, I 
 went one day, down to the wharf, and was much de- 
 lighted to see the big ships, and their sails all fly' 
 ing, for I had never seen such things before, and, 
 indeed, I didn't believe there were any such things 
 in all nature. After a short time, my curiosity in- 
 duced me to step aboard of one, where I was met by 
 the captain, who asked me if I didn't wish to take a 
 voyage to London ? I told him I did, for by this 
 time I had become pretty well weaned from home, 
 and I cared but little where I was, or where I went, 
 or what became of me. He said he wanted just 
 such a boy as I was, which 1 was glad to hear. I 
 told him I would go and get my clothes and go 
 with him. He inquired about my parents, where 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 21 
 
 they lived, and all about them. I let him know 
 that they lived in Tennessee, many hundred miles 
 oflf. We soon agreed about my intended voyage, 
 and I went back to my friend, the wagoner, and in- 
 formed him that 1 was going to London, and wanted 
 my money and my clothes. He refused to let me 
 have either, and swore that he would confine me, 
 and take me back to Tennessee. I took it to heart 
 very much, but he kept so close and constant watch 
 over me, that I found it impossible to escape from 
 him, until he had started homeward, and made sev- 
 eral days' journey on the road. He was, during 
 this time, very iU to me, and threatened me with 
 his wagon-whip on several occasions. At length I 
 resolved to leave him at all hazards ; and so, before 
 day, one morning, I got my clothes out of his 
 vragon, and cut out, on foot, without a farthing of 
 money to bear my expenses. For, all other friends 
 having failed, I determined then to throw myself on 
 Providence, and see how that would use me. I had 
 gone, however, only a few miles, when I came up 
 with another wagoner, and such was my situation, 
 that I felt more than ever the necessity of endeavor- 
 ing to find a friend. I therefore concluded I would 
 seek for one in him. He was going westwardly, 
 and very kindly inquired of me where I was travel, 
 ing. My youthful resolution, which had brooked 
 almost everything else, rather gave way at this 
 inquiry ; for it brought the loneliness of my situ- 
 ation, and everything else that was calculated to 
 oppress me, directly to view. My first answer to 
 
22 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETl-. 
 
 his questions was in a sprinkle of tears, for if the 
 world had been given to me I could not at that 
 moment have helped crying; As soon as the storm 
 of feeling was over, I told him how I had been 
 treated by the wagoner but a little before, who kept 
 what little money I had, and left me without a 
 copper to buy even a morsel of food. 
 
 He became exceedingly angry, and swore that he 
 would make the other wagoner give up my money, 
 pronouncing him a scoundrel and many other hard 
 names. 
 
 I told him I was afraid to see him, for he had 
 threatened me with his wagon-whip, and I believed 
 he would injure me. But my new friend was a very 
 large, stout-looking man, and as resolute as a tiger. 
 He bid me not to be afraid, still swearing he would 
 have my money, or whip it out of the wretch who 
 had it. 
 
 "We turned, and went back about two mUes, when 
 we reached the place where he was. I went re- 
 luctantly ; but I depended on my friend for protec- 
 tion. "When we got there, I had but little to say ; 
 but, approaching the wagoner, my friend said to 
 him, " You damned rascal, yon have treated this 
 boy badly." To which he replied it was my fault. 
 He was then asked if he did not get seven dollars of 
 my money, which he confessed. It was then de- 
 manded of him ; but he declared most solemnly 
 that he had not that amount in the world ; that he 
 had spent my money, and intended paying it back 
 to me when we got to Tennessee. I then felt recon< 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 23 
 
 died, and persuaded my friend to let him alone, and 
 we returned to his wagon, geared up, and started. 
 His name I shall never forget while my memory 
 lasts ; it -vvas Henry Myers. He lived in Pennsyl- 
 vania, and I found him what he professed to be, a 
 faithful friend, and a clever fellow. 
 
 "We traveled together for several days, but at 
 length I concluded to endeavor to make my way 
 homeward ; and for that purpose, set out again on 
 foot, and alone. But one thing I must not omit. 
 The last night I staid with Mr. Myers was at a 
 place where several wagoners also staid. He told 
 them before we parted, that I was a poor little 
 straggling boy, and how I had been treated, and 
 that I was without money, though I had a long 
 joairney before me, through a; land of strangers^ 
 where it was not even a wilderness. 
 
 They were good enough to contribute a sort of 
 money-purse, and presented me with three dollars. 
 On this amount I traveled as far as Montgomery 
 courthouse, in the State of Yirginia, where it gave 
 out. I set in to work for a man by the name of 
 James Caldwell, a month, for five dollars, which 
 was about a shilling a day. "When this time was 
 out, I bound myself to a man by the name of Elijah 
 Griffith, by trade a hatter, agreeing to work for him 
 for four years. I remained with him about eighteen 
 months, when he found himself so involved in debt, 
 that he broke up and left the country. For this 
 time, I had received nothing, and was, of course, 
 left without money, and with but very few clothes. 
 
24 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKiSTT. 
 
 and them very indifferent ones. I, however, set in 
 again, and worked about as I could catch employ, 
 ment, until I got a little money and some clothing, 
 and once more cut out for home. "When I reached 
 New Kiver, at the mouth of a small stream called 
 Little Eiver, the white caps were flying, so that I 
 couldn't get anybody to attempt to put me across. 
 I argued the case as well as I could, but they told 
 me there was great danger of being capsized and 
 drowned, if I attempted to cross. I told them if I 
 could get a canoe I would venture, caps or no caps. 
 They tried to persuade me out of it ; but finding 
 they could not, they agreed I might take a canoe, 
 and so I did, and put off. I tied my clothes to the 
 rope of the canoe to have them safe, whatevej" 
 might happen. But I found it a mighty ticklish 
 business, I tell you. "When I got out fairly on the 
 river, I would have given the world, if it had be- 
 longed to me, to have been back on shore. But 
 there was no time to lose now, so I just determined 
 to do the best I could, and the devil take the hind- 
 most. I turned the canoe across the waves, to do 
 which, I had to turn it nearly up the river, as the 
 wind came from that way ; and I went about two 
 miles before I could land. "When I struck land, my 
 canoe was about half full of water, and I was as wet 
 as a drowned rat. But I was so much rejoiced that 
 I scarcely felt the cold, though my clothes were 
 frozen on me; and, in this situation, I had to go 
 above three miles before I could find any house or 
 fire to warm at. I, however, made out to get to one 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 25 
 
 et last, and then I thought I would warm the inside 
 a little, as well as the outside, that there might be 
 no grumbling. 
 
 So I took " a leetle of the creater," — that warmer 
 of the cold, and cooler of the hot — and it made me 
 feel so good, that I concluded it was like the negro's 
 rabbit, " good any way." I passed on until I arrived 
 in Sullivan county, in the State of Tennessee, and 
 there I met with my brother, who had gone 
 with me when I started from home with the cattle 
 drove. 
 
 I staid with him a few weeks, and then went on 
 to my father's, which place I reached late in the 
 evening. Several wagons were there for the night 
 and considerable company about the house. I in- 
 quired if I could stay all night, for I did not intend 
 to make myself known until I saw whether any of 
 the family would find me out. I was told that I 
 could stay, and went in, but had mighty little to say 
 to anybody. I had been gone so long, and had 
 grown so much, that the family did not at first 
 know me. And another, and perhaps a stronger 
 reason was, they had no thought or expectation of 
 me, for they all had long given me up for finally 
 lost. 
 
 After a while, we were all called to supper. I 
 went with the rest. We had sat down to the table 
 and begun to eat, when my eldest sister recollected 
 me ; she sprung up, ran and seized me around the 
 aeck, and exclaimed, " Here is my lost brother." 
 
 My feelings at this time it would be vain and fool. 
 
26 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 ish for me to attempt to describe. I had often 
 thought I felt before, and I suppose I had, but sure 
 I am, I never had felt as I then did. The joy of my 
 sisters and my mother, and, indeed, of all the family, 
 was such, that it humbled me, and made me sorry 
 that I hadn't submitted to a hundred whippings, 
 sooner than cause so much affliction as they had 
 suffered on my account. I found the family had 
 never heard a word of me from the time my brother 
 left me. I was now almost fifteen years old : and 
 my increased age and size, together with the joy of 
 my father occasioned by my unexpected return, I 
 was sure would secure me against my long dreaded 
 whipping ; and so they did. But it will be a source 
 of aistonishment, to many, who reflect that I am 
 now a member of the American Congress — the most 
 enlightened body of men in the world — that at so 
 advanced an age, the age of fifteen, I did not know 
 the first letter in the book. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CEOCKETX 27 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 David at home— Works out a debt for Ms father— Hires out 
 with an old Quakerr— Gets paid in a Note of his Father's— 
 David falls in love . with a Quakeress — ^Disappouited — G«es 
 to school — ^Falls in love again— Goes to a Shooting' Match — 
 Gets jilted— Sick at heart. ' ' 
 
 I HAD remained for some short time at home with 
 my father, when he informed me that he owed a 
 man, whose name was Abraham "Wilson, the sum of 
 thirtj-six dollars, and that if I would set in and work 
 out the note, so as to lift it for him^ he would dis- 
 charge me from his service, and I might go free. I 
 agreed to do this, and went immediately to the man 
 who held my father's note, and contracted with him 
 to work six months for it. I set in, and worked 
 with all my might, not losing a single day in the six 
 months. When my time was out, I got my father's 
 note, and then declined working with the man any 
 longer, though he wanted to hire me mighty bad. 
 The reason was, it was a place where a heap of bad 
 company met to drink and gamble, and I wanted to 
 get away from them, for I know'd very well if I 
 staid there, I should get a bad name, as nobody 
 could be respectable that would live there. I there. 
 fore returned to my father and gave him up his 
 paper, which seemed to please him mightily, for 
 
28 LIFE OP DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 though he was poor, he was an honest man, and 
 always tried mighty hard to pay off his debts. 
 
 I next went to the house of an honest old Quaker, 
 by the name of John Kennedy, who had removed 
 from North Carolina, and proposed to hire myself 
 to him, at two shillings a day. He agreed to take 
 me a week on trial ; at the end of which he appeared 
 pleased with my work, and informed me that he 
 held a note on my father for forty dollars, and that 
 he would give me that note if I would work for him 
 six months. T was certain enough that I should 
 never get any part of the note ; but then I remem- 
 bered it was my father that owed it, and I concluded 
 it was my duty as a child to help him along, and 
 ease his lot as much as I could. I told the Quaker 
 I would take him up at his offer, and immediately 
 went to work. I never visited my father's house 
 during the whole time of this engagement, though 
 he lived only fifteen miles off. But when it was 
 finished, and I had got the note, I borrowed one of 
 my employer's horses, and, on a Sunday evening, 
 went to pay my parents a visit. Some time after 
 I got there, I pulled out the note and handed it to 
 my father, who supposed Mr. Kennedy had sent it 
 for collection. The old man looked mighty sorry, 
 and said to me he had not the money to pay it, and 
 didn't know what he should do. 1 then told him 
 I had paid it for him, and it was then his own ; that 
 it was not presented for collection, but as a present 
 from me. At this he shed a heap of tears ; and as 
 soon as he got a little over it, he said he was sorry 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 29 
 
 he could not give me anything, but he was not able 
 he was too poor. 
 
 The next day I went back to my old friend, the 
 Quaker, and set in to work for him for some 
 clothes; for I had now worked a year without getting 
 any money at all, and my clothes were nearly all 
 worn out, and what few I had left were mighty in- 
 dififerent. I worked in this way for about two 
 months; and in that time a young woman from 
 North Carolina, who was the Quaker's niece, came 
 on a visit to his house. And now I am just getting 
 on a part of my history that I know I never can 
 forget. For though I have heard people talk about 
 hard loving, yet I reckon no poor devil in this world 
 was ever cursed with such hard love as mine has 
 always been when it came on me. I soon found 
 myself head over heels in love with this girl, whose 
 name the public could make no use of, and I thought 
 that if all the hills about there were pure chink, and 
 all belonged to me, I would give them if I could 
 just talk to her as I wanted to, but I was afraid to 
 begin, for when I would think of saying anything 
 to her my heart would begin to flutter like a duck 
 in a puddle ; and if I tried to outdo it and speak, it 
 would get right smack up in my throat and choke 
 me like a cold potato. It bore on my mind in this 
 way till at last I concluded I must die if I didn't 
 broach the subject ; and so I determined to begin 
 and hang on a trying to speak till my heart would 
 get out of my throat one way or t'other. And so 
 one day at it I went, and after several trials I could 
 
50 I'IFB OF DAVTD CBOCEETT. 
 
 say a little. I told her how well I loved her; that 
 she was the darling object of my soul and body; 
 and I must have her oi* else I should pine down to 
 nothing and just die away with the consumption. 
 
 I found my talk was not disagreeable to her; 
 but she was an honest girl and didn't want to de. 
 ceive nobody. She told me she was engaged to her 
 cousin, a son of the old Quaker. This news was 
 worse to me than war, pestilence, or famine ; but 
 still I knowed I could not help myself. I saw q\ii(^ 
 enough my cake was dough, and I tried to cool off 
 as fast as possible, but I had hardly safety-pipes 
 enough, as my love was so hot as mighty nigh to 
 burst my boilers. But I didn't press my claims any 
 more, seeing there was no chance to do anything. 
 
 I began now to think that all my misfortunes 
 growed out of my want of learning. I had never 
 been to school but four days, as the reader has 
 already seen, and did not yet know a letter. 
 
 I thought I would try to go to school some, and as 
 the Quaker had a married son who was living abont 
 a mile and a half from him and keeping a school, I 
 proposed to him that I would go to school four days 
 in the week and work for him the other two, to pay 
 my board and schooling. He agreed I might come 
 on these terms, and so at it I went, learning and 
 working, backwards and forwards^ until I had been 
 with him nigh on to six months. In this time I 
 learned to read a little in my primer, to write my 
 own name, and to cipher some in the first three 
 rules in £gures. And this was aU the schooling 1 
 
UFB OF DAVID CROCKETT. 81 
 
 ever had in mj life up to this day. I should have 
 continned longer if it hadn't been that I concluded 
 I couldn't do any longer without a wife ; and so I 
 cut out to hunt me one. 
 
 I found a family of very pretty little girls that I 
 bad known when very young. They had lived in 
 the same neighborhood with me, and I had thought 
 very well of them. I made an offer to one of them, 
 whose name is nobody's business no more than the 
 Quaker girl's was, and I found she took it very 
 welL I still continued paying my respects to her, 
 until I got to love her as bad as I had the Quaker's 
 niece, and I would have agreed to fight a whole 
 regiment of wild cats if she would only have said 
 she would have me. Several months passed in this 
 way, during all of which time she continued very 
 kind and friendly. At last the son of the old 
 Quaker and my first girl had concluded to bring 
 their matter to a close, and my little queen and my- 
 self were called on to wait on them. We went on 
 the day and performed our duty as attendants. 
 This made me worse than ever, and after it was 
 over I pressed my claim very hard on her, but she 
 would still give me a sort of evasive answer. How- 
 ever, I gave her mighty little peace, till she told me 
 at last she would have me. I thought this was 
 glorification enough, even without spectacles. I 
 was then about eighteen years old. "We fixed the 
 time to be married, and I thought if that day come 
 I should be the happiest man in the created world, 
 or in the moon, or anywhere else. 
 
32 LIFE OF DAVID CEOCKBTT. 
 
 I had by this time got to be mighty fond of the 
 rifle, and had bought a capital one. I most generally 
 carried her with me wherever I went, and though I 
 had got back to the old Quaker's to live, who was a 
 very particular man, I would sometimes slip out and 
 attend the shooting matches where they shot for 
 beef ; I always tried, though, to keep it a secret 
 from him. He had at the same time a bound boy 
 living with him who I had gotten into almost as great 
 a notion of the girls as myself. He was about my 
 own age, and was deeply smitten with the sister to 
 my intended wife. I know'd it was in vain to try 
 to get the leave of the old man for my young asso- 
 ciate to go with me on any of my courting frolics ; 
 but I thought I could fix a plan to have him along 
 which would not injure the Quaker, as we had no 
 notion that he should ever know it. "We commonly 
 slept up-stairs, and at the gable end of the house 
 there was a window. So one Sunday when the old 
 man and his family were all gone to meeting we 
 went out and cut a long pole, and taking it to the 
 house, we set it up on end in the corner, reaching 
 up the chimney as high as the window. After this 
 We would go up-stairs to bed, and then putting on 
 our Sunday clothes, would go out at the window 
 and climb down the pole, take a horse apiece, and 
 ride about ten miles to where his sweetheart lived 
 and the girl I claimed as my wife. I was always 
 mighty careful to be back before day, so as to escape 
 being found out ; and in this way I continued my 
 attentions very closely until a few days before I 
 
LIFE OP DAVID CEOOKBTT. S3 
 
 ■was to be married, or at least thought I was, for I 
 had no fear that anything was about to go wrong 
 
 Just now I heard of a shooting-matoh in the 
 neighborhood right between where I lived and my 
 girl's house, and I determined to kill two birds with 
 one stone — to go to the shooting-matoh first and then 
 to see her. I therefore made the Quaker believe I 
 was going to hunt for deer, as they were pretty 
 plenty about in those parts, but, instead of hunting 
 them, I went straight on to the shooting-match, 
 where I joined in with a partner, and we put in sev- 
 eral shots for the beef. I was mighty lucky, and 
 when the match was over I had won the whole beef. 
 This was on a Saturday, and my success had put me 
 in the finest humor in the world. So I sold my 
 part of the beef for five dollars in the real grit, for 
 I believe that was before bank-notes was invented ; 
 at least I had never heard of any. I now started 
 on to ask for my wife, for though the next Thursday 
 was our wedding-day, I had never said a word to 
 her parents about it. I had always dreaded the 
 undertaking so bad that I had put the evil hour off 
 as long as possible ; and, indeed, I calculated they 
 knowed me so well they wouldn't raise any objection 
 to having me for their son-in-law. I had a great 
 deal better opinion of myself, I found, than other 
 people had of me; but I moved on with a light 
 heart and my five dollars jingling in ray pocket, 
 thinking all the time there was but few greater 
 men in the world than myself. 
 
 In this flow of good humor, I went ahead till I 
 3 
 
34 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 got within about two miles of the place, when I con- 
 claded I would stop awhile at the house of the girl's 
 anclej where I might inquire about the family, and 
 so forth, and so on. I was, indeed, just about ready 
 to consider her uncle my uncle ; and her affairs, my 
 affairs. When I went in, tho', I found her sister 
 there. I asked how all was at home ? In a minute 
 I found from her countenance something was wrong. 
 She looked mortified, and didn't answer as quick as 
 I thought she ought, being it was her hrother4n-lmo 
 talking to her. However, I asked her again. She 
 then burst into tears, and told me her sister was go- 
 ing to deceive me ; and that she was to be married 
 to another man the next day. This was as sudden 
 to me as a clap of thunder of a bright, sunshiny day. 
 It was the capstone of all the afflictions I had ever 
 met with ; and it seemed to me that it was more 
 than any human creature could endure. It struck 
 me perfectly speechless for some time, and made me 
 feel so weak that I thought I should sink down. I, 
 however, recovered from my shock after a little, and 
 rose and started without any ceremony, or even 
 bidding anybody good-by. The young woman 
 followed me out to the gate, and entreated me to go 
 on to her father's, and said she would go with me. 
 She said the young man who was going to marry 
 her sister, had got his license and asked for her ; but 
 she assured me her father and mother both preferred 
 me to him ; and that she had no doubt but that, if I 
 would go on, I could break off the match. But I 
 found that I could go no further. My heart was 
 
ufe: of DAvm cboceett. 35 
 
 bruised, and my spirits were broken down ; so I bid 
 her farewell, and turned my lonesome and miserable 
 steps back again homeward, concluding that I was 
 only born for hardships, misery, and disappointment. 
 I now began to think that, in making me, it was 
 entirely forgotten to make my mate, that I was 
 born odd, and should always remain so, and nobody 
 ■would have me. 
 
 But all these reflections did not satisfy my mind, 
 for I had no peace day nor night for several weeks. 
 My appetite failed me, and I grew daily worse and 
 worse. They all thought I was sick ; and so I was. 
 And it was the worst kind of sickness, — a sickness 
 of the heart, and all the tender parts, produced by 
 disappointed loye. 
 
36 UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 CHAPTER rV. 
 
 Crockett goes a hunting — The Dutch widow— Ugly daughtet 
 — Crockett goes to a reaping — ^The old Irish woman — Crock- 
 ett dances with her daughter — Makes love to her — ^A riva) 
 — Crockett lost in the woods — Meets his lady-love — Onposi- 
 tion of her mother to the marriage — Crockett married-— 
 Mother-in-law reconciled — ^Two sons born — Bemoval to Lin- 
 coln county — Removal to FrankUn county. 
 
 I ooNTiiiUED in this down-spirited situation for a 
 good long time, until one day I took my rifle and 
 started a hunting. While out, I made a call at the 
 house of a Dutch widow, who had a daughter that 
 was well enough as to smartness, but she was as 
 ugly as a stone fence. She was, however, quite 
 talkative, and soon began to laugh at me about my 
 disappointment. 
 
 She seemed disposed, though, to comfort me as 
 much as she could ; and, for that purpose, told me 
 to keep in good heart, that " there was as good fish in 
 the sea as had ever been caught out of it." I doubted 
 this very much ; but whether or not, I was certain that 
 she was not one of them, for she was so homely that 
 it almost gave me a pain in the eyes to look at her. 
 
 But I couldn't help thinking that she had intended 
 what she had said as a banter for me to court 
 her ! ! ! — the last thing in creation I could have 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 37 
 
 thought of doing. I felt little inclined to talk on 
 the subject, it is true ; but, to pass off the time, 1 
 told her I thought I was born odd, and that no 
 fellow to me could be found. She protested against 
 this, and said if I would come to their reaping, which 
 was not far off, she would show me one of the pret- 
 tiest litole girls there I had ever seen. She added 
 that the one who had deceived me was nothing to 
 be compared with her. I didn't believe a word of all 
 this, for I had thought that such a piece of flesh and 
 blood as she was had never been manufactured; and 
 never would again. I agreed with her, though, that 
 the little varment had treated me so bad, that I 
 ought to forget her, and yet I couldn't do it. I con- 
 cluded the best way to accomplish it was to cut out 
 again, and see if I could find any other that would 
 answer me ; and so I told the Dutch girl that I 
 would be at the reaping, and would bring as many 
 as I could with me. 
 
 I employed my time pretty generally in giving 
 information of it, as far as I could, until the day 
 came ; and I then offered to work for my old friend, 
 the Quaker, two days, if he would let his bound boy 
 go with me one to the reaping. He refused, and 
 reproved me pretty considerable roughly for my 
 proposition; and said, if he was in my place he 
 wouldn't go ; that there would be a great deal of 
 bad company there ; and that I had been so good a 
 boy, he would be sorry for me to get a bad name. 
 But I knowed my promise to the Dutch girl, and 
 I was resolved to fuMl it ; so I shouldered my rifle, 
 
88 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 and started by myself. "When I got to the place, I 
 found a large company of men and women, and 
 among them an old Irish woman, who had a great 
 deal to say. I soon found out from my Dutch girl, 
 that this old lady was the mother of the little girl she 
 had promised me, though I had not yet seen her. 
 She was in au out-house with some other youngsters, 
 and had not yet made her appearance. Her ma- 
 ma, however, was no way bashful. She came up to 
 me, and began to praise my red cheeks, and said she 
 had a sweetheart for me. I had no doubt she had 
 been told what I come for, and aU about it. In the 
 evening I was introduced to her daughter, ahd I 
 must confess I was plaguy well pleased Y?ith her 
 from the word go. She had a good countenance, 
 and was very pretty, and I was full bent on making 
 up an acquaintance with her. 
 
 It was not long before the dancing commenced, 
 and I asked her to join me in a reel. She very 
 readily consented to do so ; and after we had fin- 
 ished our dance, I took a seat alongside of her, and 
 entered into a talk. I found her very interesting ; 
 while I was sitting by her, making as good a use of 
 my time as I could, her mother came to us, and very 
 jocularly called me her son-in-law. This rather con- 
 fused me, but I looked on it as a joke of the old 
 lady, and tried to turn it off as well as I could ; but 
 I took care to pay as much attention to her through 
 the evening as I could. I went on the old saying, 
 of salting the cow to catch the calf. I soon become 
 so much pleased with this little girl, that I began to 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 39 
 
 think the Dutch girl had told me the truth, when 
 she said there was still good fish in the sea. 
 
 We continued our frolic till near day, when we 
 joined in some plays, calculated to amuse youngsters. 
 I had not often spent a more agreeable night. In 
 the morning, however, we all had to part ; and I 
 found my mind had become much better reconciled 
 than it had been for a long time. I went home to 
 the Quaker's, and made a bargain to work with his 
 son for a low-priced horse. He was the first one I 
 had ever owned, and I was to work six months for 
 him. I had been engaged very closely five or six 
 weeks, when this little girl run in my mind so, that 
 I concluded I must go and see her, and find out 
 what sort of people they were at home. I mounted 
 my horse and away I went to where she lived, and 
 when I got there I found her father a very clever 
 old man, and the old woman as talkative as ever. 
 She wanted badly to find out aU about me, and as I 
 thought, to see how I would do for her girl. I had 
 not yet seen her about, and I began to feel some 
 anxiety to know where she was. 
 
 In a short time, however, my impatience was re- 
 lieved, as she arrived at home from a meeting to 
 which she had been. There was a young man with 
 her, who I soon found was disposed to set up claim 
 to her, as he was so attentive to her that I could 
 hardly get to slip in a word edgeways. I began to 
 think I was barking up the wrong tree again ; but I 
 was determined to stand up to my rack, fodder or 
 no fodder. And so, to know her mind a little on 
 
40 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 the subject, I began to talk about starting, as I 
 knowed she would then show some sign, from which 
 I could understand which way the wind blowed. 
 It was then near night, and my distance was fifteen 
 miles home. At this my little girl soon began to 
 indicate to the other gentleman that his room would 
 be the better part of his company. At length she 
 left him, and came to me, and insisted mighty hard 
 that I should not go that evening; and, indeed, 
 from all her actions and the attempts she made to 
 get rid of him, I saw that she preferred me all holler. 
 But it wasn't long before I found trouble enough in 
 another quarter. Her mother was deeply enlisted 
 for my rival, and I had to fight against her influenc* 
 as well as his. But the girl herself was the prize I 
 was fighting for ; and as she welcomed me, I was d^ 
 termined to lay siege to her, let what would happen. 
 I commenced a close courtship, having cornered her 
 from her old beau ; while he set off, looking on, like 
 a poor man at a country frolic, and all the time 
 almost gritting his teeth with pure disappointment. 
 But he didn't dare to attempt anything more, for 
 now I had gotten a start, and I looked at him every 
 once in a while as fierce as a wild-cat. I stayed with 
 her until Monday morning, and then I put out for 
 home. 
 
 It was about two weeks after this that I was sent 
 for to engage in a wolf hunt, where a great number 
 of men were to meet, with their dogs and guns, and 
 where the best sort of sport was expected. I went 
 as large as life, but I had to hunt in strange wood*, 
 
LIFE OF DAVID GROOKETT. 41 
 
 and in a part of t^e ooantry whiGh was very thinly 
 inhabited. While I was out it clouded up, and 1 
 began to get scared ; and in a little while I was so 
 Bauch so, that I didn't know which way home was^, 
 nor anything about it. I set out the way I thought 
 it was, but it turned out with me,, as it always does 
 with a lost man, I was wrong, and took exactly the 
 contrary direction from the right one. And for the 
 information of young hunters, I will just say, in this 
 place, that whenever a fellow gets bad lost, the way 
 home is just the way he dont think it is. This rule 
 will hit nine times out of ten. I went ahead, though 
 about six or seven miles,, when' I found night was 
 coming on fast ; but at this distressing tiine I saw a 
 little wotpan streaking it: along through the wood's 
 like all wrath, and so I cut on too, for I was deter- 
 mined I wouldn't lose sight of her that night any 
 more. I run on till she saw me, and she stopped ; 
 tor she was as glad' toisee me as I was to see her, 
 as she was lost as well as me. When I came up to her 
 who should she be but my little girl, that I had been 
 paying my respects to? She had been out hunting 
 her father's horses, and had missed her way, and 
 had no knovvledge where she was,, or how far it was 
 to any house, or what way would, take us therci 
 She had been traveling all day, and was mighty 
 tired ; and I would have taken her up, and toated 
 her, if it hadn't been that I wanted her just where 
 I could see her all the time, for I thought she looked 
 sweeter than sugar ; and by this time I loved hej 
 alm<ost well enough to eat her. 
 
ti LIFE OF DATID CEOCKEIT. 
 
 At last I came to a path, that I know'd must go 
 aomewhere, and so we followed it, till we came to a 
 house, at about dark. Here we stayed all night. I 
 sat up all night courting, and in the murning we 
 parted. She went to her home, from which we 
 were distant about seven miles, and I to mine, which 
 was ten miles off. 
 
 I now turned in to work again ; and it was about 
 four weeks before I went back to see her. I con- 
 tinned to go occasionally, untU I had worked long 
 enough to pay for my horse, by putting in my gun 
 with my work, to the man I had purchased from ; 
 and then I began to count whether I was to be de- 
 ceived again or not. At our next meeting, we set 
 the day for our wedding ; and I went to my father's 
 to make arrangements for an inf air, and returned to 
 ask her parents for her. "When I got there, the old 
 lady appeared to be mighty wrathy ; and when I 
 broached the subject, she looked at me as savage as 
 a meat ax. The old man appeared quite willing, 
 and treated me very clever. But I hadn't been 
 there long, before the old woman as good as ordered 
 me out of her house. I thought I would put her in 
 mind of old times, and see how that would go with 
 her. I told her she had called me her son-in-law 
 before I had attempted to call her my mother-in- 
 law, and I thought she ought to cool off. But her 
 Irish was up too high to do anything with her, and 
 so I quit trying. All I cared for, was to have her 
 daughter on my side, which I knowed was the case 
 then ; but how soon some other fellow might knock 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 43 
 
 my nose out of joint again, I couldn't tell. I, how- 
 ever, felt rather insulted at the old lady, and 1 
 thought I wouldn't get married in her house. And 
 so I told her girl that I would come the next Thurs- 
 day, and bring a horse, bridle, and saddle for her, 
 and she must be ready to go. Her mother declared 
 I shouldn't have her ; but I know'd I should, if 
 somebody else didn't get her before Thursday. I 
 then started, bidding them good day, and went by 
 the house of a justice of the peace, who lived on 
 the way to my father's, and made a bargain with 
 him to marry me. 
 
 When Thursday came, all necessary arrangements 
 were made at my father's to receive my wife ; and 
 so I took my eldest brother and his wife, and an- 
 other brother, and a single sister that I had, and 
 two other young men with me, and cut out to her 
 father's house to get her. We went on, until we 
 got within two miles of the place, where we met a 
 large company that had heard of the wedding, and 
 were waiting. Some of that company went on with 
 my brother and sister, and the young man 1 had 
 picked out to wait on me. When they got there, 
 they found the old lady as wrathy as ever. How- 
 ever, the old man filled their bottle, and the young 
 men returned in a hurry. I then went on with my 
 company, and when I arrived I never pretended to 
 dismount from my horse, but rode up to the door 
 and asked the girl if she was ready ; and she said 
 she was. I then told her to light on the horse I was 
 leading ; and she did so. Her father, though, had 
 
44 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 gone out to the gate, and when I started, he com. 
 menoed persuading me to stay and marry there; 
 and that he was entirely willing to the match, and 
 that his wife, like most women, had entirely too 
 much tongue ; but that I oughtn't to mind her. I 
 told him if she would ask me to ®tay and marry at 
 her house, I would do so. With that he sent for her 
 and after they had talked .for some time out by 
 themselves, she came to me and looked at me mighty 
 good, and asked my pardon for what she had isaid, 
 and invited me to stay. She said it was the ^rst 
 child she ever had to marry ; and she couldn't bear 
 to see her go off in that way ; that if I would liglit, 
 she would do the best she oovld for us. I couldn% 
 stand everything, and so I agreed, and we gotdowa 
 and went in. I sent off then for my parson, and got 
 married in a short time ; for I was afraid to wadt 
 long, for fear of anotlier idefraiti We fead as good 
 treatment as could be expected ; and that might all 
 went on well. The next day we cut out for my 
 father's where we met a large company of peoplts, 
 that had been waiting a day and a night for our 
 arrival. We passed the time quite merrily, until 
 the company broke up ; and having gotten my wife, 
 I thought I was completely made up, and needed 
 nothing more in the whole world. But I soon found 
 this was all a mistake — for now having a wife, I 
 wanted leverything else ; and, worse than all, I had 
 aothing to give for it. 
 
 I remained a few days at my father's and then 
 went back to my new father-in-law's, where, to my 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 45 
 
 surprise,. I found my old Ii^isli motlier in the finest 
 humor in the world. 
 
 She gave us two likely cows and calTes, which, 
 though it was a small marriage portion, was still 
 better than I had expected, and, indeed, it was 
 about all I ever got. I rented a small farm and 
 cabin, and went to work '^ but I had much trouble 
 to find out a plan to get anything to put in my 
 house. At this time my good old friend the Quaker 
 came forward to my assistance, and gaive me an 
 order to a store for fifteen dollars' worth iof such; 
 thilngsasmy little wife might choose.: i With this 
 we fixed up pretty grand, as we thought, slnd aUdwed 
 to get on very welL My wife had a goodi wheel, 
 and know'd exactly how to use it. Sh« was also 
 a good weaver, as most of the Irish are, whether 
 men or women ; and being very industrious with her 
 ■wheel, she had, in a little or no time, a fine web of 
 cloth, ready to make up ; and she was good at that, 
 too, and at almost anything else that a woman 
 could do.. 
 
 We worked on for some years, renting ground and 
 paying high rent, until I found it wasn't the thing 
 it was cracked up to be, and that I couldn't make a 
 fortune at it just at all. So I concluded to quit it, 
 and cut out for some new country. In this time we 
 had two sons, and I found I was better at increasing 
 my family than my fortune. It was, therefore, the 
 more necessary that I should hunt some better place 
 to get along ; and as I knowed I would have to move 
 at some time, I thought it was better to do it before 
 
46 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 my family got too large, that I might have lese to 
 carry. 
 
 The Duck and Elk river country was just begin- 
 ning to settle, and I determined to try that. I had 
 now one old horse, and a couple of two-year-old colts. 
 They were both broke to the halter, and my father- 
 in-law proposed, that if I went, he would go with 
 me, and take one horse to help me move. So we all 
 fixed up, and I packed my two colts with as many 
 of my things as they could bear ; and away we went 
 across the mountains. We got on well enough, and 
 arrived safely in Lincoln county, on the head of the 
 Mulberry fork of Elk river. I found this a very 
 rich country, and so new that game of different 
 sorts was very plenty. It was here that I began to 
 distinguish myself as a hunter, and to lay the foun- 
 dation for all my future greatness ; but mighty little 
 did I know of what sort it was going to be. Of deer 
 and smaller game I killed abundance; but the bear 
 had been much hunted in those parts before, and 
 were not so plenty as I could have wished. I lived 
 here in the years 1809 and '10, to the best of my 
 recollection, and then I moved to Franklin county, 
 and settled on Beans creek, where I remained till 
 after the close of the last war. 
 
UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 47^ 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Creek war — Massacre at Fort Mimms — Crockett toIuiI' 
 teers — Joins Captain Jones' company of mounted volun* 
 teers — Beaty's Spring — ^Major Gibson — Crockett goes out 
 as a scout with George Bussel — Scouting adventurea— 
 Crockett returns, and reports to General Coffee — Express 
 sent to General Jackson — His arrival in camp. 
 
 I WAS living ten miles below "Winchester when the 
 Creek war commenced: and as military men are 
 making so much fuss in the world at this time, I must 
 give an account of the part I took in the defense of 
 the country. If it should make me President, why I 
 can't help it ; such things will sometimes happen, and 
 my pluck is, never to " seek nor decline office." 
 
 It is true, I had a little rather not ; but yet, if the 
 government can't get on without taking another 
 President from Tennessee, to finish the work of 
 " retrenchment and reform," why, then, I reckon I 
 must go in for it. But I must begin about the war, 
 and leave the other matter for the people to begin on. 
 
 The Creek Indians had commenced their open 
 hostilities by" a most bloody butchery at Fort 
 Mimms.* There had been no war among us for so 
 
 * This terrible disaster took place on the 80th of August, 
 1813. It is particularly described in the 7tb chapter of thii 
 work. 
 
48 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 long, that but few who were not too old to beai 
 arms, knew anything about the business. I, for one, 
 had often thought about war, and had often heard 
 it described ; and I did verily believe in my own 
 mind, that I couldn't fight in that way at all ; but 
 my after-experience convinced me that this was all 
 a notion. For, when I heard of the mischief which 
 was done at the fort, I instantly felt like going, and 
 I had none of the dread of dying that I expected to 
 feel. In a few days, a general meeting of the militia 
 was called, for the purpose of raising volunteers ; 
 and when the day arrived for that meeting, my wife, 
 who had heard me say I meant to go to the war, 
 began to beg me not tp turn out. She said she was 
 a stranger in the parts where we lived, had no con^ 
 neetioa^ living near her, and that she and our little 
 children would ,be left in a lonesome and unhappj 
 situation if I went away. It was mighty hard to 
 go against such arguments as these ; but my country, 
 men had been murdered, and I knew that the next 
 thing woul4 be that -the Indians would be scalping 
 the women and children all about there, if we didn't 
 put a stop to \L I reasoned tho case with her as 
 well as I could, anditoldher that if every man would 
 wait till his wife got willing for him to go to war, 
 there would be no fighting done, until we would all 
 be/killed in our own houses ;, that I was as able to 
 go as any man in the world, and that I believed it 
 was a duty I owed to my country. Whether she 
 was satisfied with this reasoning or not, she did not 
 tell me, but seeing I was bent on it, all she did was 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 49 
 
 to cry a little, and turn about to her work. The 
 truth is, my dander was up, and nothing but war 
 could bring it right agam. 
 
 I went to Winchester, where the muster was to 
 be, and a great many people had collected, for there 
 was as much fuss among the people about the war 
 as there is now about moving the deposites. When 
 the men were paraded, a lawyer by the name of 
 Jones addressed us, and closed by turning out him- 
 self, and inquiring at the same tiine, who among ns 
 felt like we could fight the Indians ? This was the 
 same Mr. Jones who afterwards served in Congress, 
 from the State of Tennessee. He informed us he 
 wished to raise a company, and tha* then the men 
 should meet and elect their own officers. I believe 
 I was about the second or third man that stepp'd 
 out ; but on marching up and down the regiment a 
 few times, we found we had a large company; We 
 volunteered for sixty days, as it was supposed our 
 services would not be longer wanted. A day or two 
 after this, we met and elected Mr. Jones our captain, 
 and also elected our other officers. We then r^ 
 ceived orders to start on the next Monday week ; 
 before which time I had fixed as well as I could to 
 go, and my wife had equipp'd me as well as she was 
 able for the camp. The time arrived ; I took a 
 parting farewell of my wife and my little boys, 
 mounted my horse, and set sail to join my company. 
 Expecting to be gone only a short time, I took no 
 more clothing with me than I supposed would be nee 
 essary, so that if I got into an Indian battle, I might 
 
^ LEFE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 
 
 not be pestered with any unnecessary plunder to 
 prevent my having a fair shake with them. We all 
 met and went ahead, till we passed Huntsville, and 
 camped at a large spring called Beaty's spring. 
 Here we staid for several days, in which time the 
 troops began to collect from all quarters. At last we 
 mustered about thirteen hundred strong, all mounted 
 volunteers, and all determined to fight, judging from 
 myself, for I felt wolfish all over. I verily believe the 
 whole array was of the real grit. Our captain didn't 
 want any other sort : and to try them he several 
 times told his men that if any of them wanted to go 
 back home, they might do so at any time before 
 they were regularly mustered into the service. But 
 he had the honor to command all his men from first 
 to last, as not one of them left him. 
 
 General Jackson had not yet left Nashville with 
 his old foot volunteers, that had gone with him to 
 Natchez in 1812, the year before. "While we re- 
 mained at the spring a Major Gibson came and 
 wanted some volunteers to go with him across the 
 Tennessee river and into the Creek nation, to find 
 out the movements of the Indians. He came to my 
 captain and asked for two of his best woodsmen 
 and such as were best with the rifle. The cap- 
 tain pointed me out to him and said he would be 
 security that I would go as far as the Major would 
 himself, or any other man. I willingly engaged to 
 go with him, and asked him to let me choose my 
 own mate to go with me, which he said I might do. 
 I chose a young man by the name of Georgs 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 61 
 
 Russel, a son of old Major Russel, of Tennessee. I 
 called him up, but Major Gibson said he thought he 
 hadn't beard enough to please him, — he wanted men, 
 and not boys. I must confess I was a little nettled 
 at this, for I know'd George Russel, and I know'd 
 there was no mistake in him ; and I didn't think 
 that courage ought to be measured by the beard, for 
 fear a goat would have the preference over a man. 
 I told the major he was on the wrong scent ; that 
 Eussel could go as far as he could, and I must have 
 him along. He saw I was a little wrathy, and said 
 I had the best chance of knowing, and agreed that 
 it should be as I wanted it. He told us to be ready 
 early in the morning for a start ; and so we were. 
 We took our camp equipage, mounted our horses, 
 and thirteen in number, including the major, we cut 
 out. We went on and crossed the Tennessee river 
 at a place called Ditto's Landing, and then traveled 
 about seven miles further and took up camp for the 
 night. Here a man by the name of John Haynes 
 overtook us. He had been an Indian trader in that 
 part of the nation, and was well acquainted with it. 
 He went with us as a pilot. The next morning, 
 however. Major Gibson and myself concluded we 
 should separate and take different directions to see 
 what discoveries we could make ; so he took seven 
 of the men and I five, making thirteen in all, in- 
 eluding myself. He was to go by the house of a 
 Cherokee Indian named Dick Brown and I was to 
 go by Dick's father's, and getting all the information 
 we could, we were to meet that evening where the 
 
33 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 roads came together fifteen miles the other side ci 
 Brown's. At old Mr. Brown's I got a half-blood Chei* 
 okee to agree to go with me whose name was Jack 
 Thompson. He was not then ready to start, bu| 
 was to fix that evening and overtake ns at the fork 
 road, where I was to meet Major Gibson. I know'd 
 it wouldn't be safe to camp right at the road, and 
 so I told Jack that when he got to the fork he must 
 holler like an owl and I would answer him in tha 
 same way, for I know'd it would be Jight before 
 he got there. I and my men then started and went as 
 to the place of meeting, bjit Major Gibson was not 
 there. We waited tall almost dai^, but still h» 
 didn't come. We^en left the Indian, trace a littl© 
 4istance„ and turning into the head of a hollow, 
 we struck up camp. It was about ten o'clock; at 
 night when I heard my owl, and I answered him. 
 Jack soon found us, and we determined to rest 
 there during the night. "We staid also next morn- 
 ing till after: breakfast, but in vain, for the major 
 didn't still come. 
 
 I told the men we had set out to hunt a fight and 
 I wouldn't go back in that way ; that we must go 
 ahead and see what the red men were at. We 
 started and went to a Cberokee town about twenty 
 miles off, and after a short stay there we pushed on 
 to the house of a man by the name of Eadcliflf. He 
 was a white man, but had married a, Creek woman, 
 and lived just in the edge of the Creek nation. He 
 had two sons, large, likely fellows, and a great deal 
 of potatoes and corn, and indeed almost everything 
 
lilFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 63 
 
 oise to go on, so we fed our hor^s and got dinner 
 with him, and seemed to be doing mighty well. But 
 he was bad scared all the time. He told us that 
 there had been ten painted warriors at his house 
 only an iour before, and if we were discovered 
 there they would kill us and his family with us. I re- 
 plied to him that ray business was to hun t for just such 
 fellows as lie had described, and I was determined 
 not to go back until I had done it. Our dinner be- 
 ing over, we saddled up 'Ovlt horses and made ready 
 to start. But some of my small company I found 
 were disposed to Tetum. I told them, if we were 
 to go back then, we shouM never hear the last of 
 it, and 1 was detCTmined to go ahead. I know'd 
 Home of them would go with me and that the 
 rest were afraid to go ba«k by themselves, and so 
 we pushed on to the camp of some friendly Creeks^ 
 ■which was distant about eight miles. The moon 
 was about the full and the night was clear; we 
 therefore had the benefit of her light fixam nighit to 
 morning, and I knew if we were placed in such dan. 
 ger as to make a retreat necessary we cduld travd 
 by night as well as in the daytime. 
 
 We had not got very far when we met two ne- 
 groes, well mounted on Indian ponies, and each 
 with a good rifle. They had been taken from their 
 owners by the Indians, and were running away 
 from them and trying to get back to their masters 
 again. They were brothers, both very large and 
 likely, and could talk Indian as well as English. 
 One of them I sent on to Ditto's Xanding, the other 
 
54 LIFE OF DAVIB CROCKETT. 
 
 I took back with me. It was after dark when we 
 got to the camp, where we found about forty men, 
 women and children. 
 
 They had bows and arrows, and I turned in to 
 shooting with their boys by a pine light. In this 
 way we amused ourselves very well for a while, but 
 at last the negro, who had been talking to the In- 
 dians, came to me and told me they were very much 
 alarmed, for the "red sticks," as they called the 
 war party of the Creeks, would come and find us 
 there, and if so, we should all be killed. I directed 
 him to tell them that I would watch, and if one 
 would come that night I would carry the skin of his 
 head home to make me a moccasin. When he made 
 this communication the Indians laughed aloud. At 
 about ten o'clock at night we all concluded to try 
 to sleep a little ; but that our horses might be ready 
 for use, as the treasurer said of the drafts on the 
 United States bank, on certain " contingencies," we 
 tied them up with our saddles on them, and every- 
 thing to our hand, if in the night our quarters 
 should get uncomfortable. "We lay down with our 
 guns in our arms, and I had just gotten into a doze 
 of sleep, when I heard the sharpest scream that ever 
 escaped the throat of a human creature. It was more 
 like a wrathy painter than anything else. The ne- 
 gro understood it, and he sprang to me ; for tho' 
 I heard the noise well enough, yet I wasn't wide 
 awake enough to get up. So the negro caught me, 
 and said the red-sticks was coming. I rose quicker 
 then, and asked what was the matter. Our negro 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 58 
 
 had gone and talked with the Indian who had just 
 fetched the scream, as he came into camp, and 
 learned from him that the war party had been 
 crossing the Coosa river all day at the Ten Islands, 
 and were going on to meet Jackson, and this Indian 
 had come as a runner. This news very much 
 alarmed the friendly Indians in camp, and they 
 'rere all off in a few minutes. I felt bound to make 
 ./his intelligence known as soon as possible to the 
 army we had left at the landing, and so we all 
 mounted our horses and put out in a long lope to 
 make our way back to that place. "We were about 
 sixty-five miles off. "We went on to the same Cher- 
 okee town we had visited on our way out, having 
 first called at Radoliff's, who was off with his fam- 
 ily ; and at the town we found large fires burning, 
 but not a single Indian was to be seen. They were 
 all gone. These circumstances were calculated to lay 
 our dander a little, as it appeared we must be in great 
 danger, though we could easily have licked any force 
 of not more than five to one. But we expected the 
 whole nation would be on us, and against such fear- 
 ful odds we were not so rampant for a fight. 
 
 "We, therefore, staid only a short time in the light 
 of the fires about the town, preferring the light of 
 the moon and the shade of the woods. "We pushed 
 on tin we got again to old Mr. Brown's, which was 
 still about thirty miles from where we had left the 
 main army. "When we got there, the chickens 
 were just at the first crowing for day. "We fed our 
 horses got a morsel to eat ourselves, and again cut 
 
56 UFEiOF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 out. About ten o'clock in tlie morning we reached 
 the camp, a.Hd I reported to Col. Coffee the news. 
 He didn't seem to mind my Tepoiift;a bit, and this 
 raised my dander higher than ever ;. buifc I knowed 
 I had to be on my best behavior, and so I kept it all 
 to myself ; though I was so mad that I was burning 
 inside like a tar-kHn, and I wonder that the smoke 
 hadn't been pouring out of me at all points. 
 
 Major Gibson hadn't yet returned, and we all 
 began to think he was killed ; and that night they 
 put out a double guard. The next day the Major got 
 in, and brought a worse tale than I had, though he 
 stated the same facts so far as I went. This seemed 
 to put our colonel all in a fidget; and it convinced 
 me, clearly, of One o£ the hateful vrays of the world.. 
 Whfen I made my report, it wasn't believed, because 
 I was no officer ; I was no great lUan, but just a poor 
 soldier. But when the same thing was reported by 
 Major Gibson ! ! why, then it was all as true as. 
 preaching, and the colonel believed itevery word. 
 
 He, therefore^ ordered breastworks to b© thrown 
 up near a quarter of a milei long, and sent an expresar 
 to Fayetteville, Where .General Jackson and hisi 
 troops .was, requesting them to push on like the very 
 mischief, for fear we should all be cooked up to a. 
 cracklin before they could get. there. Old Hickory- 
 face made a forced march on getting the news ; and 
 on the next day be and his men got into camp, with 
 th«ir feet all blistered from the effects of their swift 
 journey. The volunteers,, therefor^ stood guard 
 altogether, to let them rest. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CSEOCESTT. (JT 
 
 CHArXEK VI. 
 
 Crockett sent off -with a detachment — Burning of Black Wai^ 
 rior's town— 'Crockett goes a-hunting to supply prorisioa 
 for the detachment — His success — Rejoins the main army^- 
 Battle -^Kith the Indians — Return to Fort Strother-^Famine 
 in the camp — Expedition to Fort Taladega — Battle of Tala- 
 dega — Famine — Mutiny— Crockett goes home with the other 
 ' volunteers— Rejoins the ariny — Skirinish near Horse Shoe 
 Bend — Another battle — Courage and skill of General CarxoIL 
 
 About eight hundred of the volunteers, and of 
 that numbter I was one, were now; sent back, cross- 
 ing the Tennessee river, and, on through Hunts- 
 ville, so as to cross the river again at another place, 
 and to get on the Indians in another direction.* 
 After we passed Huntsville, we struck on the river 
 %t Muscle Shoals, and at & place on them called 
 Melton's Bluff. This river is here about two miles 
 wide, and a rough bottom ; so much so, indeed, ia 
 many places, as to be dangerous ; and in fording it, 
 this time, we left several of the horses belonging to 
 our men, with their feet fast in the crevices of the 
 rocks. The men, whose horses were thus left, went 
 ahead on foot. "We pushed on till we got to what 
 was caikd the Black Warrior's town, which stood 
 
 *'This was in November 1813. The detachment was com* 
 oiaaded by Genscal Coffee. 
 
68 LIFE OP DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 uear the very spot where Tuscaloosa now stands, 
 which is the seat of government for the State of 
 Alabama. 
 
 This Indian town was a large one ; but when we 
 arrived we found the Indians had all left it. There 
 was a large field of corn standing out, and a pretty 
 good supply in some cribs. There was also a fine 
 quantity of dried beans, which were very acceptable 
 to us ; and without delay we secured them as well 
 as the corn, and then burned the town to ashes ; 
 after which we left the place. 
 
 In the field where we gathered the corn we saw 
 plenty of fresh Indian tracks, and we had no doubt 
 they had been scared off by our arrival. 
 
 We then went on to meet the main army at the 
 lork road, where I was first to have met Major Gib- 
 son. We got that evening as far back as the en- 
 campment we had made the night before we reached 
 the Black Warrior's town, which we had just d^i- 
 troyed. The next day we were entirely out of 
 meat. I went to Col. Coffee, who was then in 
 command of us, and asked his leave to hunt as we 
 marched. He gave me leave, but told me to take 
 mighty good care of myself. I turned aside to hunt, 
 and had not gone far when I found a deer that had 
 just been killed and skinned, and his flesh was still 
 warm and smoking. From this I was sure that the 
 Indian who had killed it had been gone only a very 
 few minutes ; and though I was never much in favor 
 of one hunter stealing from another, yet meat was 
 so scarce in camp that I thought I must go in for it. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 59 
 
 So I just took up the deer on my horse before me, 
 and carried it on till night. I could have sold it for 
 almost any price I would have asked ; but this wasn't 
 my rule, neither in peace nor war. Whenever I 
 had anything, and saw a fellow-being suffering, I 
 was more anxious to relieve him than to benefit 
 myself. And this is one of the true secrets of my 
 being a poor man to this day. But it is my way ; 
 and while it has often left me with an empty purse, 
 which is as near the devil as anything else I have 
 seen, yet it has never left my heart empty of con- 
 solations which money couldn't buy, the consolation 
 of having sometimes fed the hungry and covered 
 the naked. 
 
 I gave all my deer away, except a small part I 
 kept for myself, and just sufficient to make a good 
 supper for my mess ; for meat was getting to be a 
 rarity to us all. "We had to live mostly on parched 
 corn. The next day we marched on, and at night 
 took up camp near a large cane brake. While here 
 I told my mess I would again try for some meat ; 
 BO I took ray rifle and cut out, but hadn't gone far, 
 when I discovered a large gang of hogs. I shot one 
 of them down in his tracks, and the rest broke 
 directly towards the camp. In a few minutes the 
 guns began to roar, as bad as if the whole army had 
 been in an Indian battle, and the hogs to squeal as 
 bad as the pig did, when the devil turned barber. 
 I shouldered my hog, and went on to the camp, and 
 when I got there I found they had killed a good 
 many of the hogs, and a fine fat cow into the bar- 
 
60 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 gain, that had broke out of the cane brake. We 
 did very well that night, and the next morning 
 marched on to a Cherokee town, where our officers 
 stopp'd, and gave the inhabitants an order on Uncle 
 Sam for their cow, and the hogs we had killed. The 
 next day we met the main army, having had, as we 
 thought, hard times, and plenty of them, though we 
 had yet seen hardly the beginning of trouble. 
 
 After our meeting we went on to Radcliff's, where 
 I had been before^ while out as a spy ; and when 
 we got there, we found he had hid all his provision& 
 We also got into the secret, that he was the very 
 rascal who had sent the runner to the Indian camp, 
 with the news that the " red sticks " were crossing 
 at the Ten Islands; and that his object was to 
 scare me and my men away, and send us back with 
 a false alarm. 
 
 To make some atonement for this, we took the 
 old scoundrel's two big sons with us, and made them 
 serve in the war. 
 
 We then marched to a place which we called 
 Camp Wills ; and here it was that Captain Cannon 
 was promoted to a colonel, and Colonel Coffee to a 
 general. We then marched to the Ten Islands, on 
 the Coosa river, where we established a fort, and 
 our spy companies were sent out. They soon made 
 prisoners of Bob Catala and his warriors, and, in a 
 few days afterwards, we heard of some Indians in a 
 town about eight miles off. So we mounted our 
 horses, and put out for that town, under the direc- 
 tion of two friendly Creeks we had taken for piIot& 
 
UPE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 61 
 
 "We had also a Cherokee colonel, Dick Brown and 
 some of his men with us. "When we got near the 
 town we divided ; one of our pilots going with 
 each division. And so we passed on each side 
 of the town, keeping near to it, until our lines 
 aet on the far side. "We then closed up at both 
 ends, so as to surround it completely ; and then we 
 sent Captain Hammond's company of rangers to 
 bring on the affray. He had advanced near the 
 town, when the Indians saw him, and they raised the 
 yell, and came running at him like so many red 
 devils. The main army was now formed in a 
 hollow square around the town, and they pursued 
 Hammond till they came in reach of us. "We then 
 gave them a fire, and they returned it, and then ran 
 back into their town. "We began to close on the 
 town by making our files closer and closer, and the 
 Indians soon saw they were our property. So 
 most of them wanted us to take them prisoners ; 
 and their squaws and all would run and take hold of 
 any of us they could, and give themselves up. I 
 saw seven squaws have hold of one man, which 
 made me think of the Scriptures. So I hollered out 
 the Scriptures was fulfilling ; that there was seven 
 women holding to one man's coat tail. But I 
 believe it was a hunting-shirt all the time. We 
 took them all prisoners that came out to us in this 
 way; but I saw some warriors run into a house 
 until I counted forty-six of them. "We pursued 
 them until we got near the house, when we saw a 
 squaw sitting in the door, and she placed her feet 
 
62 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 against the bow she had in her hand, and then took 
 an arrow, and, raising her feet, she drew with all 
 her might, and let fij at us, and she kiUed a man, 
 whose name, I believe was Moore. He was a lieu- 
 tenant, and his death so enraged us all, that she was 
 fired on, and had at least twenty balls blown 
 through her. This was the first man I ever saw 
 killed with a bow and arrow. We now shot them 
 like dogs ; and then set the house on fire, and 
 burned it up with the forty-six warriors in it. I 
 recollect seeing a boy who was shot down near the 
 house. His arm and thigh was broken, and he 
 was so near the burning house that the grease was 
 stewing out of him. In this situation he was still 
 trying to crawl along ; but not a murmur escaped 
 him, though he was only about twelve years old. 
 So sullen is the Indian, when his dander is up, that 
 he had sooner die than make a noise, or ask for 
 quarters.* 
 
 The number that we took prisoners, being added 
 to the number we killed, amounted to one hundred 
 and eighty-six ; though I don't remember the exact 
 number of either. We had five of our men killed. 
 We then returned to our camp, at which our fort 
 was erected, and known by the name of Fort 
 Strother.f No provisions had yet reached us, and 
 we had now been for several days on half rations. 
 However, we went back to our Indian town on 
 the next day, when many of the carcasses of the 
 
 * This battle is generally called the battle of Tallushatchee. 
 t This is the Fort at Ten Islands, referred to before. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 63 
 
 Indians were stfll to be seen. They looked very 
 awful, for the burning had not entirely consumed 
 them, but given them a terrible appearance, at least 
 what remained of them. It was, somehow or other, 
 found out that the house had a potato cellar under 
 it, and an immediate examination was made, for we 
 were all as hungry as wolves. We found a fine 
 chance of potatoes in it, and hunger compelled us to 
 eat them, though I had a little rather not, if I could 
 have helped it, for the oil of the Indians we had 
 burned up on the day before, had run down on 
 them, and they looked like they had been stewed 
 with fat meat. We then again returned to the 
 army, and remained there for several days, almost 
 starving, as all our beef was gone. We commenced 
 eating the beef-hides, and continued to eat every 
 scrap we could lay our hands on. At length an 
 Indian came to our guard one night, and hollered, and 
 oaid he wanted to see " Captain Jackson." He was 
 conducted to the general's markee, into which he 
 entered, and in a few minutes we received orders 
 to prepare for marching. 
 
 In an hour we were all ready, and took up the 
 line of march. We crossed the Coosa river, and 
 went on in the direction to Fort Taladega. When 
 we arrived near the place, we met eleven hundred 
 painted warriors, the very choice of the Creek na- 
 tion. They encamped near the fort, and had in- 
 formed the friendly Indians who were in it, that it 
 they didn't come out, and fight with them against 
 the whites, they would take their fort and all their 
 
64 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 ammunition and provision. Tke friendly party 
 asked three days to consider of it, and agreed that, 
 if on the third day they didn't come out ready to 
 fight with them, they might take their fort. Thus 
 they put them off. They then immediately started 
 their runner to General Jackson, and he and the 
 army pushed over, as I have just before stated. 
 
 The camp of warriors had their spies out and disr 
 covered us coming some time before we got to the 
 fort. They then went to the friendly Indians, and 
 told them Captain Jackson was coming, and had a 
 great many fine horses, and blankets, and guns and 
 everything else, and if they would come out and 
 help to whip him and to take his plunder, it should 
 all be divided with those in. the fort. They promised 
 that when Jackson came they would then come out 
 and help to whip him. It was about an hour by 
 the sun in the morning when we got near the fort. 
 We were piloted by friendly Indians and divided as 
 we had done on a former occasion, so as. to go to 
 the right and left of the fort, and, consequently, of 
 the warriors who were camped near it. Our lines 
 marched on as before, till they met in front, and 
 then dosed in the rear, i forming again into a hollow 
 square. We then sent on old Major Eussel with 
 his spy company, to bring on the battle ; Captain 
 Evans' company went also. When they got near 
 the fort, the top of it was lined with the friendly 
 Indians, crying out as loud as they could roar, 
 " How-dy-do, brother, how-dy-do ? " They kept 
 this up till Major Bussel had passed by the fort, 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. ©5 
 
 and was moving on towards tlie warriors. Thej 
 were all painted as red as scarlet, and were just as 
 naked as they were born. They had concealed 
 themselves under the bank of a branch that ran 
 partly around the fort, in the manner of a half-moon. 
 Eussel was going right into their circle, for he 
 couldn't see them, while the Indians on the top of 
 the fort were trying every plan to show him Ms 
 danger. But he couldn't understand them. At 
 last, two of them jumped from it, and ran and took 
 his horse by the bridle, and pointing to where they 
 were, told him there were thousands of them lying 
 under the bank. This brought them to a halt, and 
 about this moment the Indians fired on them, and 
 came rushing forth like a cloud of Egyptian locusts, 
 and screaming like all the young devils had been 
 turned liaose, with the old devH of aU at their head. 
 Russel's company quit their horses and took into 
 the fort, and their horses ran up to our line,, which 
 was then in full view. The warriors then came yell- 
 ing on, meeting us, and continued till they were 
 within shot of us, when we fired and killed, a con- 
 «iderable number of them. They then broke like a 
 gang of steers, and ran across to the other line, where 
 they were again fired on; and so we kept them 
 running from one line to the other^ constantly under 
 a heavy fire, till we had killed upwards of four 
 hundred of them. They fought with guns, and also 
 with their bows and arrows ; but at length they 
 made their escape through a part of our line which 
 was made up of drafted militia, which broke ranks 
 5 
 
66 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 and they passed. We lost fifteen of our men, as 
 brave fellows as ever lived or died. We buried them 
 all in one grave, and started back to our fort ; but 
 before we got there, two more of our men died of 
 wounds they had received, making our total loss 
 seventeen good fellows in that battle.* 
 
 We now remained at the fort a few days, but no 
 provision came yet, and we were all likely to perish. 
 The weather also began to get very cold ; and our 
 clothes were nearly worn out, and horses getting 
 very feeble and poor. Our officers proposed to 
 General Jackson to let us return home and get fresh 
 horses and fresh clothing, so as to be better prepared 
 for another campaign, for our sixty days had long 
 been out, and that was the time we entered for. 
 
 But the general took " the responsibility " on 
 himself, and refused. We were, however, deter- 
 mined to go, as I am to put back the deposites, if 
 I can. With this, the general issued his orders 
 against it, as he has against the bank. But we 
 began to fix for a start, as provisions were too 
 scarce, just as Clay, and Webster, and myself, are 
 preparing to fix bank matters, on account of the 
 scarcity of money. The general went and placed 
 his cannon on a bridge we had to cross, and ordered 
 out his regulars and drafted men to keep us from 
 crossing ; just as he has planted his Globe and K. C. 
 to alarm the bank men, while his regulars and 
 militia in Congress are to act as artillery men. But 
 
 * This is the famous battle of Taladega, fought under Jaek- 
 son's immediate command, Dec. 7, 1813. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 67 
 
 when the militia started to guard the bridge, they 
 woald holler back to us to bring their knapsacks 
 along when we come, for they wanted to go as bad 
 as we did, just as many a good fellow now wants 
 his political knapsack brought along, that, if when 
 we come to vote, he sees he has Sifodr shake to go, 
 he may join in and help us to take back the de- 
 posites. 
 
 "We got ready and moved on till we came near 
 the bridge where the general's men were all strung 
 along on both sides, just like the officeholders are 
 now, to keep us from getting along to the help of 
 the country and the people. But we all had our 
 flints ready picked, and our guns ready primed, that 
 if we were fired on we might fight our way through, 
 or all die together, just as we are now determined 
 to save the country from ready ruin, or to sink 
 down with it. When we came still nearer the bridge 
 we heard the guards cocking their guns, and we did 
 the same, just as we have had it in Congress, while 
 the " government " regulars and the people's volun- 
 teers have all been setting their political triggers. 
 But, after all, we marched boldly on, and not a gun 
 was fired, nor a life lost, just as I hope it will be 
 again, that we shall not be afraid of the general's 
 Globe, nor his K. C, nor his regulars, nor their 
 trigger snapping, but just march boldly over the 
 executive bridge, and take the deposites back where 
 the law placed them and where they ought to be. 
 When we had passed, no further attempt was made 
 to stop us; but the general said we were "the 
 
gg LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. ' 
 
 damned'st volunteers he had ever seen in his life j 
 that we would volunteer' and go out and fight, and 
 then at our pleasure would volwuteer and go home 
 again in spite of the devil." But we went on, and 
 near Hiintsville we met a reinforcement who were 
 going on to join the army. It consisted of a regi- 
 ment of volunteers, and was under the command of 
 some one whose name I can't remember. They 
 were sixty-day volunteers. 
 
 "W"e got home pretty safely, and in a short time 
 we had procured fresh horses and a supply of cloth, 
 ing better suited for the season ; and then we re- 
 turned to Fort Deposite, where our officers held a 
 sort of a " national convention " on the subject of a 
 message they had received from General Jackson, — 
 demanding that on our return we should serve out 
 six months. We had already served three months 
 instead of two, which was the time we had volun- 
 teered for. On the next morning the officers re- 
 ported to us the conclusions they had come to ; and 
 told us if any of us felt bound to go on and 
 serve out the six months, we could do so ; but that 
 they intended to go back home. I knowed if I 
 went back home I wouldn't rest, for I felt it my 
 duty to be out ; and when out I was, somehow or 
 other, always delighted to be in the very thickest of 
 the danger. A few of us, therefore, determined to 
 push on and join the army. The number I do 
 not recollect, but it was very small. 
 
 When we got out there, I joined Major EusseU's 
 company of spies. Before we readied the placa 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. ©J 
 
 General Jackson had started. We went on likewise, 
 and overtook him at a place where we established a 
 fort, called Fort Williams, and leaving men to guard 
 it, we went ahead ; intending to go to a place called 
 the Horseshoe Bend on the Talapoosa river. When 
 we came near that place, we began to find Indian 
 sign plenty, and we struck up camp for the night. 
 About two hours before day we heard our guard 
 firing, and we were all up in a little or no time. 
 We mended up our camp fires, and then fell back in 
 the dark, expecting to see the Indians pouring in ; 
 and intending, when they should do so, to shoot 
 them by the light of our own fires. But it hap- 
 pened they did not rush in as we had expected, but 
 commenced a fire on us as we were. We were en- 
 camped in a hollow square, and we not only returned 
 the fire, but continued to shoot as well as we could 
 in the dark, till day broke, when the Indians disap^ 
 peared. The only guide we had in shooting was to 
 notice the flash of their guns, and then shoot as 
 directly at the place as we could guess. 
 
 In this scrape we had four men killed and several 
 wounded, but whether we killed any of the Indiana 
 or not we never could tell, for it is their custom 
 always to carry off their dead, if they can possibly 
 do so. We buried ours, and then made a large log 
 heap over them and set it on fire, so that the place 
 of their deposite might not be known to the savages, 
 who we knew would seek for them that they might 
 scalp them. We made some horse litters for our 
 wounded, and took up a retreat. We moved on till 
 
70 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 we came to a large creek which we had to cross ; and 
 about half our men had crossed, when the Indians 
 commenced firing on our left wing, and they kept it 
 up very warmly. We had left Major Eussell and his 
 brother at the camp we had moved from that morn- 
 ing, to see what discovery they could make as to 
 the movements of the Indians ; and about this time 
 while a warm fire was kept up on our left, as I have 
 just stated, the major came up in our rear, and was 
 closely pursued by a large number of Indians, who 
 immediately commenced a fire on our artillery men. 
 They hid themselves behind a large log, and could 
 kill one of our men almost every shot, they being in 
 open ground and exposed. The worst of all was, 
 two of our colonels just at this trying moment left 
 their men, and by & forced ma/rch, crossed the creek 
 out of the reach of the fire. Their names, at this late 
 day, would do the world no good, and my object is 
 history alone, and not the slightest interference with 
 character. An opportunity was nov afforded for 
 Governor Carroll to distinguish himself, and on this 
 occasion he did so, by greater bravery than I ever 
 saw any other man display. In truth, I believe, as 
 firmly as I do that General Jackson is President, that 
 if it hadn't been for CarroU we should all have been 
 genteelly licked that time, for we were in a devil of 
 a fix ; part of our men on one side of the creek, and 
 part on the other, and the Indians all the time pour- 
 ing it on us, as hot as fresh mustard to a sore shin. 
 I will not say exactly that the old general was 
 whipped ; but I will say, that if we escaped it at 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. TJ 
 
 all, it was like old Henry Snider going to heaven 
 " mit a dam tite squeeze." I think he would confess 
 himself that he was nearer whipp'd this time than 
 he was at any other, for I know that all the world 
 couldn't make him acknowledge that he. was point- 
 edly whipped. I know I was mighty glad when it 
 was over, and the savages quit us, for I begun to 
 think there was one behind every tree in the woods.* 
 
 * This was the battle of Enstichopco, fought January asd, 
 1814, Jackson in oommaad. 
 
f a LIFE OF DAVID GROCE£TT. 
 
 CHAPTER YIL 
 
 Crockett joins the army for the Florida campaign — Passes 
 near Fort Mimms— Arrival at Fensacola — General Jackson 
 leaves for New Orleans — Crockett returns with his regiment 
 to Fort Mimms — Description of the Fort and the massacre — 
 March towards Pensacola — Preparations for a battle — 
 Creeks killed — Expedition of Major Russell — Return to 
 Pensacola. 
 
 Soon after this, an army was to be raised to go to 
 Pensacola, and I determined to go again with them, 
 for I wanted a small taste of British fighting, and I 
 supposed they would be there. 
 
 Here again the entreaties of my wife were thrown 
 in the way of my going, but all in vain ; for I al- 
 ways had a way of just going ahead at whatever I 
 had a mind to. One of my neighbors, hearing I 
 had determined to go, came to me, and offered me 
 a hundred dollars to go in his place as a substitute, 
 as he had been drafted. I told him I was better 
 raised than to hire myself out to be shot at ; but 
 that I would go, and he should go too, and in that 
 way the government would have the services of us 
 6oth. But we didn't caU General Jackson " the 
 government " in those days, though we used to go 
 to fight under him in the war. 
 
 I fixed up, and joined old Major Eussell again ; 
 
OFK OF DAVID CROCKETT. 73 
 
 but we couldn't start with the main army, but foU 
 lowed on in a little time, after them. In a day or 
 two, we had a hundred and thirty men in our com- 
 pany; and we went over and crossed the Muscle 
 Shoals at the same place where I had crossed when 
 first out, and when we burned the Black Warrior's 
 town. "We passed through the Choctaw and Chicke- 
 saw nations, on to Fort Stephens, and from thence 
 to what is called the Cut-o£f, at the junction of the 
 Tom-Bigby with the Alabama river. This place is 
 near old Fort Mimms, where the Indians committed 
 tlie great butch^y at the commencement of the 
 war. 
 
 We were here about two days behind the main 
 army, who had left their horses at the Cut-off, and 
 taken it on foot ; and they did this because there 
 was no chance for forage between there and Pensa- 
 cola. We did the same, leaving men enough to 
 take care of our horses, and cut on foot for that 
 place. It was about eighty miles off ; but in good 
 heart we shouldered our guns, blankets, and provi- 
 sions, and trudged merrily on. About twelve o'clock 
 the second day, we reached the encampment of the 
 main army, which was situated, on a hill, overlook- 
 ing the city of Pensacola. My commander. Major 
 Kussell, was a great favorite with Greneral Jackson, 
 and our arrival was hailed with great applause, 
 though we were a little after the feast ; for they 
 had taken the town and fort before we got there. 
 That evening we went down into the town, and 
 could see the British fleet lying in sight of the place. 
 
74 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 We got some liquor, and took a " horn " or so, and 
 went back to the camp. We remained there that 
 night, and in the morning we marched back towards 
 the Cut-off. We pursued this direction till we 
 reached old Fort Mimms, where we remained two 
 or three days. It was here that Major Eussell was 
 promoted from his command, which was only that 
 of a captain of spies, to the command of a major in 
 the line. He had been known long before at home 
 as old Major Eussell, and so we continued to call 
 him in the army. A Major Childs, from East Ten- 
 nessee, also commanded a battalion, and he, and the 
 one Russell was appointed to command, composed a 
 regiment, which, by agreement with General Jack- 
 son, was to quit his army and go to the south, to 
 kill up the Indians on the Scamby river. 
 
 General Jackson and the main army set out the 
 next morning for New Orleans, and a Colonel Blue 
 took command of the regiment which I have before 
 described. We remained, however, a few days after 
 tiie general's dieparture, and then started also on our 
 route. 
 
 As it gave rise to so much war and bloodshed, it 
 may not be improper here to give a little descrip- 
 tion of Fort Mimms, and the manner in which the 
 Indian war commenced. The fort was built right 
 in the middle of a large old field, and in it the people 
 had been forted so long and so quietly, that they 
 didn't apprehend any danger at all, and had, there- 
 fore, become quite careless. A small negro boy, 
 whose business it was to bring up the calves atnulki 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 75 
 
 ing time, had been out for that purpose, and on 
 coming back, he said he saw a great many Indians. 
 At this the inhabitants took the alarm, and closed 
 their gates and placed out their guards, which they 
 continued for a few days. But finding that no at- 
 tack was made, they concluded the little negro had 
 lied ; and again threw their gates open and set all 
 their hands out to work their fields. The same boy 
 was out again on the same errand, when, returning 
 in great haste and alarm, he informed them that he 
 had seen the Indians as thick as trees in the woods. 
 He was not believed, but was tucked up to receive a 
 flogging for the supposed lie ; and was actually get- 
 ting badly licked at the very moment when the In- 
 dians came in a troop, loaded with rails, with which 
 they stopp'd all the port-holes of the fort on one 
 side except the bastion ; and then they fell in to 
 cutting down the picketing. Those inside the fort 
 had only the bastion to shoot from, as all the other 
 holes were spiked up ; and they shot several of the 
 Indians, while engaged in cutting. But as fast as 
 one would fall, another would seize up the ax and 
 chop away, until they succeeded in cutting down 
 enough of the picketing to admit them to enter. 
 They then began to rush through, and continued 
 until they were all in. They immediately com- 
 menced scalping, without regard to age or sex ; hav- 
 ing forced the inhabitants up to one side of the fort, 
 where they carried on the work of death as a butcher 
 would in a slaughter pen. 
 The scene was particularly described to me by » 
 
76 LIFE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 
 
 young man who was in the fort when it happened, 
 and subsequently went on with us to Pensacola. 
 He said he saw his father, and mother, his four si& 
 ters, and the same number of brothers, all butchered 
 in the most shocking manner, and that he made his 
 escape by running over the heads of the crowd, who 
 were against the fort wall, to the top of the fort, 
 and then jumping off, and taking to the woods. He 
 was closely pursued by several Indians, until he came 
 to a small bayou, across which there was a log. 
 He knew the log Was hollow on the under side, so 
 he slipp'd under the log and hid himself. He said 
 he heard the Indians walk over him several times 
 back and forward. He remained, nevertheless, still 
 till night, when he came out and finished his escape. 
 The name of this young man has entirely escaped 
 my recollection, though his tale greatly excited my 
 feelings. But to return to my subject. The regi- 
 ment marched from where General Jackson had left 
 us to Fort Montgomery, which was distant from 
 Fort Mimms about a mile and a half, and there we 
 remained for some days. 
 
 Here we supplied ourselves pretty well with beef, 
 by killing wild cattle which had formerly belonged 
 to the people who perished in the fort, but had gone 
 wild after their massacre. 
 
 When we marched from Fort Montgomery, we 
 went some distance back towards Pensacola ; then 
 we turned to the left, and passed through a poor 
 piny country, till we reached thj Scamby river, 
 near which we encamped. We had about one 
 
UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 1J 
 
 thousand men, and as & part of that number, one 
 hundred and eighty-six Chickesaw and Choctaw In- 
 dians with us. That evening a boat landed from Pen- 
 sacola, bringing many articles that were both good 
 and necessary ; such as sugar and coffee, and liquors 
 of all kinds. The same evening, the Indians we had 
 along proposed to cross the river, and the officers, 
 thinking it might be well for them to do so, con- 
 sented ; and Major Kussell went with them, taking 
 sixteen white men, of which number I was one. 
 We camped on the opposite bank that night, and 
 early in the morning we set out. "We had not gone 
 far before we came to a place where the whole 
 country was covered with water, and looked like a 
 sea. We didn't stop for this, though, but just put 
 in like so many spaniels, and waded on, sometimes 
 up to our arm-pits, until we reached the pine hills, 
 which made our distance through the water about 
 a mile and a half. Here we struck up a fire to 
 warm ourselves, for it was cold, and we were 
 chilled through by being so long in the water. We 
 again moved on, keeping our spies out ; two to our 
 left near the bank of the river, two straight before 
 us, and five others on our right. We had gone in 
 this way about six miles up the river, when our 
 spies on the left came to us leaping the brush like 
 so many old bucks, and informed us that they had 
 discovered a camp of Creek Indians, and that we 
 must kill them. Here we paused for a few minutes, 
 and the prophets pow .wowed over their men awhile 
 and then got out their paint, and painted them, all 
 
78 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 according to their custom when going into battla 
 They then brought their paint to old Major Eussell, 
 and said to him that, as he was an officer, he must 
 be painted too. He agreed, and they painted him 
 just as they had done themselves. 
 
 "We let the Indians understand that we white men 
 would first fire on the camp, and then fall back so 
 as to give the Indians a chance to rush in and scalp 
 them. The Chickesaws marched on our left hand, 
 and the Choctaws on our right, and we moved on 
 tiU we got in hearing of the camp, where the In- 
 dians were employed in beating up what they called 
 chainy briar root. On this they mostly subsisted. 
 On a nearer approach, we found they were on an 
 island, and that we could not get to them. "While 
 we were chatting about this matter, we heard some 
 guns fired, and in a very short time after, a keen 
 whoop, which satisfied us that wherever it was, 
 there was war on a small scale. "With that, we all 
 broke like quarter horses for the firing, and when 
 we got there we found it was our two front spies, 
 who related to us the following story : — As they 
 were moving on, they had met with two Creeks 
 who were out hunting their horses ; as they ap- 
 proached each other, there was a large cluster of 
 green bay bushes exactly between them, so that they 
 were within a few feet of meeting before either was 
 discovered. Our spies walked up to them, and, 
 speaking in the Shawnee tongue, informed them 
 that General Jackson was at Pensacola, and they 
 were making their escape, and wanted to know 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 79 
 
 where they could get something to eat. The Creeks 
 told them that nine miles up the Conaker, the 
 river they were then on, there was a large camp of 
 Creeks, and they had cattle and plenty to eat ; and 
 further, that their own camp was on an island 
 about a mile off, and just below the mouth of the 
 Conaker. They held their conversation, and struck 
 up a fire and smoked together, and shook hands and 
 parted. One of the Creeks had a gun, the other 
 had none ; and as soon as they had parted, our 
 Choctaws turned round and shot down the one that 
 had the gun, and the other attempted to run off. 
 They snapped several times at him, but the gun 
 still missing fire, they took after him, and over- 
 taking him, one of them struck him over the head 
 with his gun, and followed up his blows till he killed 
 him. 
 
 The gun was broken in the combat, and they then 
 fired off the gun of the Creek they had killed, and 
 raised the war-whoop. When we reached them, 
 they had cut off the heads of both the Indians ; and 
 each of those Indians with us would walk up to one 
 of the heads, and taking his war-club would strike 
 on it. This was done by every one of them ; and 
 when they bad got done, I took one of their clubs 
 and walked up as they had done, and struck it on 
 the head also. At this, they all gathered round 
 me, and patting me on the shoulder, would call me 
 '" Warrior, warrior." 
 
 They scalped the heads, and then we moved on a 
 short distance to where we found a trace leading in 
 
80 UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 towards the river. We took this trace and pursued 
 it, tUi we came to where a Spaniard had been killed 
 and scalped, together with a woman who we sup- 
 posed to be his wife, and also four children. I be- 
 gan to feer mighty ticklish along about this time, 
 for I knowed if there was no danger then, there had 
 been, and I felt exactly like there still was. "We, 
 however, went on till we struck the river, and then 
 continued down it till we came opposite to the 
 Indian camp, where we found they were still beat- 
 ing their roots. 
 
 It was now late in the evening, and they were in 
 a thick cane-brake. We had some few friendly 
 Creeks with us, who said they could decoy them. 
 So we all hid behind trees and logs while the 
 attempt was made. The Indians would not agree 
 that we should fire, but picked out some of their 
 best gunners and placed them near the river. Our 
 Creeks went down to the river's side, and hailed the 
 camp in the Creek language. We heard the answer, 
 and an Indian man started down towards the river, 
 but didn't come in sight. He went back and again 
 commenced beating his roots and sent a squaw. 
 She came down and talked to our Greeks until dark 
 came on. They told her they wanted her to bring 
 them a canoe. To which she replied that their 
 canoe was on our side ; that two of their men had 
 gone out to hunt their horses, and hadn't yet re- 
 turned. They were the same two we had killed. 
 The canoe was found, and forty of our picked Indian 
 warriors were crossed over to take the camp. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 81 
 
 There was at last only one man in it, and he 
 escaped ; and they took two squaws and ten children, 
 but killed none of them, of course. 
 
 "We had run nearly out of provisions, and Major 
 Bussell had determined to go up the Oonaker to the 
 camp we had heard of from the Indians we had 
 killed. I was one that he selected to go down 
 the river that night for provisions, with the canoe, 
 to where we had left our regiment. I took with 
 me a man by the name of John Guess and one of 
 the friendly Creeks, and cut out. It was very dark, 
 and the river was so full that it overflowed the 
 banks and the adjacent low bottoms. This rendered 
 it very difficult to keep the channel, and particularly 
 as the river was very crooked. At about ten o'clock 
 at night we reached the camp, and were to return 
 by morning to Major Eussell, with provisions for his 
 trip up the river ; but on informing Colonel Blue of 
 this arrangement, he vetoed it as quick as General 
 Jackson did the bank bUl, and said, if Major Kussell 
 didn't come back the next day, it would be bad 
 times for him. I found that we were not to go up 
 the Conaker to the Indian camp, and a man of my 
 company offered to go up in my place to inform 
 Major Eussell. I let him go ; and they reached the 
 Major, as I was told, about sunrise in the morning, 
 who immediately returned with those who were 
 with him to the regiment, and joined us where we 
 crossed the river, as hereafter stated. 
 
 The next morning we all fixed up and marched 
 down the Scamby to a place called Miller's Land- 
 6 
 
82 LIFE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 
 
 ing, where we swam our horses across and sent oa 
 two companies down on the side of the bay, oppo- 
 site to Pensacola, where the Indians had fled when 
 the main army first marched to that place. One was 
 the company of Captain "William Russell, a son of 
 the old Major, and the other was commanded by a 
 Captain Trimble. They went on, and had a little 
 skirmish with the Indians. They killed some, and 
 took all the balance prisoners, though I don't re- 
 member the numbers. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 start for Chatahacby — Famine in camp — Burning of town on 
 the Chatahachy — Famine again — Crockett goes a hunting 
 — His success — Arrival at Fort Decatur — Crockett buys corn 
 with bullets — March to Fort Williams — Pass the battle- 
 groimd of Taladega — Pass the Coosa river — Crockett starts 
 for home — Returns home — Joy of his family — Crockett's 
 sentiments on the warrior career — Close of the war, 
 
 "When we made a move from the point where 
 we met the companies, we set out for Chatahachy, 
 the place for which we had started when we left 
 Fort Montgomery. At the start, we had taken 
 only twenty days' rations of flour, and eight 
 days' rations of beef, and it was now thirty. 
 four days before we reached that place. "We were, 
 therefore, in extreme suffering for want of some- 
 thing to eat, and exhausted with our exposure and 
 the fatigues of our journey. I remember well, that 
 I had not myself tasted bread but twice in nineteen 
 days. I had brought a pretty good supply of coffee 
 from the boat that had reached us from Pensacola, 
 on the Scamby, and on that we chiefly subsisted. 
 At length, one night our spies came in, and informed 
 us they had found Holm's village on the Chatahachy 
 river; and we made an immediate push f©r that 
 place. We traveled all night expecting to get some- 
 thing to eat when we got there. We arrived aboa^ 
 
84 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 sunrise, and near the place prepared for battle. 
 We were all so furious, that even the certainty of a 
 pretty hard fight could not have restrained us. "We 
 made a furious charge on the town ; but to our great 
 mortification and surprise; .there was not a human 
 being in it. The Indians had all run off and left it. 
 We burned the town, however, but, melancholy to 
 tell, we found no provision whatever. "We then 
 turned about, and went back to the camp we had left 
 the night before, as nearly starved as any set of 
 poor fellows ever were in the world. 
 
 We stayed there only a little while, when we di- 
 vided our regiment ; and Major Cbilds, with his 
 men, went back the way we had come for a consider- 
 able distance, and then turned to Baton-Eouge, 
 where they joined General Jackson and the main, 
 army on their return from Orleans, Major Rus- 
 sell and his men struck for Fort Pecatur, on the 
 Talapoosa river. Some of our friendly Indians, who 
 knew the country, went on ahead of us, as we had 
 no trail except the one they made to follow. With 
 them we sent some of our ablest horses and men, to 
 get us some provisions, to prevent us from abso- 
 lutely starving to death. As the army marched, I 
 hunted every day, and would kill every hawk, bird, 
 and squirrel that I could find. Others did the same ; 
 and it was a rule with us, that when we stopp'd at 
 night, the hunters would throw all they had killed in 
 a pile, • and then we would make a general division 
 among all the men. One evening I came in, having 
 killed nothing that day. I had a very sick man in my 
 
LIFE OB- DAVID CROCKETT. g5 
 
 inees, and I wanted something for him to cat, even 
 if I starved myself. So I went to the fire of a Cap- 
 tain Cowen, who commanded my company after the 
 promotion of Major Eussell, and informed him that 
 I was on the hunt of something for a sick man to 
 eat. I know'd the captain was as bad off as the rest 
 of us, but I found him broiling a turkey's gizzard. 
 He said he had divided the turkey out among the 
 sick, that Major Smiley had killed it, and that 
 nothing else had been killed that day. I imme- 
 diately went to Smiley's fire, where I found him 
 broiling another gizzard. I told him that it was 
 the first turkey I had ever seen have two gizzards. 
 But so it was, I got nothing for my sick man. 
 And now, seeing that every fellow must shift for 
 himself, I determined that in the morning I would 
 come up missing; so I took my mess, and cut out to 
 go ahead of the army. "We know^d that nothing 
 more could happen to us if we went than if we stayed, 
 for it looked like it was to be starvation any way ; 
 we therefore determined to go on the old saying, 
 root hog or die. We passed two camps, at which 
 our men, that had gone on before us, had killed In- 
 dians. At one they had killed nine, and at the 
 other three. About daylight we came to a small 
 river, which I thought was the Scamby ; but we 
 continued on for three days, killing little or nothmg 
 to eat ; till, at last, we all began to get nearly ready 
 to give up the ghost, and lie down and die ; for we 
 had no prospect of provision, and we knew we 
 couldn't go much further vnthout it. 
 
86 LIFE OF BAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 We came to a large prairie, that was about sia: 
 miles across it, and in this 1 saw a trail which 1 
 knowed was made by bear, deer, and turkeys. We 
 went on through it till we came to a large creek, 
 and the low grounds were all set over with wild 
 rye, looking as green as a wheat field. We here 
 made a halt, unsaddled our horses, and turned them 
 loose to graze. 
 
 One of my companions, a Mr. Yanzant, and my- 
 self, then went up the low grounds to hunt. We 
 had gone some distance, finding nothing ; when, at 
 last, I found a squirrel, which I shot, but he got into 
 a hole in the tree. The game was small, but neces- 
 sity is not very particular ; so I thought I must have 
 him, and I climbed that tree thirty feet high, with- 
 out a limb, and pulled him out of his hole. . I 
 shouldn't relate such small matters, only to show 
 what lengths a hungry man will go to, to get some- 
 thing to eat. I soon killed two other squirrels, and 
 fired at a large hawk. At this a large gang ot 
 turkeys rose from the cane-brake, and flew across 
 the creek to where my friend was, who had just 
 before crossed it. He soon fired on a large gobbler, 
 and I heard it fall. By this time, my gun was 
 loaded again, and I saw one sitting on my side of 
 the creek, which had flew over when he fired ; so I 
 blazed away, and down I brought him. I gathered 
 him up, and a fine turkey he was. I now began to 
 think we had struck a breeze of luck, and almost 
 forgot our past sufferings, in the prospect of once 
 more having something to eat. I raised the shout, 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 87 
 
 and my comrade came to me, and we went on to our 
 camp with the game we had killed. While we were 
 gone, two of our mess had been out, and each of 
 them had found a bee tree. We turned into cook- 
 ing some of our game, but we had neither salt nor 
 bread. Just at this moment, on looking down the 
 creek, we saw our men, who had gone on before us 
 for provisions, coming to us. They came up, and 
 measured out to each man a cupful of flour. "With 
 this, we thickened our soup, when our turkey was 
 cooked, and our friends took dinner with us, and 
 then went on. 
 
 We now took our tomahawks, and went out and 
 cut our bee trees, out of which we got a fine chance 
 of honey ; though we had been starving so long 
 that we feared to eat much at a time, till, like the 
 Irish by hanging, we got used to it again. We 
 rested that night without moving our camp ; and 
 the next morning myself and Vanzant again turned 
 out to hunt. We had not gone far, before I wounded 
 a fine buck very badly ; and while pursuing him, 
 I was walking on a large tree that had fallen down, 
 when from the top of it a large bear broke out and 
 ran off. I had no dogs, and I was sorry enough for 
 it ; for of all the hunting I ever did, I have always 
 delighted most in bear hunting. Soon after this, I 
 killed a large buck ; and we had just gotten him to 
 camp, when our poor starved army came up. They 
 told us, that to lessen their suflferings as much as 
 possible. Captain William Eussell had had his horse 
 led up to be shot for them to eat, just at the moment 
 
88 LIFE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 
 
 that they saw our men returmng, who had carried 
 on the flour. 
 
 We were now about fourteen miles from Fort 
 Decatur, and we gave away all our meat and honey, 
 and went on with the rest of the army. When we 
 got there, they could give us only one ration of 
 meat, but not a mouthful of bread. I immediately 
 got a canoe, and taking my gun, crossed over the 
 river, and went to the Big Warrior's town. I had 
 a large hat, and I offered an Indian a silver dollar 
 for my hat full of corn. He told me that his com 
 was all " shuestea^^ which in English means, it was 
 all gone. But he showed me where an Indian lived, 
 who, he said, had corn. I went to him and made 
 the same offer. He could talk a little broken 
 English, and said to me, " You got any powder % 
 Ton got bullet ? " I told him I had. He then said, 
 " Me swap my corn for powder and bullet." I took 
 out about ten bullets, and showed him ; and hepro- 
 |)osed to give me a hat full of corn for them. I took 
 him up inighty quick. I then offered to give him 
 ten charges of powder for another hat full of corn. 
 To this he agreed very willingly. So I took off my 
 hunting shirt, and tied up my corn ; and though it 
 had cost me very little of my powder and lead, yet 
 I wouldn't have taken fifty silver dollars for it. I 
 returned to the camp, and the next morning we 
 started for the Hickory Ground, which was thirty 
 miles off. It was here that General Jackson met 
 the Indians, and made pea«e with the body of the 
 nation. 
 
LIFE OP DAVID CROCKETT. 89 
 
 We got nothing to eat at this plape, and we had 
 yet to go forty-nine miles, over a rough and wilder- 
 ness country, to Fort Williams. Parched com, and 
 but little even of that, was our daily subsistence. 
 When we reached Fbrt WiMiams, we got one ration 
 of pork,^and one. of flour, which was our only hope 
 until we could reach Fort Strother. 
 
 The horses were now giving out, and I remember 
 to have seen thirteen good hors^ left in one day, 
 the saddles and bridles being thrown away. It 
 was thirty -nine miles to Fort Strother, and we had 
 to pass directly by Fort, Talladega, where we first 
 had the big Indian battle with the eleven hundred 
 painted warriors. We went through the. old battle 
 ground, and it looked like a great gourd patch ; the 
 skulls of the Indians who were, killed, still lay scatr. 
 teped all about, and many of their frames Were still 
 perfect, as the bones, had not separated. But about, 
 five miles before we got to thife hattlie ground, I 
 sja?uck a trail, which I followed until it led me to 
 one of their towns. Here I swapp'd some more of 
 my powder and buUets for a little corn. 
 
 I pursued on, by myself, till some time after night, 
 when I came up to the rest of the army. That 
 night my company and myself did pretty well, as I 
 divided out my corn among them. The next morn- 
 ing we met the East Tennessee troops, who were on 
 the road to Mobile, and my youngest brother was 
 with them. They had plenty of corn and provi- 
 sions, and they gave me what I wanted for myself 
 and my horse. I remained with them that night. 
 
90 LIFE OF DAVrO CROCKETT. 
 
 though my company went ar,ross the Coosa rivor to 
 the fort, where they also had the good fortune to 
 find plenty of provisions. Next morning, I took 
 leave of my brother and all my old neighbors, for 
 there were a good many of them with him, and 
 crossed over to my men at the fort. Here I had 
 enough to go on, and after remaining a few days, 
 cut out for home. Nothing more, worthy of the 
 reader's attention, transpired till I was safely landed 
 at home once more with my wife and children. I 
 found them all well and doing well ; and though I 
 was only a rough sort of backwoodsman, they 
 seemed mighty glad to see me, however little the 
 quality folks might suppose it. For I do reckon we 
 love as hard in the backwood country as any people 
 in the whole creation. 
 
 But I had been home only a few days when we 
 received orders to start again, and go on to the 
 Black Warrior and Cahawba rivers, to see if there 
 was no Indians there. I know'd well enough there 
 was none, and I wasn't willing to trust my craw 
 any more where there was neither any fighting to 
 do, nor anything to go on ; and so I agreed to give 
 a young man, who wanted to go, the balance of my 
 wages if he would serve out my time, which was 
 about a month. He did so, and when they re- 
 turned, sure enough they hadn't seen an Indian, any 
 more than if they had been all the time chopping 
 wood in my clearing. This closed my career as a 
 warrior, and I am glad of it, for I like life now a 
 heap better than I did then, and I am glad all over 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 91 
 
 that I lived to see these times, which I should not 
 have done if 1 had kept fooling along in war, and 
 got used up at it. When I say 1 am glad, I just 
 mean I am glad that I am alive, for there is a con- 
 founded heap of things I an't glad of at all. I an't 
 glad, for example, that the "government" moved 
 the deposites, and if my military glory should take 
 such a turn as to make me president after the 
 general's time, I'll move them back ; yes, I, the 
 " government," wiU " take the responsibility," and 
 move them back again. If I don't, I wish I may be 
 shot. 
 
 But I am glad that I am now through war matters, 
 and I reckon the reader is too, for they have no fun 
 in them at all; and less if he had had to pass 
 through them first, and then write them after- 
 wards. But for the dulness of their narrative, I 
 must try to make amends by relating some of the 
 curious things that happened to me in private life^ 
 and whenyb/'cec? to become a public man, as I shall 
 have to be again, if ever I consent to take the 
 presidential chair. 
 
LIFE OF BAVm CROCKETT. 
 
 CHAPTER IX, 
 
 Death of Mrs. Crockett— His family— Crockett courts a s(* 
 dier's widow— Marries again— New family— Emigrates— 
 Perilous journey— Sickness — Returns home — Second sick- 
 ness — Crockett settles on Shoal Creek — Regulators — 
 Crockett a magistrate — Amusing account of his proceed- 
 ings — Learning how to make out written warrants, and to 
 keep a docket — His success as a magistrate. 
 
 I ooNTiiTOED at home now, ■vrorking my farm for 
 two years, as the war finally closed soon after I 
 quit the service. The battle at New Orleans had 
 already been fought, and treaties were made with 
 the Indians, which put a stop to their hostilities. 
 
 But in this time, I met with the hardest trial 
 which ever falls to the lot of man. Death, that 
 cruel leveler of all distinctions, — to whom the prayers 
 and tears of husbands, and of even helpless infancy, 
 are addressed in vain, — entered my humble cottage, 
 and tore from my children an affectionate good 
 motber, and from me a tender and loving wife. 
 
 It is a scene long gone by, and one which it would 
 be supposed I had almost forgotten ; yet, when I 
 turn my memory back on it, it seems as but the 
 work of yesterday. It was the doing of the Al- 
 mighty, whose ways are always right, though we 
 sometimes think they fall heavily on us; and as 
 
UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 93 
 
 painful as is even yet the remembrance of her 
 sufferings, and the loss sustained by my little chil- 
 dren and myself, yet I have no wish to lift up the 
 voice of complaint. I was left with three children ; 
 the two eldest were sons, the youngest a daughter, 
 and, at that time, a mere infant. It appeared to 
 me, at that moment, that my situation was the 
 worst in the world. I couldn't bear the thought of 
 scattering my children, and so 1 got my youngest 
 brother, who was also married, and his family to 
 live with me. They took as good care of my chil- 
 dren as they well could, but yet it wasn't all like 
 the care of a mother. And though their company 
 was to me in every respect like that of a brother 
 and sister, yet it fell far short of being like that of 
 a wife. So I came to the conclusion it wouldn't do, 
 but that I must have another wifci 
 
 There lived in the neighborhood a widow lady, 
 whose husband had been killed in the war. She 
 had two children, a son and. daughter, and both 
 quite small, like iny o^vn. I began to think that, as 
 we were both in the same situation, it might be that 
 we could do something for each other ; and there- 
 fore began to hint a little around the matter, as we 
 were once in a while together. She was a good in- 
 dustrious woman, and owned a snug little farm, and 
 lived quite comfortable. I soon began to pay my 
 respects to her in real good earnest ; but I was aa 
 sly about it as a fox when he is going to rob a hen- 
 roost. I found that my company wasn't at all dis- 
 agreeable to her : and I thought I could treat her 
 
H LIFE OF DAVID CROCEETT. 
 
 children with so much friendship as to make her a 
 good stepmother to mine, and in this I wasn't mis- 
 taken, as we soon bargained, and got married, and 
 then went ahead. In a great deal of peace we 
 raised our first crop of children, and they are all 
 married and doing well. But we had a second crop 
 together ; and I shall notice them as I go along, as 
 my wife and myself both had a hand in them, and 
 they therefore belong to the history of my second 
 marriage. 
 
 The next fall after this marriage, three of my 
 neighbors and myself determined to explore a new 
 country. Their names were Eobinson, Frazier, and 
 Rich. "We set out for the Creek country, crossing 
 the Tennessee river ; and after having made a day's 
 travel, we stopp'd at the house of one of my old 
 acquaintances, who had settled there after the war. 
 Eesting here a day, Frazier turned out to hunt, 
 being a great hunter ; but he got badly bit by a 
 very poisonous snake, and so we left him and went 
 on. We passed through a large rich valley, called 
 Jones's Valley, where several other families had set- 
 tled, and continued our course till we came near to 
 the place where Tuscaloosa now stands. Here we 
 camped, as there were no inhabitants, and hobbled 
 out our horses for the night. About two hours be- 
 fore day, we heard the bells on our horses going 
 back the way we had come, as they had started to 
 leave us. AJs soon as it was daylight, I started in 
 pursuit of them on foot, and carrying my rifle, 
 which was a very heavy one. I went ahead the 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 95 
 
 whole day, wading creeks and swamps, and climbing 
 mountains ; but I couldn't overtake our horses, 
 though I could hear of them at every house they 
 passed. I at last found I couldn't catch up with 
 them, and so I gave up the hunt, and turned back to 
 the last house I had passed, and stayed there till 
 morning. From the best calculation we could make 
 I had walked over fifty miles that day ; and the 
 next morning I was so sore, and fatigued, that I felt 
 like I couldn't walk any more. But 1 was anxious 
 to get back to where I had left my company, and 
 so I started and went on, but mighty slowly, till 
 after the middle of the day. I now began to feel 
 mighty sick, and had a dreadful headache. My 
 rifle was so heavy, and I felt so weak, that I lay 
 down by the side of the trace, in a perfect wilder- 
 ness too, to see if I wouldn't get better. In a short 
 time some Indians came along. They had some ripe 
 melons, and wanted me to eat some, but I was so 
 sick I couldn't. They then signed to me, that I 
 would die, and be buried ; a thing I was confound- 
 edly afraid of myself. But I asked them how near 
 it was to any house ? By their signs, again, they 
 made me understand it was a mile and a half. I 
 got up to go ; but when I rose, I reeled about like a 
 cow with the blind staggers, or a fellow who had 
 taken too many "horns." One of the Indians pro- 
 posed to go with me, and carry my gun. I gave 
 him half a doUar, and accepted his oflFer. "We got 
 to the house, by which time I was pretty far gone, 
 but was kindly received, and got on to a bed. The 
 
96 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 woman did all she could for me with her warm teas, 
 but I still continued bad enough, with a high fever 
 and generally out of my senses. The next day two 
 of my neighbors were passing the road, and heard 
 of my situation, and came to where I was. Th^y 
 were going nearly the route I had intended to go, 
 to look at the country ; and so they took me first 
 on one of their horses, and then on the other, till 
 they got me back to where I had left my company. 
 I expected I would get better, and be able to go on 
 with them, but, instead of this, I got worse and 
 worse ; and when we got there, I wasn't able to sit 
 up at all. I thought now the jig was mighty nigh 
 up with me, but I determined to keep a stiff upper 
 lip. They carried me to a house, and each of my 
 comrades bought him a horse, and they all set out 
 together, leaving me behind. I knew but little that 
 was going on for about two weeks ; but the family 
 treated me with every possible kindness in their 
 power, and I shall always feel thankful to them. 
 The man's name was Jesse Jones. At the end of 
 two weeks I began to mend without the help of a 
 •doctor, or of any doctor's means. In this time, 
 however, as they told me, I was speechless for five 
 days, and they had no thought that I would ever 
 speak again,— in Congress or anywhere else. And 
 so the woman, who had a bottle of Bateman's drops, 
 thought if they killed me, I would only die anyhow, 
 and so she would try it with me. She gave me the 
 whole bottle, which throwed me into a sweat that 
 continued on me all ni^t ; when at last I seemed to 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 97 
 
 wake up, and spoke, and asked her for a drink of 
 water. This almost alarmed her, for she was look- 
 ing every minute for me to die. She gave me the 
 water, and, from that time, 1 began slowly to mend 
 and so kept on till I was able at last to walk about 
 a little. I might easily have been mistaken for one 
 of the Kitchen Cabinet, I looked so much like a 
 ghost. I have been particular in giving a history of 
 this sickness, not because I believe it will interest 
 any body much now, nor, indeed, do I certain^ 
 know that it ever will. But if I should be forced to 
 take the " white house," then it will be a good his- 
 tory ; and every one will look on it as important. 
 And I can't for my life help laughing now, to thinJj^ 
 that when all my folks get around me, wanting good 
 fat oflBces, how so many of them will say, " What a 
 good thing it was that that kind woman had a boit- 
 tie of drops that saved Peestoent Cbookett's life, — 
 the second greatest and best " 1 ! ! ! ! Oood, says I, 
 my noble fellow ! You take the post office ; or the 
 navy ; or the war office ; or, may be, the treasury. 
 But if I give him the treasury, there's no devil if I 
 don't make him agree first to fetch back them de- 
 posites. And if it's even the post office, I'll make 
 him promise to keep his money 'counts without any 
 figuring, as that throws the whole concern heels 
 over head in debt, in little or no time. 
 
 But when I got so I could travel a little, I got a 
 
 wagoner who was passing along to haul me to where 
 
 he lived, which was about twenty miles from my 
 
 house. I still mended as we went along, and when 
 
 7 
 
98 LIFE OF DAVID CKOCKETT. 
 
 we got to his stopping place, I hired one of his horses^ 
 and went on home. I was so pale, and so much 
 reduced, that my face looked Mke it had been half 
 soled with brown paper. 
 
 When I got there, it was to the utter astonish- 
 ment of my wife ; for she supposed I was dead. My 
 neighbors who had started with me had returned 
 and took my horse home, which they had found 
 with theirs ; and they reported that they had seen 
 men who had helped to bury me ; and who saw me 
 draw my last breath. I know'd this was a whopper 
 of a lie, as soon as I heard it. My wife had hired a 
 man, and sent him out to see what had become of 
 my money and other things; but I had missed 
 the man as I went in, and he didn't return until 
 some time after I got home, as he went all the way 
 to where I lay sick, before he heard that I was still 
 in the land of the living and a-kicking. 
 
 The place on which I lived was sickly, and I was 
 determined to leave it. I therefore set out the next 
 fall to look at the country which had been pur- 
 chased of the Chickesaw tribe of Indians. I went 
 on to a place called Shoal Creek about eighty miles 
 from where I lived, and here again I got sick. I 
 took the ague and fever, which I supposed was 
 brought on by my camping out. I remained here 
 for some time, as I was unable to go farther ; and 
 in that time I became so well pleased with the coun- 
 try about there, that I resolved to settle in it. It 
 was just only a little distance in the purchase, and 
 no order had been established there ; but I thought I 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 99 
 
 could get along without order as well as anybody 
 else. And so I moved and settled myself down on 
 the head of Shoal Creek. We remained here some 
 two or three years, without any law at all ; and so 
 many bad characters began to flock in upon us, that 
 we found it necessary to set up a sort of temporary 
 government of our own. I don't mean that we 
 made any president, and called him the " govern- 
 ment," but we met and made what we called a cor- 
 poration ; and I reckon we called it wrong, for it 
 wasn't a bank, and hadn't any deposites ; and now 
 they call the bank a corporation. But be this as it 
 may, we lived in the backwoods, and didn't profess 
 to know much, and no doubt used many wrong 
 words. But we met, and appointed magistrates and 
 constables to keep order. "We didn't fix any laws 
 for them, though; for we supposed they would 
 know law enough, whoever they might be ; and so 
 we left it to themselves to fix the laws. 
 
 I was appointed one of the magistrates ; and when 
 a man owed a debt, and wouldn't pay it, I and my 
 constable ordered our warrant, and then he would; 
 take the man, and bring him before me for trial. I 
 would give judgment against him, and then an order 
 for an execution would easily scare the debt out of 
 him. If anj"^ one was charged with markmg his 
 neighbor's hogs, or with stealing anything, — which 
 happened pretty often in those days, — I would have 
 him taken, and if there were tolerable grounds for 
 the charge, I would have him well whipp'd and 
 cleared. We kept this up till our Legislature added 
 
100 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 usi to the white settlements in Giles county, and 
 appointed magistrates by law, to organize matters 
 in the parts where I lived. They appointed nearly 
 every man a magistrate who had belonged to our 
 corporation. I was then, of course, made a squire, 
 according to law ; though now the honor rested 
 more heavily on me than before. For, at first, 
 whenever I told my constable, says I — " Catch that 
 fellow and bring him up for trial," — away he went, 
 aaid the fellow must come, dead or alive; for we 
 considered this a good warrant, though it was only 
 in verbal writing. But after I was appointed by the 
 assembly, they told me my warrants must be in real 
 ■writing, and signed ; and that I must keep a book,, 
 and write ray proceedings in it. This was a hard 
 business on me, for I could just barely write my own 
 name : but to do this, and write the warrants too, 
 •^as at least a huckleberry over my persimmon. 
 I had a pretty well informed constable, however, and 
 he aided me very much in this business. Indeed, I 
 had so much confidence in him, that I told him, 
 vhen we should happen to be out anywhere, and 
 see that a warrant was necessary, and would have a 
 good effect, he needn't take the trouble to come all 
 tiie wg,y to me to get one, but he could just fill out 
 one ; and then on the trial I could correct the whole 
 business if he had committed any error. In this way 
 I got on pretty well, till by care and attention I 
 improved my handwriting in such a manner as to 
 be able to prepare my warrants, and keep my record 
 book without much difficulty. My judgments were 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 101 
 
 never appealed from, and if they had been, they 
 would have stuck like wax, as I gave my decisions 
 on the principles of common justice and honesty 
 between man and man, and relied on natural born 
 sense, and not on law learning to guide me ; for I 
 had never read a page in a law book in all my life. 
 
lOa LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Captain Matthew's intrigue — Crockett a candidate for mil> 
 itary office — Matthew's artf ill dodge — ^Detected by Crock* 
 ett, who defeats him, and is elected Colonel — Crockett a 
 candidate for the Legislature — On the stump — Election- 
 eering — Hunting party — Speech-making tough work — ^TeUs 
 anecdotes — Gains his election — Colonel Polk — The judiciary 
 — ^Loss of property — Failure— Gives up all to his creditors. 
 
 About the time we were getting under good head- 
 way in our new government, a Captain Matthews 
 came to me and told me he was a candidate for the 
 office of colonel of a regiment, and that I must run 
 for first major in the same regiment. I objected to 
 this, telling him that I thought I had done my 
 share of fighting, and that I wanted nothing to do 
 with military appointments. 
 
 He still insisted, until at last I agreed, and of 
 course had every reason to calculate on his support 
 in my election. He was an early settler in that 
 country, and made rather more corn than the rest 
 of us ; and knowing it would afford him a good 
 opportunity to electioneer a little, he made a great 
 corn husking, and a great frolic, and gave a genera] 
 treat, asking everybody over the whole country. 
 Myself and my family were, of course, invited. 
 "When I got there, I found a very large collection trf 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 108 
 
 people and some friend of mine soon informed me 
 that the captain's son was going to ofifer against me 
 for the office of major, which he had seemed so 
 anxious for me to get. I cared nothing about the 
 office, but it put my dander up high enough to see, 
 that after he had pressed me so hard to offer, he 
 was countenancing, if not encouraging, a secret plan 
 to beat me. 
 
 I took the old gentleman out, and asked him 
 about it. He told me it was true his son was going 
 to run as a candidate, and that he hated worse to 
 run against me than any man in the county. I told 
 him his son need give himself no uneasiness about 
 that ; that I shouldn't run against him for major, 
 but against his daddy for colonel. He took me by 
 the hand, and we went into the company. He then 
 made a speech and informed the people that I was 
 his opponent. I mounted up for a speech too. I 
 told the people the cause of my opposing him, re- 
 marking that as I had the whole family to run 
 against anyway, I was determined to levy on the 
 head of the mess. When the time for election 
 came, his son was opposed by another man for ma- 
 jor ; and he and his daddy were both badly beaten. 
 I just now began to take a rise, as in a little time I 
 was asked to offer for the Legislature in the coutt 
 ties of Lawrence and Heckman. 
 
 I offered my name in the month of February, and 
 started about the first of March with a drove of 
 horses to the lower par* of the State of North Car- 
 olina. This was in the year 1821, and 1 was gone 
 
104 UFE OF DAVID OBOCKETT. 
 
 upwards of three months. I returned, and set out 
 electioneering, which was a bran-fire new business to 
 me. It now became necessary that I should tell the 
 people something about the government, and an eter- 
 nal sight of other things that I knowed nothing more 
 about than I did about Latin and law, and such 
 things as that. I have said before that in those days 
 none of us called General Jackson the government, 
 nor did he seem in as fair a way to become so as I do 
 now ; but I knowed so little about it, that if any one 
 had told me he was " the government," I should 
 have believed it, for I had never read even a news- 
 paper in my life, or anything else, on the subject. 
 But over all my difficulties, it seems to me I was 
 born for luck, though it would be hard for any one 
 to guess what sort. I will, however, explain that, 
 hereafter. 
 
 I went first imto Heekmain county, to see what I 
 oonld do among the people as a candidate. Here 
 they told me that they wanted to move their town 
 nearer to the center of the county, and I must come 
 out in favor of it. There's no devil if I knowed 
 what this meant, or how the town was to be moved ; 
 and so I kept dark, going on the identical same plan 
 that I now find is called " non-oommittal." About 
 this time there was a great squirrel hunt on Duck 
 river, which was among ray people. They were to 
 hunt two days ; then to meet and count the scalps, 
 and have a big barbecue, and what might be called 
 a tip-top country frolic. The dinner, and a general, 
 treat, was kll to be paid for by the party having^ 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 105 
 
 taken the fewest scalps. I joined onei eide, taking 
 the place of one of the hunters, and got a gnu ready 
 for the hunt. I killed a great many squirrels, and 
 when we counted scalps, my party was victorious. 
 
 The company had everything to eat and drink 
 that could be furnished in so new a country, and 
 much fun and good humor prevailed. But before 
 the regular frolic commenced, I mean the dancing, 
 I was called on to make a speech as a candidate ; 
 which was a business I was as ignorant of as an 
 outlandish negro. 
 
 A public document I had never seen, nor did I 
 know there were such things ; and how to begin I 
 couldn't tell. I made many apologies, and tried to 
 get off, for I know'd I had a man to run against 
 who could speak prime, and I know'd, too, that I 
 wasn't able to shuffle and cut with him. He was 
 there, and knowing my ignorance as well as I did 
 myself, he also urged me to make a speech. Thie 
 truth is, he thought my being a candidate was a 
 mere matter of sport ; and didn't think for a mo- 
 ment, that he was in any danger from an ignoranf* 
 backwoods bear hunter. But I found I couldn't get 
 off, and so I determined just to go ahead, and leave 
 it to chance what I should say. I got up and told 
 the people I reckoned they know'd what I had come 
 for, but if not, I could tell them. I had come for 
 their votes, and if they didn't watch mighty close 
 I'd get them too. But the worst of all was, that I 
 could not tell them anything about government I 
 tried to speak about something, and I cared reiy 
 
106 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 iittle what, until I choaked up as bad as if my 
 mouth had been jamm'd and cramm'd chock full of 
 dry mush. There the people stood, listening all the 
 while, with their eyes, mouths, and ears all open, to 
 catch every word I would speak. 
 
 At last I told them I was like a fellow I had 
 heard of not long before. He was beating on the 
 head of an empty barrel near the roadside, when a 
 traveler, who was passing along, asked him what he 
 was doing that for 1 The fellow replied that there 
 was some cider in that barrel a few days before, and 
 he was trying to see if there was any then, but if 
 there was he couldn't get at it. I told them that 
 there had been a little bit of a speech in me a while 
 ago, but I believed I couldn't get it out. They all 
 roared out in a mighty laugh, and I told some other 
 anecdotes, equally amusing to them, and believing I 
 had them in a first-rate way, I quit and got down, 
 thanking the people for their attention. But I took 
 care to remark that I was as dry as a powder-horn, 
 and that I thought it was time for us all to wet our 
 whistles a little; and so I put off to the liquor- 
 stand, and was followed by the greater part of the 
 crowd. 
 
 I felt certain this was necessary, for I knowed my 
 competitor could talk government matters to them 
 as easy as he pleased. He had , ho wever, mighty few 
 left to hear him, as I continued with the crowd, now 
 and then taking a horn, and telling good-humored 
 stories, till he was done speaking. I found I was 
 good for the votes at the hunt, and when we broke 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 107 
 
 np I went on to the town of Vernon, which was the 
 same they wanted me to move. Here they pressed 
 me again on the subject, and I found I could get 
 either party by agreeing with them. But I told 
 them I didn't know whether it would be right or 
 not, and so couldn't promise either way. 
 
 Their court commenced on the next Monday, as 
 the barbecue was on a Saturday, and the candidates 
 for Governor and for Congress, as well as my com- 
 petitor and myself, all attended. 
 
 The thought of having to make a speech made 
 my knees feel mighty weak, and set my heart to 
 fluttering almost as bad as my first love scrape with 
 the Quaker's niece. But as good luck would have 
 it, these big candidates spoke ne9,rly all day, and 
 when they quit, the people were worn out with 
 fatigue, which afforded me a good apology for not 
 discussing the government. But I listened mighty 
 close to them, and was learning pretty fast about 
 political matters. When they were all done, I got 
 up and told some laughable story, and quit. I 
 found I was safe in those parts, and so I went home, 
 and did not go back again till after the election was 
 over. But to cut this matter short, I was elected, 
 doubling my competitor, and nine votes over. 
 
 A short time after this, I was in Pulaski, where I 
 met with Colonel Polk, now a member of Congress 
 from Tennessee.* He was at that time a member 
 elected to the Legislature, as well as myself ; and in 
 a large company he said to me, " Well, colonel, I 
 'Subsequently President of the United States. 
 
108 UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 snppose we shall have a radical change of the jadi> 
 ciary at the next session of the Legislature." " Very 
 likely, sir," says I ; and I put out quicker, for I was 
 afraid some one would ask me what the judiciary 
 was ; and if I knowed I wish I may be shot. I 
 don't indeed believe I had ever before heard that 
 there was any such thing in all nature ; but still I 
 was not willing that the people there should know 
 how ignorant I was about it. 
 
 When the time for meeting of the Legislature 
 arrived, I went on, and before I had been there 
 long, I could have told what the judiciary was, and 
 what the government was too ; and many other 
 things that I had known nothing about before. 
 
 About this time I met with a very severe mis- 
 fortune, which I may be pardoned for naming, as it 
 made a great change in my circumstances, and kept 
 me back very much in the world. I had built an 
 extensive grist mill, and powder mill, all connected 
 together, and also a large distillery. They had cost 
 «ae upwards of three thousand dollars ; more than I 
 was worth in the world. The first news that I 
 heard after I got to the Legislature, was, that my 
 mills were — not blown up sky high, as you would 
 guess, by my powder establishment — but swept 
 away all to smash by a large fresh, that came soon 
 after I left home. I had, of course, to stop my dis- 
 tillery, as my grinding was broken up ; and, indeed, 
 I may say, that the misfortune just made a com- 
 plete mash of me. I had some likely negroes, and 
 a good stock of almost everything about me, and, 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 109 
 
 best of all, I had an honest wife. She didn't advise 
 me, as is too fashionable, to smuggle up this, and 
 that, and t'other, to go on at home ; but she told 
 me, says she, " Just pay up, as long as you have a 
 bit's worth in the world ; and then everybody will 
 be satisfied, and we will scuffle for more." This 
 was just such talk as I wanted to hear, for a man's 
 wife can hold him devilish uneasy, if she begins to 
 scold and fret, and perplex him, at a time when he 
 has a f uU load for a railroad car on his mind already. 
 And so, you see, I determined not to break full 
 handed, but thought it better to keep a good con- 
 science with an empty purse, than to get a bad 
 opinion of myself, with a full one. I therefore gave 
 up alll bad, and took a. bran-fire new start. 
 
110 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Colonel Crockett emigrates again — DifBcult journey — Visit to 
 Mr. Owens— Boating— Hunting— Planting— The Fall's hunt 
 — Perilous winter journey to get a cask of powder — Success. 
 
 Having returned from the Legislature, I deter- 
 mined to make another move, and so I took my 
 eldest son with me, and a young man by the name 
 of Abram Henry, and cut out for the Obion. I 
 selected a spot when I got there, where I determined 
 to settle ; and the nearest house to it was seven 
 miles, the next nearest was fifteen and so on to 
 twenty. It was a complete wilderness, and full of 
 Lidians who were hunting. Game was plenty of 
 almost every kind, which suited me exactly, as I 
 was always fond of hunting. The house which was 
 nearest me, and which, as I have already stated, 
 was seven miles off, and on the different side of the 
 Obion river, belonged to a man by the name of 
 Owens ; and I started to go there. I had taken one 
 horse along, to pack our provision, and when I got 
 to the water I hobbled him out to graze, until I got 
 back ; as there was no boat to cross the river in, 
 and it was so high that it had overflowed all the 
 bottoms and low country near it. 
 
 We now took water like so many beavers, not- 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. HI 
 
 withstanding it was mighty cold, and waded on. 
 The water would sometimes be up to our necks, and 
 at others not so deep ; but I went, of course, before, 
 and carried a pole, with which I would feel along 
 before me, to see how deep it was, and to guard 
 against falling into a slough, as there was many in 
 our way. When I would come to one I would take 
 out my tomahawk and cut a small tree across it, 
 and then go ahead again. Frequently my little son 
 would have to swim, even where myself and the 
 young man could wade ; but we worked on till at 
 last we got to the channel of the river, which made 
 it about half a mile we had waded from where we 
 took water. I saw a large tree that had fallen into 
 the river from the other side, but it did not reach 
 across. One stood on the same bank where we 
 were, that I thought I could fall, so as to reach the 
 other ; and so at it we went with my tomahawk, 
 cutting away till we got it down ; and, as good luck 
 would have it, it fell right, and made us a way that 
 we could pass. 
 
 When we got over this, it was still a sea of water 
 as far as our eyes could reach. We took into it 
 again, and went ahead, for about a mile, hardly ever 
 seeing a single spot of land, and sometimes very 
 deep. At last we came in sight of land, which was 
 a very pleasing thing ; and when we got out we 
 went but a little way, before we came in sight of 
 the house, which was more pleasing than ever ; for 
 we were wet all over, and mighty cold. I felt 
 mighty sorry when I would look at my little boy, 
 
112 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 and see him shaking like he had the worst sort of 
 an ague, for there was no time for fever then. As 
 we got near to the hotse, we saw Mr. Owens and 
 several men that were with him just starting away. 
 They saw us and stopp'd, but looked much aston- 
 ished until we got up to them, and I made myself 
 known. The men who were with him were the 
 owners of a boat which was the first that ever went 
 that far up the Obion river ; and some hands he had 
 hired to carry it about a hundred miles still further 
 up, by water, though it was only about thirty by 
 land, as the river is very crooked. 
 
 They all turned back to the house with me, where 
 I found Mrs. Owens, a fine, friendly old woman ; 
 and her kindness to my little boy did me ten times 
 as much good as anything she could have done for 
 me, if she had tried her best. The old gentleman 
 set out his bottle to us, and I concluded that if a 
 horn wasn't good then, there was no use for its in- 
 vention. So I swigg'd oflf about a half a pint, and 
 the young man was by no means bashful in such a 
 case ; he took a strong pull at it too. I then gave 
 my boy some, and in a little time we felt pretty 
 well. We dried ourselves by the fire, and were 
 asked to go on board the boat that evening. I 
 agreed to do so, but left my son with the old lady, 
 and myself and the young man went to the boat 
 with Mr. Owens and the others. The boat was 
 loaded with whisky, flour, sugar, coffee, ealt, cast- 
 ings, and other articles suitable for the country; 
 and they were to receive five hundred dollars to land 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 113 
 
 the load at McLemore's Blufif, beside the profit they 
 could make on their load. This was merely to show 
 that boats could get up to that point. We stayed all 
 night with them, and had a high night of it, as I 
 took steam enough to drive out all the cold that 
 was in me, and about three times as much more. 
 In the morning, we concluded to go on with the 
 boat to where a great ha/rrioane had crossed the 
 river, and blowed all the timber down into it. "When 
 we got there, we found the river was falling fast, 
 and concluded we couldn't get through the timber 
 without more rise; so we dropp'd down opposite 
 Mr. Owens' again where they determined to wait 
 for more water. 
 
 The next day it rained rip-roariously, and the 
 river rose pretty considerable, but not enough yet. 
 And so I got the boatsmen all to go out with me to 
 where I was going to settle, and we slapped up a 
 cabin in little or no time. I got from the boat four 
 barrels of meal, and one of salt, and about ten 
 gallons of whisky. 
 
 To pay for these, I agreed to go with the boat up 
 the river to their landing place. I got also a large 
 middling of bacon, and killed a fine deer, and left 
 them for my young man and my little boy, who 
 were to stay at my cabin till I got back, which I 
 expected would be in six or seven days. We cut 
 out and moved up to the hurricane, where we stopp'd 
 for the night. In the morning, I started about day. 
 light intending to kill a deer, as I bad no thought 
 they would get the boat through the timber that 
 
X14 UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 day. I had gone but a little way before I killed a 
 fine buck, and started to go back to the boat ; but 
 on the way I came on the tracks of a large gang of 
 elks, and so I took after them. I had followed them 
 only a little distance when I saw them, and directly 
 after I saw two large bucks. I shot one down, and 
 the other wouldn't leave him ; so I loaded my gun 
 and shot him down too. I hung them up, and went 
 ahead again after my elks. I pursued on till after 
 the middle of the day before I saw them again ; but 
 they took the hint before I got in shooting distance, 
 and run off. I still pursued on till late in the even- 
 ing, when I found I was about four miles from where 
 I had left the boat, and as hungry as a wolf, for I 
 hadn't eaten a bite that day. 
 
 I started down the edge of the river low grounds 
 giving out the pursuit of my elks, and hadn't gone 
 hardly any distance at all, before I saw two more 
 bucks, very large fellows too. I took a blizzard at 
 one of them and up he tumbled. The other ran oflf 
 a few jumps and stopp'd ; and stood there till I 
 loaded again, and fired at him. I knock'd his trot- 
 ters from under him, and then I hung them both 
 up. I pushed on again, and about sunset I saw 
 three other bucks. I down'd with one of them and 
 the other two ran off. I hung this one up also, hav- 
 ing now killed six that day. I then pushed on till 
 I got to the harricane, and at the lower edge of it, 
 about where I expected the boat was. Here I hol- 
 lered as hard as I could roar, but could get no 
 answer. I fired off my gun, and the men on the 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. US 
 
 boat fired one too ; but quite contrary to my ex- 
 pectation, 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 am sure I do. For the vines and 
 briers had grown all through it, and so thick that a 
 good fat coon couldn't much more than get along. 
 I got through at last, and went on near to where I 
 had killed my last deer, and once more fired off my 
 gun, which was again answered from the boat which 
 was still 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 halted, and hollered till they came 
 to me with a skiff. I now got to the boat, without 
 further difficulty ; but the briers 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 hardly work my jaws to eat. 
 
 In the morning, myself and a young man started 
 and brought in the first buck I had killed, and after 
 breakfast we went and brought in the last one. The 
 boat then started, but we again went and got the 
 two I had killed just as I turned down the river in 
 the evening ; and we then pushed on and overtook 
 the boat, leaving the other two hanging in the 
 woods, as we had now as much as we wanted. 
 
 We got up the river very well, but quite slowly, 
 and we landed on the eleventh day at the place the 
 load was delivered at. They here gave me their 
 
116 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 skiff, and myself and a young man by the name of 
 Flavins Harris, who had determined to go and live 
 with me, cut out down the river for my cabin, which 
 we reached safely enough. 
 
 We turned in, and cleared a field and planted our 
 corn ; but it was so late in the spring we had no time 
 to make rails, and therefore we put no fence around 
 our field. There was no stock, however, nor anything 
 else to disturb our corn except the wild varmenU, 
 and the old serpent himself, with a fence to help 
 him, couldn't keep them out. I made corn enough 
 to do me, and during that spring I killed ten bears, 
 and a great abundance of deer. Eut in all this time, 
 we saw the face of no white person in that country, 
 except Mr. Owens' family and a very few passengers, 
 who went out there looking at the country. Indians, 
 though, were still plenty enough. Having laid by 
 toy crap, I went home, which was a distance of 
 about a hundred and fifty miles, and when I got 
 there I was met by an order to attend a call-session 
 of our Legislature. I attended at, and served out 
 toy time, and then returned and took my family and 
 what little plunder I had, and moved to where I 
 had built my cabin, and made my crap. 
 
 I gathered my corn, and then set out for my Fall's 
 bunt. This was in the last of October, 1822. I 
 found bear very plenty, and, indeed, all sorts of 
 game and wild varments, except buffalo. There 
 was none of them. I hunted on till Christmas, 
 having supplied my family very well all along with 
 vrild meat, at which time my powder gave out ; aiM* 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 117 
 
 I had none either to fire Christmas guns, which is 
 Tery common in that country, or to hunt with. I 
 had a brother-in-law who had now moved out and 
 settled about six miles west of me, on the opposite 
 side of Kutherford's fork of the Obion river, and he 
 had brought me a keg of powder, but I had never 
 gotten it home. There had just been another of 
 Noah's freshes, and the low grounds were flooded all 
 over with water. I know'd the stream was at least 
 a mile wide which I would have to cross, as the 
 water was from hill to hill, and yet I determined to 
 go on over in some way or other, so as to get my 
 powder. I told this to my wife, and she immedi- 
 ately opposed it with all her might. I still insisted, 
 telling her we had no powder for Christmas, and, 
 worse than all, we were out of meat. She said we 
 had as well starve as for me to freeze to death or to 
 get drowned, and one or the other was certain if I 
 attempted to go. 
 
 But I didn't believe the half of this ; and so I 
 took my woolen wrappers, and a pair of moccasins, 
 and put them on and tied up some dry clothes, and 
 a pair of shoes and stockings, and started. But I 
 didn't before know how much anybody could suffer 
 and not die. This, and some of my other experi- 
 Inents in water, learned me something about it, and 
 I therefore relate them. 
 
 The snow was about four inches deep when I 
 started, and when I got to the water, which was 
 only about a quarter of a mile off, it looked like an 
 ocean. I put in, and waded on till I come to the 
 
118 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 channel, where I crossed that on a high log. I then 
 took water again, having my gun and all my hunting 
 tools along, and waded till I came to a deep slough, 
 that was wider than the river itself. I had crossed 
 it often on a log ; but behold, when I got there, no 
 log was to be seen. I know'd of an island in the 
 slough, and a sapling stood on it close to the side 
 of that log, which was now entirely unaer water. I 
 knowed further, that the water was about eight or 
 ten feet deep under the log, and I judged it to be 
 about 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 
 against the one that stood on the island, in which 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 my pole 
 till I found the log, which was just about as deep 
 under the water as I had judged. 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 then 
 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 by this time I had very 
 little feeling in my feet and legs, as I had been all 
 the time in the water, except what time I was cross, 
 ing the high log over the river, and climbing my 
 lodged sapling. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 119 
 
 I went but a short distance before I came to an- 
 other slough, over which there was a log, but it was 
 floating on the water. I thought I could walk it, 
 and so I mounted on it ; but when I had got about 
 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 
 1 came to the highland, where I stopp'd to pull off 
 my wet clothes, and put on the others, which I had 
 held up with my gun, above the water, when I fell 
 in. I got them on, but my flesh had no feeling in 
 it, I was so cold. I tied up the wet ones, and hung 
 them up in a bush. I now thought I would run, so 
 as to warm myself a little, but I couldn't raise a 
 trot for some time ; indeed, I couldn't step more 
 than half the length of my foot. After a while I 
 got better, and went on five miles to the house of 
 my brother-in-law, having not even smelt fire from 
 the time I started. I got there late in the evening, 
 and he was much astonished at seeing me at such a 
 time. I stayed all night, and the next morning was 
 most piercing cold, and so they persuaded me not 
 to go home that day. I agreed, and turned out and 
 killed him two deer ; but the weather still got worse 
 and colder, instead of better. I staid that night, 
 and in the morning they still insisted I couldn't get 
 home. I knowed the water would be frozen over, 
 but not hard enough to bear me, and so I agreed to 
 stay that day. I went out hunting again, and pur- 
 sued a big heiear all day, but didn't kill him. The 
 next morning was bitter cold, but I knowed my 
 
laO LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 family was without meat, and I determined to get 
 home to them, or die a-trying. 
 
 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 so 1 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 wade on till I came to my floating log. I found 
 it so tight this time, that I know'd it couldn't give 
 me another fall, as it was frozen in with the ice. 
 I crossed over it without much difliculty, and worked 
 along till I got to my lodged sapling and my log 
 under the water. The swiftness of the current pre- 
 vented 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, and then, 
 went back and got my gun. By, this time I was 
 nearly frozen to death, but I saw all along before me,, 
 where the ice had been fresh broke, and I thought it 
 must be a bear straggling about in the water. I,, 
 tiberefore, 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 till it led me home, and I 
 then found 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 
 
LIFB OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 121 
 
 they all believed that I was dead. When I got 
 home, I wasn't quite dead, but mighty nigh it ; but 
 had my powder, and that was what I went for.* 
 
 * This incident of the diflScult and perilous journey, for the 
 purpose of obtaining a cask of powder, is one of the most re- 
 markable and characteristic in the whole narrative. It exhib- 
 its that determined and resolute perseverance which raised 
 Crockett from the humblest station to a position which at- 
 tracted the notice and the admiration of the whole country. 
 How important the acquisition of this powder was, will ap- 
 pear in the sequeL 
 
122 LU'E OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 All hands turn out for a hunt— Colonel Crockett goes aft6( 
 bear— Kills two wild turkeys— Encounters a very big bear — 
 Three shots fired— Bear killed— Weighs 600 lbs.— Difficulty 
 in getting him home — Colonel Crockett supplies his family 
 with provisions by hunting. 
 
 That night there fell a heavy rain, and it turned 
 to a sleet. In the morning all hands turned out 
 hunting. My young man, and a brother-in-law who 
 had lately settled close by me, went down the river 
 to hunt for turkeys ; but I was for larger game. I 
 told them I had dreamed the night before of having 
 had a hard fight with a big black nigger, and I 
 know'd it was a sign that I was to -have a battle 
 with a bear ; for in a bear country, I never know'd 
 such a dream to fail. So I started to go up above 
 the harricane, determined to have a bear. I had 
 two pretty good dogs, and an old hound, all of which 
 I took along. I had gone about six miles up the 
 river, and it was then about four miles across to the 
 main Obion; so I determined to strike across to 
 that, as I had found nothing yet to kill. I got on 
 to the river, and turned down it ; but the sleet was 
 still getting worse and worse. The bushes were aU 
 bent down and locked together with ice, so that it 
 was almost impossible to get along. In a little time 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 123 
 
 my dogs started a large gang of old turkey gobblers, 
 and I killed two of them of the biggest sort. I 
 shouldered them up, and moved on, until I got 
 through the hurricane, when I was so tired that I 
 laid my gobblers down to rest, as they were con- 
 founded heavy, and I was mighty tired. "While I 
 was resting, my old hound went to a log, and smelt 
 it awhile, and then raised his eyes towards the sky, 
 and cried out. Away he went, and my other dogs 
 with him, and I shouldered up my turkeys again, 
 and followed on as hard as I could drive. They 
 were soon out of sight, and in a very little time I 
 heard them begin to bark. "When I got to them 
 they were barking up a tree, but there was no game 
 there. I concluded it had been a turkey, and that 
 it had flew away. 
 
 "When they saw me coming, away they went 
 again ; and, after a little time, began to bark as be- 
 fore. "When I got near them, I found they were 
 barking up the wrong tree again, as there was no 
 game there. They served me in this way three or 
 four times, until I was so infernal mad, that I deter- 
 mined, if I could get near enough, to shoot the old 
 hound at least. "With this intention, I pushed on 
 the harder, till I came to the edge of an open prai 
 rie, and looking on before my dogs, I saw in and 
 about the biggest bear that ever was seen in America. 
 He looked, at the distance he was from me, like a 
 large black bull. My dogs were afraid to attack 
 him, and that was the reason they had stopp'd so 
 often, that I might overtake them. They were now 
 
124 LITE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 almost up with him, and I took my gobblers from 
 my back and hung them up in a sapling, and broke 
 like a quarter horse after my bear, for the sight of 
 him had put new springs in me. I soon got near to 
 them, but they were just getting into a roaring thick* 
 et, and so 1 couldn't run through it, but had to pick 
 my way along, and had close work even at that. 
 
 In a little time I saw the bear climbing up a large 
 black oak tree, and I crawled on until I got within 
 about eighty yards of him. He was setting with 
 his breast to me ; and so I put fresh priming in my 
 gun, and fired at him. At this he raised one of his 
 paws and snorted loudly. I loaded again as quick 
 as I could, and fired as near the same place in his 
 breast as possible. At the crack of my gun here he 
 came tumbling down ; and the moment he touched 
 the ground, I heard one of my best dogs cry out. I 
 took my tomahawk in one hand, and my big butcher 
 knife in the other, and run up within four or five 
 paces of him, at which he let my dog go, and fixed 
 his eyes on me. 1 got back in all sorts of a hurry, 
 for I knowed if he got hold of me, he would hug me 
 altogether too close for comfort. I went to my gun 
 and hastily loaded her again, and shot him the third 
 time, which killed him good. 
 
 I now began to think about getting him home, 
 but I didn't know how far it was. So I left him 
 and started ; and ia order to find him again, I would 
 blaze a sapling every little distance, which would 
 sho"w me the way back. I continued this until I 
 got within about a mile of home, for there I knowed 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 125 
 
 very well where I was, and that I could easily find 
 my way back to my blazes. Whsn I got home, I 
 took my brother-in-law, and my young man, and 
 four horses, and went back. We got there just be- 
 fore dark, and struck up 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 
 fully compensated for my sufferings in going 
 after my powder; and well satisfied that a dog 
 might sometimes be doing a good business, even 
 when he seemed to be la/rhing up the wrong tree. 
 We got our meat home, and I had the pleasure to 
 know that we now had plenty, and that of the best ; 
 and I continued through the winter to supply my 
 femily abundantly with bear-meat and venison from 
 the woods.* 
 
 * The bear appears to have been the Colonel's favorite game. 
 Indeed, with the exception of the deer and the wild turkey, 
 it seems there was no other large game to be found in that 
 part of Tennessee where he was settled. Buffaloes were only 
 to be found farther to the west, and panthers were very rare. 
 
126 I'l^ OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 CHAPTER Xm. 
 
 Colonel Crockett sells his peltry — Meets influential politicians 
 at Jackson — Is invited to become a candidate for the Legis- 
 lature — Declines — Is advertised for the office without his 
 consent — Determines to run — Meets his opponent — His 
 amusing and characteristic description of his manner of 
 electioneering — Two other candidates proposed — Colonel 
 Crockett is elected — Votes against General Jackson lor 
 Senator — Colonel Crockett proposed as a candidate for 
 Congress — He is defeated — ^Proposed again for the next 
 Congress. 
 
 I HAD on band a great many skins, and so, in the 
 month of February, I packed a horse with them, and 
 taking my eldest son along with me, cut out for a 
 Utile town called Jackson, situated about forty miles 
 off. "We got there well enough, and 1 sold my 
 skins, and bought me some coffee, and sugar, pow< 
 der, lead, and salt. I packed them all up in read- 
 iness for a start, which I intended to make early 
 the next morning. Morning came, but I concluded, 
 before I started, I would go and take a horn with 
 some of my old fellow-soldiers that I had met with 
 at Jackson. 
 
 I did so ; and while we were engaged in this, I 
 met with three candidates for the Legislature. A 
 Doctor Butler, who was, by marriage, a nephew to 
 General Jackson, a Major Lynn, and a Mr. McEver, 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 127 
 
 all first-rafce men. "We all took a horn together, and 
 some person present said to me, " Crockett, you must 
 offer for the Legislature." I told him I lived at 
 least forty miles from any white settlement ; and 
 had no thought of becoming a candidate at that 
 time. So we all parted, and I and my little boy 
 went on home. 
 
 It was about a week or two after this, that a man 
 came to my house, and told me I was a candidate. 
 I told him not so. But he took out a newspaper 
 from his pocket, and showed me where I was an- 
 nounced. I said to my wife that this was all a 
 .burlesque on me, but I was determined to make it 
 t cost the man who had put it there at least the value 
 of the printing, and of the fun he wanted at my 
 expense. So I hired a young man to work in my 
 place on my farm, and turned out myself election- 
 eering. I hadn't been out long, before I found the 
 people began to talk very much about the bear 
 hunter, the man from the cane; and the three 
 gentlemen, who I have already named, soon found 
 it necessary to enter into an agreement to have a 
 sort of caucus at their March court, to determine 
 which of them was the strongest, and the other two 
 was to withdraw and support him. As the court 
 came on, each one of them spread himself, to secure 
 the nomination ; but it fell on Dr. Butler, and the 
 rest backed out. The doctor was a clever fellow, 
 and I have often said he was the most talented man 
 I ever run against for any office. His being related 
 to General Jackson also helped him on very much ; 
 
128 UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 but I was in for it, and I was determined to ptuft 
 ahead and go through^ or stick. Their meeting was 
 held in Madison county, which was the strongest in 
 the representative district, which was composed of 
 eleven counties, and they seemed bent on having 
 the member from there. 
 
 At this time Colonel Alexander was a candidate 
 ior Congress, and attending one of his public meet- 
 ings one day, I walked to where he was treating 
 the people, and he gave me an introduction to 
 several of his acquaintances, and informed them that 
 I was out electioneering. In a little time my com- 
 petitor. Doctor Butler, came along ; he passed by 
 without noticing me, and I supposed, he did not rec- 
 ognize me. But I hailed him, as I was for all sorts 
 of fun ; and when he turned to me, I said to him, 
 ""Well, doctor, I suppose they have weighed you 
 out to me; but I should like to know why they 
 fixed your election for March instead of August f 
 This is," said I, " a bran-fire new way of doing bus- 
 iness, if a caucus is to make a representative for the 
 people ! " He now discovered who I was, and cried 
 out, " D — n it, Crockett, is that you ? " " Be sure 
 it is," said I, " but I don't want it understood that 
 I have come electioneering. I have just crept out 
 of the cane, to see what discoveries I could make 
 among the white folks." I told him that when I 
 set out electioneering, I would go prepared to put 
 every man on as good a footing when I left him as 
 I found him on. I would therefore have me a large 
 buckskin hunting-shirt made, with a couple of 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 129 
 
 ipockets holding about a peck each ; and that in one 
 I would carry a great big twist of tobacco, and in 
 the other my bottle of liquor ; for I knowed when I 
 met a man and offered him a dram, he would throw 
 out his quid of tobacco to take one, and after he had 
 taken his horn, I would out with my twist, and give 
 him another chew. And in this way he would not 
 be worse off than when I found him ; and I would 
 be sure to leave him in a first-rate good humor. 
 He said I could beat him electioneering all hollow 
 I told him I would give him better evidence of that 
 before August, notwithstanding he had many ad 
 vantages over me, and particularly in the way of 
 money ; but I told him I would go on the products 
 of the country ; that I had industrious children, and 
 the best of coon-dogs ; and they would hunt every 
 night till midnight to support my election; and 
 when the coon fur wasn't good, I would myself go 
 a wolfing, and shoot down a wolf, and skin his head, 
 and his scalp would be good to me for three dollars, 
 in our State Treasury money ; and in this way I 
 would get along on tlje big string. He stood like 
 he was both amused and astonished, and the whole 
 crowd was in a roar of laughter. . From this place 
 I returned home, leaving the people in a first-rate 
 way, and I was sure I would do a good business 
 among them. At any rate, I was determined to 
 stand up to my lick-log, salt or no salt. 
 
 In a short time there came out two other can- 
 didates, a Mr. Shaw and a Mr. Brown. "We all ran 
 the race through ; and when the election was over, 
 9 
 
130 UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 it turned oat that I beat them all by a majority of 
 two hundred and forty-seven T»tes, and was again 
 returned as a member of the Legislature from a new 
 region of the country, without losing a session. 
 This reminded me of the old saw — " A fool for 
 luck, and a poor man for children." 
 
 I now served two years in that body from my 
 new district, which was the years 1823 and 1824. 
 At the session of 1823, I had a small trial of my in- 
 dependence, and whether I would forsake principle 
 for party, or for the purpose of following after big 
 men. 
 
 The term of Col, John Williams had expired, who 
 was a senator in Congress from the State of Ten. 
 nessee. He was a candidate for another election. 
 And was opposed by Pleasant M. Miller, Esq., who 
 it was believed, would not be able to beat the 
 Colonel. Some two or three others were spoken of, 
 but it was at last concluded that the only man who 
 could beat him was General Jackson. So, a few 
 days before the election was to come on, he was 
 Bent for to come and run for the senate. He was 
 then in nomination for the presidency ; but sure 
 enough he came, and did run as the opponent of 
 Colonel "Williams, and beat him too, but not by my 
 vote. The vote was, for Jackson, thirty-fioe; for 
 Williams, twenty-five. 1 thought the Colonel had 
 honestly discharged his duty, and even the mighty 
 name of Jackson couldn't make me vote against him. 
 
 But voting against the old chief was found a 
 mighty up-hill business to all of them except myself. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 131 
 
 I never would, nor never did, acknowledge I had 
 voted wrong ; and I am more certain now that I 
 was right than ever. 
 
 I told the people it was the best vote I ever gave ; 
 that I had supported the public interest, and cleared 
 my conscience in giving it, instead of gratifying the 
 private ambition of a man. 
 
 I let the people know as early as then, that I 
 wouldn't take a collar around my neck. 
 
 During these two sessions of the Legislature, 
 nothing else turned up which I think it worth while 
 to mention ; and, indeed, I am fearful that I am too 
 particular about many small matters ; but if so, my 
 apology is, that I want the world to understand my 
 true history, and how I worked along to rise from 
 the cane-brake to my present station in life. 
 
 Col. Alexander was the representative in Congress 
 of the district I lived in, and his vote on the tariff 
 law of 1824 gave a mighty heap of dissatisfaction to 
 his people. They therefore began to talk pretty 
 strong of running me for Congress against him. At 
 last I was called on by a good many to be a can- 
 lidate. I told the people that I couldn't stand that ; 
 it was a step above my knowledge, and I know'd 
 nothing about Congress matters. 
 
 However, I was obliged to agree to run, and my- 
 self and two other gentlemen came out. But Prov- 
 idence was a little against two of us this hunt, for 
 it was the year that cotton brought twenty-five 
 dollars a hundred ; and so Colonel Alexander would 
 get up and tell the people, it was all the good effect 
 
132 LIFE OF DAVID CEOCEETT. 
 
 of this tariff law ; that it had raised the price of 
 their cotton, and that it would raise the price of 
 everything else they made to sell. I might as well 
 have sung psalms over a dead horse, as to try to 
 make the people believe otherwise ; for they know'd 
 their cotton had raised, sure enough, and if the 
 colonel hadn't done it, they didn't know what had. 
 So he rather made a mash of me this time, as he 
 beat me exactly two votes, as they counted the pollS| 
 though I have always believed that many other 
 things had been as fairly done as that same count. 
 He went on, and served out his term, and at th« 
 end of it cotton was down to six or dgM dollars » 
 hundred again ; and I concluded I would try him 
 once more, and see how it would go with cotton at 
 the common price, and so I became a candidate.* 
 
 * It is certainly a very curious phase of American and 
 especially of western character, which is exhibited in the 
 ease and promptness with which the colonel passes from one 
 act of the singular drama of his life to another. Yesterday, 
 a rough bear-hunter, to-day, a member of the legislature ; to- 
 morrow about to become a member of Congress, and the 
 fearless opponent of his old commander, General Jackson. 
 Such sudden and successful advances in life are scarcely seen 
 except in our own country, where perfect freedom opens a 
 boundless field to enterprise and perseverance. 
 
LIFE OF DAVm CROCKETT. ^33 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Colonel Crockett engages in a Lumber Speculation — Boafc 
 building— Bear hunting— The grubber— More bear-hunt- 
 ing — Bear attacked in a cane brake — Bear attacked in a 
 hollow tree— Three bears killed— Cutting up the bears and 
 salting them. 
 
 But the reader, I expect, would have na oojeciiou 
 to know a little about my employment during the 
 two years while my competitor was in Congress. 
 In this space I had some pretty tough times, and 
 will relate some few things that happened to me. 
 So here goes, as the boy said when he run by 
 himself. 
 
 In the fall of 1825, 1 concluded I would build two 
 large boats, and load them with pipe-staves for 
 aarket. So I went down to the lake, which was 
 about twenty-five miles from where I lived, and 
 hired some hands to assist me, and went to work ; 
 some at boat building, and others to getting staves. 
 I worked on with my hands till the bears got fat, 
 and then I turned out to hunting, to lay in a supply 
 of meat. I soon killed and salted down as many as 
 was necessary for my family ; but about this time, 
 one of my old neighbors who had settled down on 
 the lake about twenty-five miles from me, came to 
 toy house and told me he wanted me to go down 
 
134 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 and kill some bears about in his parts. He said 
 they were extremely fat, and very plenty. I knowed 
 that when they were fat they were easily taken, for 
 a fat bear can't run fast or long. But I asked a 
 bear no favors, no way, further than civility, for I 
 now had eight large dogs, and as fierce as painters, 
 so that a bear stood no chance at all to get away 
 from them. So I went home with him and then 
 went on down towards the Mississippi and com- 
 menced hunting. 
 
 We were out two weeks, and in that time killed 
 fifteen bears. Having now supplied my friend with 
 plenty of meat, I engaged occasionally again with 
 my hands in our boat building, and getting staves. 
 But I at length couldn't stand it any longer without 
 another hunt. So I concluded to take my little son 
 and cross over the lake and take a hunt there. We 
 got over, and that evening turned out and killed 
 three bears in little or no time. The next morning 
 we drove up four forks, and made a sort of scaffold, 
 on which we salted up our meat, so as to have it 
 out of the reach of the wolves, for as soon as we 
 would leave our camp, they would take possession. 
 We had just eat our breakfast, when a company of 
 hunters came to our camp who had fourteen dogs^ 
 but all so poor, that when they would bark they 
 would almost have to lean up against a tree and 
 take a rest. I told them their dogs couldn't run in 
 smell of a bear, and they had better stay at my 
 camp and feed them on the bones I had cut out of 
 my meat. I left them there and cut out ; but I 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 185 
 
 hadn't gone far, when my dogs took a first-rate 
 start after a tery large fat old he-bear, which ran 
 right plump towards my camp. I pursued on, but my 
 other hunters had heard my dogs coming, and met 
 them and killed the bear before I got up with him. 
 I gave him to them, and cut out again for a creek 
 called Big Clover, which wasn't very far off. Just 
 as I got there, and was entering a cane-brake, my 
 dogs all broke and went ahead, and in a little time 
 they raised a fuss in the cane, and seemed to be 
 going every way. I listened awhile, and found my 
 dogs was in two companies, and that both was in a 
 snorting fight. I sent my little son to one and I 
 broke for t'other. I got to mine first, and found 
 my dogs had a two-year-old bear down a-wooling 
 away on him, so I just took out my big butcher, and 
 went up and slapp'd it into him, and killed him with- 
 out shooting. There was five of the dogs in my com- 
 pany. In a short time I heard my little son fire at 
 Ws bear ; when I went to him he had killed it too. 
 Re had two dogs in his team. Just at this moment 
 we heard my other dog barking a short distance off, 
 and all the rest immediately broke to him. "We 
 pushed on too, and when we got there, we found 
 that he had a still larger bear than either of them 
 we had killed, treed by himself. "We killed that 
 one also, which made three we had killed in less than 
 half an hour, "We turned in and butchered them, 
 and then started to hunt for water and a good place 
 to camp. But we had no sooner started, than our 
 dogs took a start after another one, and away they 
 
136 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 went like a thandergnst and was out of hearing in 
 a minute. "We followed the way they had gone 
 for some time, but at length we gave up the hope of 
 finding them, and turned back. As we were going 
 back, I came to where a poor fellow was grubbing, 
 and he looked like the very picture of hard times. 
 I asked him what he was doing away there in th» 
 woods by himself ? He said he was grubbing for a 
 man who intended to settle there ; and the reason 
 why he did it was, that he had no meat for his 
 family, and he was working for a little. 
 
 I was mighty sorry for the poor fellow, for it was 
 not only a hard but a very slow way to get meat 
 for a hungry family ; so I told him if he would go 
 with me, I would give him more meat than he could 
 get by grubbing in a month. I intended to supply 
 him with meat, and also to get him to assist my 
 little boy in packing and salting up my bears. He 
 had never seen a bear killed in his life. I told him 
 I had six killed then, and my dogs were hard after 
 another. He went off to his little cabin, which was 
 a short distance in the brush, and his wife was very 
 anxious he should go with me. So we started 
 and went to where I had left my three bears, 
 and made a camp. "We then gathered my meat, and 
 salted and scaffold it, as I had done the other. 
 Night now came on, but no word from my dog-s 
 yet. I afterwards found they had treed the bear 
 about five miles off, near to a man's house, and had 
 barked at it the whole enduring night. Poor fel- 
 lows! many a time they looked for me, and won- 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. I37 
 
 iered why I didn't come, for they know'd there 
 was no mistake in me, and I know'd they were as 
 good as ever fluttered. In the morning, as soon aa 
 it was light enough to see, the man took his gun 
 and went to them, and shot the bear and killed it. 
 My dogs, however, wouldn't have anything to say 
 to this stranger ; so they left him, and came early 
 in the morning back to me. 
 
 We got our breakfast and cut out again, and we 
 killed four large and very fat bears that day. "We 
 hunted out the week, and in that time we killed 
 seventeen, all of them first rate. When we closed 
 our hunt, I gave the man over a thousand weight of 
 fine, fat bear-meat, which pleased him mightily, and 
 made him feel as rich as a Jew. I saw him the next 
 fall, and he told me he had plenty of meat to do 
 him the whole year from his week's hunt. Ily son 
 and me now went home. This was the Wefek be> 
 tween Christmas and New Tear, that we made thin 
 hunt. 
 
 When I got home, one of my neighbors was out 
 of meat, and wanted me to go back, and let him go 
 with me, to take another hunt. I couldn't refuse ; 
 but I told him I was afraid the bear had taken to 
 house by that time, for after they get very fat in 
 the fall and early part of the winter, they go inta 
 their holes, in large hollow trees, or into hollow 
 logs, or their cane-houses, or the harricanes ; and lie 
 there till spring, like frozen snakes. And one thing 
 about this will seem mighty strange to many people. 
 From about the first of January to about the last 
 
138 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 of April, these varmints lie in their holes alto, 
 gether. In all that time they have no food to eat ; 
 and yet when they come out, they are not an ounce 
 lighter than when they went to house. T don't 
 know the cause of this, and still I know it is a fact ; 
 and T leave it for others who have more learning 
 than myself to account for it. They have not a 
 particle of food with them, but they just lie and 
 suck the bottom of their paw all the time. I have 
 killed many of them in their trees, which enables 
 me to speak positively on this subject. However, 
 my neighbor, whose name was McDaniel, and my 
 little son and me, went on down to the lake to my 
 second camp, where I had killed my seventeen bears 
 the week before, and turned out to hunting. But 
 we hunted hard all day without getting a single 
 start. We had carried but little provision with us, and 
 the next morning was entirely out of meat. I sent 
 my son about three miles off, to the house of an old 
 friend, to get some. The old gentleman was much 
 pleased to hear I was hunting in those parts, for the 
 year before the bears had killed a great many of his 
 hogs. He was that day killing his bacon hogs, and 
 so he gave my son some meat, and sent word to me 
 that I must come in to his house that evening, that 
 he would have plenty of feed for my dogs, and some 
 accommodations for ourselves ; but before my son 
 got back, we had gone out hunting, and in a large 
 cane-brake my dogs found a big bear ifi a cane- 
 house, which he had fixed fo» his winter-quarter% 
 ae they sometimes do. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 139 
 
 When my lead dog found him, and raised the 
 yell, all the rest broke to him, but none of them en- 
 tered his house until we got up. I encouraged my 
 dogs, and they knowed me so well, that I could 
 have made them seize the old serpent himself, with 
 all his horns and heads, and cloven foot and ugli- 
 ness into the bargain, if he would only have come 
 to light, so that they could have seen him. They 
 bulged in, and in an instant the bear followed them 
 ont, and I told my friend to shoot him, as he was 
 mighty wrathy to kill a bear. He did so, and 
 killed him prime. "We carried him to our camp, by 
 "which time my son had returned ; and after we got 
 our dinners we packed up, and cut for the house of 
 my old friend, whose name was Davidson. 
 
 We got there, and staid with him that night ; 
 and the next morning, having salted up our meat, 
 we left it with him, and started to take a hunt be- 
 tween the Obion lake and the Eed foot lake ; as 
 there had been a dreadful harricane, which passed 
 between them, and 1 was sure there must be a heap 
 of bears in the fallen timber. We had gone about 
 five miles without seeing any sign at all; but at 
 length we got on some high cany ridges, and, as 
 we rode along, I saw a hole in a large black oak, 
 and on examining more closely, I discovered that 
 a bear had clomb the tree. I could see his tracks 
 going up, but none coming down, and so I was sure 
 he was in there. A person who is acquainted with 
 bear-hunting, can tell easy enough when the var- 
 mint is in the hoUow ; for as they go up they dont 
 
140 UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 slip a bit, but as they come down they make long 
 scratches with their nails. 
 
 My friend was a little ahead of me, but I called 
 him back, and told him there was a bear in that 
 tree, and I must have him out. So we lit from our 
 horses, and I found a small tree which I thought I 
 could fall so as to lodge against my bear tree, and 
 we fell to work chopping it with our tomahawks. 
 I intended, when we lodged the tree against the 
 other, to let my little son go up, and look into the 
 hole, for he could climb like a squirreL We had 
 chopp'd on a little time and stopp'd to rest, 
 when I heard my dogs barking mighty severe at 
 some distance from us, and I told my friend 1 
 knowed they had a bear; for it is the nature of a 
 dog, when he finds you are hunting bears, to hunt 
 for nothing else ; he becomes fond of the meat and 
 considers other game as " not worth a notice," as 
 old Johnson said of the devil. 
 
 We concluded to leave our tree a bit, and went to 
 my dogs, and when we got there, sure enough they 
 had an eternal great big fat bear up a tree, just 
 ready for shooting. My friend again petitioned 
 me for liberty to shoot this one also. I had a little 
 rather not, as the bear was so big, but I couldn't 
 refuse ; and so he blazed away, and down came the 
 old fellow like some great log had fell. I now 
 missed one of my dogs, the same that I before 
 spoke of as having treed the bear by himself some- 
 time before, when I had started the three in the 
 cane-brake. I told my friend that my missing dog 
 
UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 141 
 
 had a bear somewlifere) just as sure as fate; so I 
 left them to hutcher the one we had just killed, and 
 I went up on a piece of high ground to listen for 
 my dog. I heard him barking with all his might 
 some distance off, and I pushed ahead for him. My 
 other dogs hearing him, broke to him, and when I 
 got there, sure enough again he had another bear 
 ready treed ; if he hadn't I wish I may be shot. I 
 fired on him, and brought him down; and then 
 went back, and help'd finish butchering the one at 
 which I had left my friend. We then packed both 
 to our tree where we had left my boy. By this 
 time, the little fellow had cut the tree down that 
 we intended to lodge, but it fell the wrong 
 way; he had then feather'd in on the big tree, to 
 cut that, and had found that it was nothing but a 
 shell on the outside, and all dotted in the middle, as 
 too many of our big men are in these days, having 
 only an outside appearance. My friend and my son 
 eat away on it, and I went off about a hundred 
 yards with my dogs to keep them from running 
 under the tree when it should fall. On looking 
 back at the hole, I saw the bear's head out of it, 
 looking down at them as they were cutting. I hol- 
 lered to them to look up, and they did so; and 
 McDaniel catched up his gun, but by this time the 
 bear was out, and coming down the tree. He fired 
 at it, and as soon as it touched the ground the dogs 
 were all round it, and they had a roll-and-tumble 
 fight to the foot of the hill, where they stopp'd him. 
 I ran up, and putting my gun against the bear, fired 
 
143 LIFE OP DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 and killed him. We had now three, and so we mada 
 our scaffold and salted them up." * 
 
 * One cannot help admiring the ease and nonchalance with 
 which the Colonel disposes of his bears as they present them* 
 selres, one after another. Ordinarily a bear fight is a pretty 
 serious affair ; but Colonel Crockett makes nothing of killing 
 several in a day. 
 
LITE OF DAVID CKOCKETT. 143 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 More bear-hunting — Shooting a bear — Crockett benighted in 
 the woods — Night encounter with a bear — Crockett nearly 
 frozen to death — Dreadful earthquake — Ten bears killed 
 during this hunt. 
 
 In the morning I left my son at the camp, and we 
 started on towards the harricane ; and when we had 
 went about a mile, we started a very large bear, but 
 we got along mighty slow on account of the cracks 
 in the earth occasioned by the earthquakes. "We, 
 however, made out to keep in hearing of the dogs 
 for about three miles, and then we come to the 
 harricane. Here we had to quit our horses, as old 
 Nick himself couldn't have got through it without 
 sneaking it along in the form that he put on, to make 
 a fool of our old grandmother Eve. By this time 
 several of my dogs had got tired and come back ; 
 but we went ahead on foot for some little time in 
 the harricane, when we met a bear coming straight 
 to us, and not more than twenty or thirty yards off. 
 I started my tired dogs after him, and McDaniel 
 pursued them, and I went on to where my other dogs 
 were. I had seen the track of the bear they were 
 after, and I knowed he was a screamer. I followed 
 on to about the middle of the harricane, bnt my 
 
144: LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 dogs pursued him so close, that they made him 
 climb an old stump about twenty feet high. I got 
 in shooting distance of him and fired, but I was all 
 over in such a flutter from fatigue and running, that 
 I couldn't hold steady ; but, however, I broke his 
 shoulder, and he fell. I run up and loaded my gun 
 as quick as possible, and shot him again and killed 
 him. "When I went to take out my knife to butcher 
 him, I found I had lost it in coming through the 
 harricane. The vines and briers was so thick that 
 I would sometimes have to get down and crawl like 
 a varment to get through it all ; and a vine had, as 
 I supposed, caught in the handle and pulled it out- 
 While 1 was standing and studying what to do, my 
 friend came to me. He had followed my trail 
 through the harricane, and had found my knife, 
 which was mighty good news to me ; as a hunter 
 hates the worst in the world to lose a good dog, or 
 any part of his hunting tools. I now left McDaniel 
 to butcher the boar, and I went after our horses, 
 and brought them as near as the nature of the case 
 would allow. I then took our bags, and went back 
 to where he was ; and when we had skinned the 
 bear, we fleeced off the fat and carried it to our 
 horses at several loads. We then packed it up on 
 our horses, and had a heavy pack of it on each one. 
 We now started and went on till about sunset, when 
 I concluded we must be near our camp ; so I hollered 
 and my son answered me, and we moved on in the 
 direction to. the camp. We had gone but a little 
 vray when I heard my dogs make a warm start 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 145 
 
 again ; and I jumped down from my horse and gave 
 him up to my friend, and told him I -would follow 
 them. He went on to the camp, and I went ahead 
 after my dogs with all my might for a considerable 
 distance, till at last night came on. The woods were 
 very rough and hilly, and all covered over with cane. 
 I now was compelled to move on more slowly ; 
 and was frequently falling over logs, and into the 
 cracks made by the earthquakes, so that I was very 
 much afraid I would break my gun. However, I 
 went on about three miles, when I came to a good 
 big creek, which I waded. It was very cold, and 
 the creek was about knee-deep ; but I felt no great 
 inconvenience from it just then, as I was all over 
 wet with sweat from running, and I felt hot 
 enough. After I got over this creek and out of the 
 cane, which was very thick on all our creeks, I 
 listened for my dogs. I found they had either 
 treed or brought the bear to a stop, as they con- 
 tinued barking in the same place. I pushed on as 
 near in the direction of the noise as I could, till I 
 found the hill was too steep for me to climb, and so 
 I backed and went down the creek some distance, 
 till I came to a hollow, and then took up that, till I 
 came to a place where I could climb up the hill. 
 It was mighty dark, and was difficult to see my way, 
 or anything else. When I got up the hill, I found 
 I had passed the dogs ; and so I turned and went to 
 them. I found, when I got there, they had treed 
 the bear in a large forked poplar, and it was setting 
 in the fork. 
 
 lO 
 
146 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 I could see the lump, but not plain enough td 
 shoot with any certainty, as there was no moon, 
 light ; and so I set in to hunting for some dry brush 
 to make me a light ; but I could find none, though 
 I could find that the ground was torn mightily to 
 pieces by the cracks. 
 
 At last I thought I could shoot by guess, and kill 
 him ; so I pointed as near the lump as I could, and 
 fired away. But the bear didn't come, he only 
 dumb up higher, and got out on a limb, which 
 helped me to see him better, 1 now loaded up 
 again and fired, but this time he didn't move at all. 
 I commenced loading for a third fire, but the first 
 thing I knowed, the bear was down among my dogs, 
 and they were fighting all around me. I had my 
 big butcher in my belt, and I had a pair of dressed 
 buckskin breeches on. So I took out my knife, and 
 stood, determined, if he should get hold of me, to 
 defend myself in the best way I could. I stood 
 there for some time, and could now and then see a 
 white dog I had, but the rest of them, and the bear, 
 which were dark colored, I couldn't see at all, it was 
 so miserable dark. They still fought around me, 
 and sometimes within three feet of me ; but, at last, 
 the bear got down into one of the cracks that the 
 earthquakes had made in the ground, about four 
 feet deep, and I could teU the biting end of him by 
 the hollering of my dogs. So I took my gun and 
 pushed the muzzle of it about, till I thought I had it 
 against the main part of his body, and fired ; but it 
 happened to be only the flesbj part of his forelegs 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 147 
 
 With this he jumped out of the crack, and he and 
 the dogs had another hard fight around me, as be. 
 fore. At last, however, they forced him back into, 
 the crack again, as he was when I had shot, 
 
 I had laid down my gun in the dark, and I now 
 began to hunt for it ; and, while hunting, I got hold 
 of a pole, and I concluded I would punch him awhile 
 with that. I did so, and when I would punch him 
 the dogs would jump in on him, when he would bite 
 them badly, and they would jump out again. I con- 
 eluded, as he would take punching so patiently, it 
 might be that he would lie stUl enough for me to 
 get down in the crack, and feel slowly along till I 
 could find the right place to give him a dig with my 
 butcher. So I got down, and my dogs got in before 
 him and kept his head towards them, till I got along 
 easily up to him ; and placing my hand on his rump, 
 felt for his shoulder, just behind which I intended 
 to stick him. I made a lunge with my long knife, 
 and fortunately stuck him right through the heart, 
 at which he just sank down, and I crawled out in a 
 hurry. In a little time my dogs all come out too, 
 and seemed satisfied, which was the way they 
 always had of telling me that they had finished 
 him. 
 
 I suffered very much that night with cold, as my 
 leather breeches, and everything else I had on, 
 was wet and frozen. But I managed to get my 
 bear out of this crack after several hard trials, and 
 so I butchered him and laid down to try to sleep 
 But my fire was very bad, and I couldn't find any. 
 
148 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 thing that would burn well to make it any better ; 
 afid so I concluded I should freeze, if I didn't warm 
 itiyseJf in some way by exercise. So I got up and 
 hollered awhilfe, and then I would just jump up and 
 down with all my might, and throw myself into all 
 sorts of motions. But all this wouldn't do ; for my 
 blood was now getting cold, and the chills coming 
 all over mOo I was so tired, too, that I could hardly 
 walk ; but I thought I would do the best I could to 
 save my life, and then, if I died, nobody would be 
 to blame. So I Went to a tree about two feet 
 through, and not a limb on it for thirty feet, and I 
 would climb up to the limbs, and then lock my 
 arms together around it, and slide down to the bot- 
 tom again. This would make the insides of my legs 
 and arms feel mighty warm and good. I continued 
 thiis till daylight in the morning, and how often I 
 dumb up iny tree and slid down 1 don't know, but 
 I reckon at least a. hundred times. 
 
 In the morning I got my bear hung up so as to 
 be safe, and then set out to hunt for my camp. I 
 found it after awhile, and McDaniel and my son 
 were very much rejoiced to see me get back, for they 
 were about to give me up for lost. We got our 
 breakfasts, and then secured our meat by building a 
 high Bcaffoldj and covering it over. "We had no fear 
 of ltd spoiling, for the weather was so cold that it 
 couldn't. 
 
 We now started after my other bear, which had 
 caused me so much trouble and suffering ; and be- 
 fore we got him, we got a start after another, and 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 14:» 
 
 took him also. "We went on to the creek I had 
 crossed the night before, and camped, and then went 
 to where my bear was that I had killed in the crack. 
 When we examined the place, McDaniel said ho 
 wouldn't have gone into it, as I did, for all the bears 
 in the woods. 
 
 We then took the meat down to our camp and 
 salted it, and also the last one we had killed ; in. 
 tending in the morning, to make a hunt in the har- 
 ricane again. 
 
 We prepared for resting that night, and I can 
 assure the reader I was in need of it. We had laid 
 down by our fire, and about ten o'clock there came 
 a most terrible earthquake, which shook the earth 
 so, that we were rocked about like we had been in a 
 cradle. We were very much alarmed ; for though 
 we were accustomed to feel earthquakes, we were 
 now right in the region which had been torn to 
 pieces by them in 1812, and we thought it might 
 take a notion and swallow us up, like the big fish 
 did Jonah. 
 
 In the morning we packed up and moved to the 
 harricane, where we made another camp, and turned 
 out that evening and killed a very large bear, which 
 made eight we had now killed in this hunt. 
 
 The next morning we entered the harricane again, 
 *nd in a little or no time my dogs were in full cry. 
 We pursued them, and soon came to a thick cane- 
 brake, in which they had stopp'd their bear. We 
 got up close to him, as the cane was so thick that 
 we couldn't see more than a few feet. Here I made 
 
150 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 my friend hold the cane a little open with his gun 
 till I shot the bear, which was a mighty large one. 
 I killed him dead in his tracks. We got him out 
 and butchered him, and in a little time started an- 
 other and killed him, which now made ten we had 
 killed ; and we knowed we couldn't pack any more 
 home, as we had only five horses along ; therefore 
 we returned to the camp and salted up all our meat, 
 to be ready for a start homeward next morning. 
 
 The morning came, and we packed our horses 
 with the meat, and had as much as they could pos- 
 sibly carry, and sure enough, cut out for home. It 
 was about thirty miles, and we reached home the 
 second day, I had now accommodated my neighbor 
 with meat enough to do him, aiid had killed in all, 
 up to that time, fifty-eight bears, during the fall and 
 winter. 
 
 As soon as the time come for them to quit their 
 houses and come out again in the spring, I took a 
 notion to hunt a little more, and in about one month 
 I killed forty-seven more, which made one hundred 
 and five bears which I had killed in less than one 
 year from that time.* 
 
 * These bear hunts of the Colonel entirely surpass anything 
 on record. Mr. Gordon Cumming's record of his fights with 
 lions, elephants, giraffes, hippopotamuses, and African buf- 
 faloes, is full of excitement and interest ; but in real peril and 
 adventure, they by no means surpass Colonel Crockett's heax 
 fights. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 161 
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 Colonel Crockett attends to his lumber speculations — Goes 
 down the Mississippi with his lumber— Difllcult navigation 
 —Boats swamped— Narrow escape of the Colonel from 
 drowning — Result of the speculation a total loss. 
 
 Having now closed my hunting for that winter, 
 I returned to my hands, who were engaged about 
 my boats and staves, and made ready for a trip down 
 the river. I had two boats and about thirty thou- 
 sand staves, and so I loaded with them, and set out 
 for New Orleans. I got out of the Obion river, in 
 which I had loaded my boats, very well ; but when 
 I got into the Mississippi, I found all my hands were 
 bad scared, and in fact I believe I was scared a little 
 the worst of any ; for I had never been down the 
 river, and I soon discovered that my pilot was as 
 ignorant of the business as myself. I hadn't gone 
 far before I determined to lash the two boats to- 
 gether ; we did so, but it made them so heavy and 
 obstinate, that it was next akin to impossible to do 
 anything at all with them, or to guide them right 
 in the river. 
 
 That evening we fell in company with some Ohio 
 boats ; and about night we tried to land, but we 
 could not. The Ohio men hollered to us to go on 
 and run all night. We took their advice, though 
 
152 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 we had a good deal rather not ; but we couldn't do 
 any other way. In a short distance we got into 
 what is called the " DmiVs Elbow " / and if any 
 place in the wide creation has its own proper name, 
 I thought it was this. Here we had about the hard- 
 est work that I ever was engaged in, in my life, to 
 keep out of danger ; and even then we were in it 
 all the while. We twice attempted to land at Wood- 
 yards, which we could see but couldn't reach. 
 
 The people would run out with lights, and try to 
 instruct us how to get to shore ; but all in vain. 
 Our boats were so heavy that we couldn't take them 
 much any way, except the way they wanted to go, 
 and just the way the current would carry them. 
 At last we quit trying td land, and concluded just 
 to go ahead as well as we could, for we found wo 
 couldn't do. any better. Sometime in the night I 
 was down in the cabin of one of the boats, sitting 
 by the fire, thinking on what a hobble w6 had got 
 into; and how much better bear-hunting was on 
 hard land, than floating a,long on the water, when a 
 fellow had to go ahead whether he was exactly 
 willing or not. 
 ' The hatchway into the cabin came slap down, 
 right through the top of the boat ;' and it was the 
 only way out except a small hole in the Side, which 
 we had used for putting our arms through to dip up 
 watei? before we lashed the boats together. 
 
 We were now floating sideways, and the boat I 
 was in, was the hindmost as we went, i AH at once 
 I heard the hands begin to run over the top of the 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 15^ 
 
 boat in great confusion, and pull with all their 
 might ; and the first thing I know'd after this w© 
 went broadside full tilt against the head of an 
 island, where a large raft of drift timber had lodg&d. 
 The nature of such a place would be, as everybody 
 knows, to suck the boats down, and turn them right 
 tinder this raft ; and the uppermost boat would, of 
 course, be suck'd down and go under fifst. As soon 
 as we struck, I bulged for my hatchway, as the boat 
 was turning under sure enough. But when I got 
 to it, the water was pouring through in a current 
 as large as the hole would let it, and as strong as the' 
 weight of the river would fotce it. I found I 
 couldn't get out here, for the boat was now turned 
 down in Such a way that it was steepet than a 
 housc'top. I now thought of the hole in the side, 
 and made Iny way in a hurry for that. With diffi- 
 culty I got to it, and when I got there, I found ii 
 was too small for me to get out by my own power^ 
 and I began to think that I was in a worse box than 
 ever. But I put my arms through and holl'sred as 
 loud as I could roar, as the boat I was in hadn't yet 
 quite filled with water up to my head, and the hands 
 who were next to the raft, seeing my arms out, and 
 bearing me holler, seized them, and began to pull, 
 I told them I was sinking, and to pull my arms off^ 
 or force me through, for now I know'd well enough 
 it was neck or nothing, come out or sink. 
 
 By a violent effort they jerked me through ; but 
 I was in a pretty pickle when I got through. I had 
 been sitting without any clothing over my shirt ; 
 
164 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 this was torn off, and I was literally skin'd like a 
 rabbit. I was, however, well pleased to get out in 
 any way, even without shirt or hide ; as before 1 
 could straighten myself on the boat next to the raft, 
 the one they puU'd me out of went entirely under, 
 and I have never seen it any more to this day. We 
 all escaped on to the raft, where we were compelled 
 to sit all night about a mile from land on either side. 
 Four of my company were bareheaded, and three 
 barefooted ; and of that number I was one. I 
 reckon I looked like a pretty cracklin ever to get to 
 Congress ! I ! 
 
 We had now lost all our loading ; and every particle 
 of our clothing, except what little we had on ; but 
 over all this, while I was setting there, in the night, 
 floating about on the drift, I felt happier and better 
 off than I ever had in my life before, for I had 
 just made such a marvelous escape, that I had for- 
 got almost everything else in that; and so I felt 
 prime. 
 
 In the morning about sunrise, we saw a boat com- 
 ing down, and we hailed her. They sent a large 
 skiff, and took us all on board, and carried us down 
 as far as Memphis. Here I met with a friend, that 
 I never can forget as long as I am able to go ahead 
 at anything ; it was a Major Winchester, a merchant 
 of that place : he let us all have hats, and shoes, and 
 some little money to go upon, and so we all parted. 
 
 A young man and myself concluded to go on 
 down to Natchez, to see if we could hear anything 
 of our boats ; for we supposed they would float out 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 155 
 
 rrom the raft, and keep on down therixer. "We got 
 on a boat at Memphis, that was going down, and so 
 cut out. Our largest boat, we were informed, had 
 been seen about fifty miles below where we stove, 
 and an attempt had been made to land her, but 
 without success, as she was as hard headed as ever. 
 This was the last of my boats, and of my boating ; 
 for it went so badly with me, along at the first, that 
 I had not much mind to try it any more. I now re- 
 turned home again, and as the next August was the 
 Congressional election, I began to turn my attention 
 a little to that matter, as it was beginning to be 
 talked of a good deal among the people.* 
 
 * Everything of the speculative or business sort seems to 
 have turned out badly -with the Colonel. He had no talent 
 for that sort of thing. His real forte in the way of exertion, 
 was war and bear-hunting. Politics was rather an amuse- 
 ment ; and yet on the whole, he was successful in this line. 
 His stump speeches, made off hand, pleased the people more 
 than the elaborate performances of highly educated orators, 
 and his course in Congress gained him the respect of the first 
 statesmen of his time, as we shall see in the sequel of his 
 narrative. 
 
J,S6 UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIL 
 
 Oolonel Crockett enters on a new canvass for Congress — ^ 
 friend supplies " the sinews of war " — Electioneering — A 
 Stump speech — Incident of the Guinea-fowls turned to a 
 good account — Crockett elected— Serves in Congress during 
 Adains' a,dminiBtration-7rKe-elected to Cpi^gress — Votes 
 against the Indian bill — Political persecution — Crockett 
 proposed for Congress again — Defeated — Crockett's district 
 Gerrymandered to keep him out of Congress — He is elected. 
 
 I HAVE, heretpfore, informed the reader that I 
 had det^rmioed to run this race to see what effect 
 the price of cotton, would have again on it- I now 
 had Colonel Alexander to run against once more, 
 and also General William Arnold. 
 
 I had difficulties enough to fight against this time, 
 as every one will suppose ; for I had no money, and 
 a very bad prospect, so far as I know'd, of getting 
 any to help me along. I had, however, a good 
 friend, who sent for me to come and see him. I 
 went, and he was good enough to offer me some 
 money to help me out. I borrowed as much as I 
 thought I needed at the start, and went ahead. 
 My friend also had a good deal of business about 
 over the district at the different courts ; and if he 
 now and then slipp'd in a good word for me, it is 
 nobody's business. We frequently met at different 
 
lilFE OF DAVID C3R0CKETT. 167 
 
 places, andj as he thought I needed, he Would oc 
 casionally hand me a little more cash ; so I was able 
 to buy a little of " the (^eature^" to put my friends 
 in a good humor, as well as the other gentlemen, for 
 they all treat in that country ; not to get elected of 
 course — ^for that would be against the law ; butjast, 
 as I before said, to make themselves and their 
 friends feel their keeping a little. 
 
 Nobody ever did know how I got money to get 
 along on, till after the election was over, and I had 
 beat my competitors tWenty-seVea hundred and 
 forty-eight votes. Even the price of cotton couldn't 
 save my friend Aleck this time. My rich friend, 
 who had been so good to me in the way of money, 
 now sent for me, and loaned me a hundred dollars, 
 and told me to go ahead ; that that amount Would 
 bear my expenses io Congress, and I must then 
 shift for myself. I came on to "Washington, and 
 draw'd two hundred and fifty dollars, and purchased 
 with it a check on the bank at Nashville, and en- 
 closed it to my friend ; and I may say, in truth, I 
 sent this money with a mighty good will, for I 
 reckon nobody in this world loves a friend better 
 than me, or remembers a kindness longer. 
 
 I have now given the close of the election, but I 
 have skipp'd entirely over the canvass, of which I 
 will say a very few things in this place, as I know 
 very well how to tell the truth, but not much about 
 placing them in book order, so as to please critics. 
 
 Col. Alexander was a very clever fellow, and 
 principal surveyor at that time ; so much for one ol 
 
158 UCFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 the men I had to run against. My other competitor 
 was a major-general in the militia, and an attorney- 
 general at the law, and quite a smart, clever man 
 also ; and so it will be seen I had war work as well 
 as law trick to stand up under. Taking both to- 
 gether, they make a pretty considerable of a load 
 for any one man to carry. But for war claims, I 
 consider myself behind no man except " the govern, 
 ment," and mighty little, if any, behind him ; but 
 this the people will have to determine hereafter, as 
 I reckon it won't do to quit the wor>: of " reform 
 and retrenchment " yet for a spell. 
 
 But my two competitors seemed some little afraid 
 of the influence of each other, but not to think me 
 in their way at all. They, therefore, were generally 
 working against each other, while I was going 
 ahead for myself, and mixing among the people in 
 the best way I could. I was as cunning as a little 
 red fox, and wouldn't risk my tail in a " committal 
 trap." 
 
 I found the sign was good, almost everywhere 
 I went. On one occasion, while we were in the 
 eastern counties of the district, it happened that we 
 all had to make a speech, and it fell on me to make 
 the first one. I did so after my manner, and it 
 tamed pretty much on the old saying, " A short 
 horse is soon curried," as I spoke not very long. 
 Colonel Alexander followed me, and then General 
 Arnold come on. 
 
 The general took much pains to reply to Alex- 
 ander, but didn't so much as let on that there was 
 
LIFK OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 169 
 
 any such candidate as myself at all. He had been 
 speaking for a considerable time, when a large flock 
 of guinea-fowls came very near to where he was, 
 and set up the most unmerciful chattering that ever 
 was heard, for they are a noisy little brute any way. 
 They so confused the general that he made a stop, 
 and requested that they might be driven away. I 
 let him finish his speech, and then walking up to 
 him, said aloud, " "Well, colonel, you are the first 
 man I ever saw that understood the language of 
 fowls." I told him that he had not had the polite- 
 ness to name me in his speech, and that when my 
 little friends, the guinea-fowls, had come up and 
 began to holler, " Crockett, Crockett, Crockett," he 
 had been ungenerous enough to stop, and dri\e ihem 
 all away. This raised a universal shout among the 
 people for me, and the general seemed mighty bad 
 plagued. But he got more plagued than this at the 
 polls in August, as I have stated before. 
 
 This election was in 1827, and I can say, on my 
 conscience, that I was without disguise, the friend 
 and supporter of General Jackson, upon his prin- 
 ciples as he had laid them down, and as "I under- 
 stood them" before his election as President. Dur- 
 ing my two first sessions in Congress, Mr. Adams 
 was president, and I worked along with what was 
 called the Jackson party pretty well. I was re- 
 elected to Congress in 1829, by an overwhelming 
 majority ; and soon after the commencement of this 
 second term, I saw, or thought I did, that it was ex- 
 pected of me that I would bow to the name of 
 
160 LIFE OF PAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 Andrew Jackson, and follow him in all his motions, 
 and windings, and turnings, even at the expense of 
 my conscience and judgment. Such a thing was 
 new to me, and a total stranger to my principles. 
 I know'd well enough, though, that if I didn't 
 " hurra " for his name, the hue and cry was to be 
 raised against me, and I was to be sacrificed, if pos- 
 sible. His famous, or rather I should say his m- 
 famotts, Indian bill was brought forward, and I 
 opposed it from the purest motives in the world. 
 Several of my colleagues got around me, and told 
 me how well they loved me, and that I was ruining 
 myself. They said this was a favorite measure of 
 the President, and I ought to go for it. I told them 
 I believed it was a wicked, unjust measure, and that 
 I should go against it, let the cost to myself be what 
 it might ; that I was willing to go with General 
 Jackson in everything that I believed was honest 
 and right ; but, further than this, I wouldn't go for 
 him, or any other man in the whole creation ; that 
 I would sooner be honestly and politically d — nd, 
 than hypocritically immortalized. I had been 
 elected by a majority of three thousand five hundred 
 and eighty-five votes, and I believed they were hon- 
 est men, and wouldn't want me to vote for any un- 
 just notion, to please Jackson or any one else ; at 
 any rate, I was of age, and determined to trust them. 
 I voted against this Indian bill, and my conscience 
 yet tells me that I gave a good honest vote, and one 
 that I believe will not make me ashamed in the day 
 of judgment. I served out my term, and though 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 161 
 
 many amusing things happened, I am not disposed 
 to swell my narrative by inserting them. 
 
 When it closed, and I returned home, I found the 
 storm had raised against me sure enough ; and it 
 was echoed from side to side, and from end to end 
 of my district, that I had turned against Jackson. 
 This was considered the unpardonable sin. I was 
 hunted down like a wild varment, and in this hunt 
 every little newspaper in the district, and every 
 little pin-hook lawyer, was engaged. Indeed, they 
 were ready to print anything and everything that 
 the ingenuity of man could invent against me. 
 Each editor was furnished with the journals of Con^ 
 gress from headquarters ; and hunted out every vote 
 I had missed in four sessions, whether from sickness 
 or not, no matter : and each one was charged against 
 me at eight dollars. In all I had missed about 
 sefoenty votes, which they made amount to five hun- 
 dred and sixty dollars ; and they contended that I 
 had. swindled the government out of this sum, as I 
 received my pay, as other members do. I was now 
 again a candidate in 1830, while all the attempts 
 were making against me ; and every one of these 
 little papers kept up a constant war on me, fighting 
 with every scurrilous report they could catch. 
 
 Over all I should have been elected, if it hadn't 
 been that, but a few weeks before the election, the 
 little four-pence-ha'-penny limbs of the law fell on a 
 plan to defeat me, which had the desired effect. 
 They agreed to spread out over the district, and 
 make appointments for me to speak almost every^ 
 II 
 
162 LIFK OF DAVID CROCKETl'. 
 
 where to clear up the Jackson question. They 
 would give me no notice of these appointments, and 
 the people would meet in great crowds to hear what 
 excuse Crockett had to make for quitting Jackson. 
 
 But instead of Crockett's being there, this small- 
 fry of lawyers would be there, with their saddle- 
 bags full of the little newspapers and their journals 
 of Congress, and would get up and speak, and read 
 their scurrilous attacks oa me, and would then tell 
 the people that I was afraid to attend ; and in this 
 way would turn many against me. All this intrigue 
 was kept a profound secret from me, till it was too 
 late to counteract it ; and when the election came, 
 I had a majority in seventeen counties, putting all 
 their votes together, but the eighteenth beat me ; 
 and so I was left out of Congress during those two 
 years. The people of my district were induced, by 
 these tricks, to take a stay on me for that time ; but 
 they have since found out that they were imposed 
 on, and on re-considering my case, have reversed 
 that decision, which, as the Dutchman said, " is as 
 fair a ding as eber was." 
 
 "When I last declared myself a candidate, I knew 
 that the district would be divided by the Legisla- 
 ture before the election would come on ; and 1 
 moreover knew, that from the geographical situa- 
 tion of the country, the county of Madison, which 
 was very strong, and which was the county that 
 had given the majority that had beat me in the 
 former race, should be left off from my district. 
 
 But when the Legislature met, as I had been ior 
 
LIFE OP DAVID CROCKETT. 163 
 
 formed, and I have no doubt of the fact, Mr. Fitz. 
 gerald, my competitor, went up and informed hia 
 friends in that body, that if Madison county was 
 left off, he wouldn't run ; for " that Crockett could 
 beat Jackson himself in those parts, in any way 
 they could fix it." 
 
 The liberal Legislature you know, of course, gave 
 him that county ; and it is too clear to admit of 
 dispute, that it was done to make a mash of me. 
 In order to make my district in this way, they had 
 to form the southern district of a string of counties 
 around three sides of mine, or very nearly so. Had 
 my old district been properly divided, it would have 
 made two nice ones in convenient nice form. But 
 as it is, they are certainly the most unreasonably 
 laid off of any in the State, or perhaps in the nation, 
 or even in the teetotal creation. 
 
 However, when the election came on, the people 
 of the district and of Madison county among the 
 rest, seemed disposed to prove to Mr. Fitzgerald 
 and the Jackson Legislature, that they were not to 
 be transferred like hogs, and horses, and cattle in 
 the market ; and they determined that I shouldn't 
 be broke down, though I had to. carry Jackson, and 
 the enemies of the bank, and the legislative works 
 all at once. I had Mr. Fitzgerald, it is true, for my 
 open competitor, but he was helped along by all his 
 little lawyers again, headed by old Black Hawk, as 
 he is sometimes called, (alias) Adam Huntsman, with 
 all his talents for writing " Chronicles" and such 
 like foolish stuff. 
 
164 UFE OF DAVID CROCKETr. 
 
 But one good thing was, and I must record it, the 
 papers in the district were now beginning to say 
 " fair play a little," and they would publish on both 
 ^des the question. The contest was a warm one, 
 and the battle well fought ; but I gained the day, 
 and the Jackson horse was left a little behind. 
 When the polls were compared, it turned out I had 
 beat Fitz just two hundred and two votes, having 
 made a ma£h of all their intrigaee. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 165 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Cktlonel Crockett commences his tour to the Northern States 
 — Entertained at Barnum's Hotel in Baltimore — Passage to 
 Philadelphia — Crockett's toast — Grand reception at Phil- 
 adelphia — Arri-yal at United States Hotel — Crockett's 
 speech — "Walk round the Quaker City at night — Visited by 
 distinguished citizens — Visit to the Water-Works, the 
 Mint, and the Asylum for the Insane — Crockett's speech at 
 the exchange — Great applause — Goes to the Walnut Street 
 Theater — Crockett presented with a watch-seal, and rifle 
 — ^Visits the Navy Yard — ^Takes a ride with Colonel Reer 
 side — ^Takes a supper with Mr. Dorrance, and makes a call 
 on Colonel Saint. 
 
 DuKiNG the session of this Congress, I thought I 
 would take a travel through the Northern States. 
 I had braved the lonely forests of the "West, I had 
 shouldered the warrior's rifle in the far South ; but 
 the North and East I had never seen. I seemed to 
 like members of Congress who came from these 
 parts, and wished to know what kind of constituents 
 they had. These considerations, in addition to my 
 physician's advice to travel a little for my health, 
 induced me to leave Washington on the 25th day 
 of April, 1834, and steer for the North. 
 
 I arrived the same evening at Barnum's Hotel, in 
 Baltimore. Uncle Davy, as he is often called, was 
 tight glad to see me, perhaps, because we were 
 
166 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 namesakes ; or maybe he always likes to see folks 
 patronize his house. He has a pleasant face, any 
 how, and his acts don't belie it. No one need look 
 for better quarters ; if they do, it will be because 
 they don't know when they are satisfied. 
 
 Shortly after I arrived, I was called upon and 
 asked to eat supper with a number of gentlemen, 
 I went and passed the evening pleasantly with my 
 friend Wilkes and others. 
 
 Early next morning, I started for Philadelphia, a 
 place where I had never been. I sort of felt lone- 
 some as I went down to the steamboat. The idea 
 of going among a new people, where there are tens 
 of thousands who would pass me by without know- 
 ing or caring who I was, who are all taken up with 
 their own pleasures or their own business, made me 
 feel small ; and, indeed, if any one who reads this 
 book has a grand idea of his own importance, let 
 him go to a big city, and he will find that he is not 
 higher valued than a coon-skin. 
 
 The steamboat was the Carroll of CarroUton, a 
 fine craft, with the rum old commodore Chay tor for 
 head man. A good fellow he is — all sorts of a man 
 — bowing and scraping to the ladies, nodding to the 
 gentlemen, cursing the crew, and his right eye broad, 
 cast upon the " opposition line," all at the same 
 time. " Let go ! " said the old one, and off we 
 walked in prime style. 
 
 We immediately came past Fort McHenry, justly 
 celebrated for its gallant defense under Armistead, 
 Stewart, Nicholson, Newcomb, and others, during 
 
LITE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 167 
 
 the last war ; and shortly after we passed ?forth 
 Point, where the British landed to make, what they 
 never dared, an attack on Baltimore. 
 
 Our passage down the Chesapeake bay was veiyj 
 pleasant ; and in a very short run we came to tie? 
 place where we were to get on board of the railroa^f 
 cars. 
 
 This was a clean new sight to me ; about a dozel 
 big stages hung on to one machine, and to start up 
 hiU. After a good deal of fuss, we all got seated 
 and moved slowly off, the engine wheezing as if she 
 had the tizzick. By and by she began to take short 
 breaths, and away we went with a blue streak 
 after us. The whole distance is seventeen miles, 
 and it was run in fifty-five minutes. 
 
 "While I was whizzing along, I burst out a laugh- 
 ing. One of the passengers asked me what it was 
 at. " "Why," says I, " it's no wonder the fellow's 
 horses run off." A Carolina wagoner had just 
 crossed the railroad, from Charleston to Augusta, 
 when the engine hove in sight with the cars 
 attached. It was growing dark, and the sparks 
 were flying in all directions. His horses ran off, 
 broke his wagon, and smashed his combustibles into 
 items. He run to a house for help, and when they 
 asked him what scared his horses, he said he did not 
 jist know, but it must be hell in harness. 
 
 At Delaware City, I again embarked on board of 
 a splendid steamboat, which ran to Philadelphia. 
 
 "When dinner was ready, I set down with the rest 
 of the passengers ; among them was the Kev. 0. B. 
 
168 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 Brown of the Post-office Dfepaf fement, who sat near 
 me. During dinner, the parson called for a bottle 
 of wine, and called on me for a toast. Not knowing 
 whether he intended to compliment me, or abash 
 me among so many strangers, or have some fun at 
 my eixpense, I concluded to go ahead, and give him 
 and his likes a blizzard. So our glasses being 
 filled, the word went round, " a toast from Colonel 
 Crockett." I gave it as follows : " Here's wishing 
 the bones of tyrant kings may answer in hell, in 
 place of gridirons, to roast the souls of Tories on." 
 At this the parson appeared as if he was stumpt. I 
 said, " Never heed ; it was meant for where it be- 
 longed." He did not repeat his invitation, and I eat 
 my dinner quietly. 
 
 After dinner I went up on the deck, and saw the 
 ©aptaih hoisting three flags. Says I, " "What does 
 that mean « " He replied,^ that he was under promise 
 tb the citizens of Philadelphia, if I was on board, to 
 hoist his flags, as a friend of mine had said he 
 expected I would be along soon. 
 
 We went on till we came in sight of the city ; and 
 as we advanced towards the wharf, I saw the whole 
 face of the earth covered with people, all anxiously 
 looking on towards the boat. The captain and 
 myself were standing on the bow-deck ; he pointed 
 his finger at me, and people slung their hats, and 
 huzzaed for Colonel Crockett. It struck me with 
 astonishment, to hear a strange people huzzaing for 
 me, and made me feel sort of queer. It took me so 
 nticommon unexpected, as I had no idea of attract* 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 169 
 
 iflg attention. But I had to meet it, and so I 
 stepped on to the wharf, where the folks came 
 crowding around me, saying, " Give me the hand of 
 an honest man." I did not know what all this 
 meant ; but some gentlemen took hold of me, and 
 pressing through the crowd, put me into an elegant 
 barouche, drawn by four fine horses ; they then told 
 me to bow to the people ; I did so, and with much 
 difficulty we moved off. The streets were crowded 
 to a great distance, and the windows full of people, 
 looking out, I supposed, to see the wild man. I 
 ■tLought I had rather be in the wilderness, with my 
 gun and dogs, than to be attracting all that fuss. I 
 had never seen the like before, and did not know 
 exactly what to say or do. After some time we 
 reached the United States Hotel in Chesnut street. 
 
 Thte crowd had followed me, filling up the street, 
 and pressing into the house to shake hands. I was 
 conducted up-stairs, and walked out on a platform, 
 drew off my hat, and bowed round to the people. 
 They cried out from all quarters, '' A speech, a speech, 
 Colonel Crockett." 
 
 After the noise had quit, so I could be heard, I 
 said to them the following words : — 
 
 " Gentlemen of Philadelphia : — My visit to your 
 city is rather accidental. I had no expectation ot 
 attracting any uncommon attention. I am traveling 
 for my health, without the least wish of exciting the 
 people in such times of high political feeling, I do 
 not wish to encourage it. I am unable at this time 
 to find language suitable to return my gratitude to 
 
170 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 the citizens of Philadelphia. However, I am almosi 
 induced to believe it flattery — perhaps a burlesque. 
 This is new tome, yet I see nothing but friendship in 
 your faces ; and if your curiosity is to hear the back- 
 woodsman, I will assure you I am illy prepared to 
 address this most enlightened people. However, 
 gentlemen, if this is a curiosity to you, if you will 
 meet me to-morrow, at one o'clock, I will endeavor 
 to address you in my plain manner." So I made 
 my obeisance to them and retired into the house. 
 
 After night, when I could walk out unknown, I 
 went up street or down, I don't know which, but 
 took good care not to turn any corners, for fear I 
 might get lost. , I soon found that the streets were 
 laid off square. This I thought was queer enough 
 for a Quaker city, for they don't generally come up 
 square to nothing ; even their coats have a kind of 
 slope, at least so they have cat Mr. Penn's coat m. 
 the capitpli This may be wrong, too, for I was told 
 Jhat Wshen the man who made him, first knocked oM 
 '' the kivers '^ of tite house wbere he Wiwked at him, 
 he had cut out Mr. Penn with a regular built conti< 
 Dental cocked hat on ; and it was so much laughed 
 at, to see such a hat on a Quaker, that as soon as 
 Congress rose he cut off his head, and worked on a 
 new one, with a rale sloped broad brim. "Which is 
 the honest George Fox hat, I leave for Philadelphia 
 lawyers and persons to decide. 
 
 When I went to my room, and got to bed, I 
 could not sleep, thinking over all that passed, and 
 my promise also to speak the next daj ; bat at 
 
LIFE OF DAVED CEOCKETl'. 171 
 
 last I composed myself with ithe reflection that 1 
 had got through many a scrape before, so I thought 
 I'd trust again to good luck. 
 
 Next morning I had the honor of being called 
 on by some old friends whom I knew in Washing, 
 ton — Judge Baldwin, Judge Hemphill, John Ser. 
 geant, and others, and I took it right kind in them 
 to do so. 
 
 Early after breakfast I was taken to the "Water 
 works, where I saw several of the gentlemen man. 
 agers. This is a grand sight, and no wonder the 
 Philadelphians ask every one that comes, "Have 
 you seen the "Water-wcwks ? " Just think of a few 
 wheels throwing up more water than five hundred 
 thousand people can use ; yes, and waste, too ; for 
 such scrubbing of steps, and even the very pave- 
 ments under your feet, I never saw. Indeed, I 
 looked close to see if the housemaids had not web- 
 feet, they walked so well in water ; and as for a fire, 
 it has no chance at all ; they just screw on a long 
 hollow leather with a brass nose on it, dash up- 
 stairs, and seem to draw on Noah's flood. 
 
 The next place I visited was the Mint. Here I 
 saw thera coining gold and silver in abundance, and 
 they were the rale " e pluribus unum ; " not this 
 electioneering trash, that they sent out to cheat the 
 poor people, telling them they would all be paid in 
 gold and silver, when the poor deceived creatures 
 had nothing coming to them. A chip with a split 
 on the back of it, is as good currency as an eagle, 
 provided you can't get the image of the bird. It'a 
 
172 WFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 all nonsense. The President, both cabinets and 
 Congress to boot, can't enact poor men into rich. 
 Hard knocks, and plenty of them, can only build 
 up a fellow's self. 
 
 I asked if the workmen never stole any of the 
 coin. They said not: they got used to it. Well, I 
 thought that was what my parson would call het- 
 erodox doctrine; that the longer a man was in 
 temptation, the more he would not sin. But I let it 
 pass, for 1 had heard that they had got "new 
 lights " in this city, and, of course, new and gen- 
 uine doctrines — so that the Bible-doxy stood no 
 chance. I could not help, barring the doctrine, 
 giving these honest men great credit; especially 
 •when I recollected an old sanctimonionslyfied fel- 
 low, who made his negroes whistle while they 
 were picking cherries, for fear they should eat 
 some. 
 
 From the Mint I was taken to the Asylum for in- 
 sane persons, went through different apartments, 
 saw men and women, some quite distracted, others 
 not so bad. This was a very unpleasant sight. I 
 am not able, nor do I wish I was able, to describe 
 it. I felt monstrous solemn, and could not help 
 thanking God I was not one of them ; and I felt 
 grateful in their stead to that city for caring for 
 those who could not take care of themselves, and 
 feeding them that heeded not the hand and heart 
 that provided for them. 
 
 On returning to the hotel, the hour had nearly 
 arrived when I was to visit the Exchange. I asked 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 1Y3 
 
 Colonel Dorranoe, the landlord, to go with me. He 
 is a very clever man, and made me feel quite at 
 home in his house. Whoever goes there once, will 
 go back again. So he agreed, and off we started. 
 
 I had made set speeches in Congress, and espe- 
 cially on my Tennessee land bill, when all my col- 
 leagues were against me; I had made stump 
 speeches at home, in the face of all the little office 
 yelpers who were opposed to me ; but, indeed, when 
 I got within sight of the Exchange, and saw the 
 streets crowded, I most wished to take back my 
 promise ; but I was brought up by hearing a young- 
 ster say, as I passed by, " Go ahead, Davy Crock- 
 ett." I said to myself, " I have faced the enemy ; 
 these are friends. I have fronted the savage red 
 man of the forest ; these are civilized. I'll keep 
 cool, and let them have it." 
 
 I was conducted to the house of a Mr. Neil; 
 where I met several gentlemen, and took some re- 
 freshment, not passing by a little Dutch courage. 
 Of the latter there was plenty ; and I observed the 
 man of the house, when he asked me to drink, he 
 didn't stand by to see what I took, but turned 
 away, and told me to help myself. That's what I 
 call genteel. 
 
 Arrived at the Exchange, I crowded through, 
 went up to the second floor, and walked out on the 
 porch, drew off my hat, and made my bow ; speak- 
 ing was out of the question, the huzzas for Crockett 
 were so loud and so long. 
 
 The time had come when my promise must bu 
 
174 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 kept. There must have been more than five thoa 
 sand people, and they were still gathering from, all 
 parts. I spoke for about half an hour. 
 
 Three times three cheers closed the concern, and 
 I came down to the door, where it appeared as if 
 all the world had a desire to shake hands with me. 1 
 stood on the doorstep, and, as Major Jack Downing 
 said, shook hands as hard as I could spring for near 
 an hour. After this I returned to the hotel, and re- 
 mained until night, when I was asked to visit the 
 theater in "Walnut street. The landlord, Dorrance, 
 and others, were to go with me, to see Jim Crow. 
 While we were talking about it, one of them said 
 he could go all over the world " To crow juicy.** 
 Some laughed very hearty, and others did not. I 
 was among the latter, for I considered it a dry joke, 
 although there was something _;**cy in it. Some 
 of them said it was Latin ; and that proved to mo 
 the reason why I did not laugh — I was tired of the 
 "oldKoman." But these PhiJadelphians are eter. 
 nally cutting up jokes on words ; so I puts a conun- 
 drum to them ; and says I, " Can you tell me why 
 the sacking of Jerusalem was like a cider-mill?" 
 "Well, they all were stumped', and gave it up. " Be. 
 cause it made the Jews fly." Seeing them so much 
 pleased with this^ says I, " Why is a cow like a 
 razor-grinder?" No one could answer. " WeU," 
 says I, " I thought you could find that out, for 1 
 don't know myself." 
 
 We started for the theater, and found a very full 
 kousej and Jim a playing for the dear life. Jim 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 178 
 
 makes as good a nigger as if he was clean black, 
 except the bandy legs. 
 
 Everybody seemed pleased, particularly when 1 
 laughed ; they appeared to act as if I knew exactly 
 when to laugh, and then they all followed. 
 
 What a pity it is that these theaters are not con- 
 trived that everybody could go; but the fact is, 
 backwoodsman as I am, I have heard some things 
 in them that was a leetle too tough for good women 
 and modest men ; and that's a great pity, because 
 there are thousands of scenes of real life that might 
 be exhibited, both for amusement and ediiication, 
 without offending. Folks pretend to say that high 
 people don't mind these things. "Well, it may be 
 that they are better acquainted with vice than we 
 plain folks; but I am yet to live and see a woman 
 polished out of the natural feelings, or too high not 
 to do things that ain't quite reputable in those of 
 low degree. 
 
 Their fiddling was pretty good, considering every 
 fellow played his own piece ; and I would have 
 known more about it, if they had played a tune, but 
 it was all twee-wee-tadlum-tadlum, tum^tum, tadle- 
 leedle-tadle-leedle-lee. The " Twenty-second of 
 February," or the " Cuckoo's Nest," would have 
 been a treat. 
 
 I do not think, however, from all I saw, that the 
 people enjoyed themselves better than we do at a 
 country frolic, where we dance till daylight, and 
 pay off the score by giving one in our turn. It 
 would do you good to see our boys and girls dancing. 
 
176 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 Kone of your straddling, mincing, sadying ; but a 
 regular sifter, cut-the-buokle, chicken-flutter set-to. 
 It is good wholesome exercise ; and when one of our 
 boys puts his arm round his partner, it is a good 
 hug, and no harm in it. 
 
 Next morning I was waited on by some gentle- 
 men, who presented me with a seal for my watch, 
 chain, which cost forty dollars. I told them I al- 
 ways accepted a present, as a testimony of friendship. 
 The engraving on the stone represents the great 
 match race, two horses in full speed, and over them 
 the words " Go ahead." It is the finest seal I ever 
 saw ; and when I returned to "Washington, the mem- 
 bers almost used it up, making copies to send all 
 over the country. 
 
 I was hardly done making my bow to these gen- 
 tlemen, before Mr. James M. Sanderson informed 
 me that the young whigs of Philadelphia had a 
 desire to present me with a fine rifle, and had 
 chosen him to have her made agreeable to my 
 wishes. I told him that was an article that I 
 knew somewhat about, and gave him the size, 
 weight, etc. 
 
 You can't imagine how I was crowded to get 
 through everything. Colonel Pulaski called to take 
 me in his carriage to the Naval Hospital, where 
 they stow away the old sailors on dry land, and a 
 splendid building it is ; all made of marble. I did 
 not like tho situation : but I suppose it was the best 
 they could get, with so much ground to it. 
 
 From there we went to the Navy Yard, and ex* 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 177 
 
 amined the largest ship ever made in the United 
 States. She was what they called " in the stocks." 
 
 I then surveyed the artillery, and the balance of 
 the shipping, not forgetting to pay my respects to 
 the officers of the yard, and then returned home 
 with the colonel, where I was kindly treated, both 
 in eating and drinking ; and so ended another day. 
 
 The next morning the land admiral, Colonel Bee- 
 side, asked me to call on him and take a ride. I 
 did so ; and he carried me out to the railroad and 
 Schuylkill bridge. I found that the railroad was 
 finished near a hundred miles into the interior of 
 the State, and is only one out of many; and yet 
 they make no fuss about it. 
 
 We drove in past the Girard school — that old 
 man that gave so many millions to Philadelphia, 
 and cut out his kin with a crumb. Well, thinks I, 
 blood is thicker than water, and the remembrance 
 of friends better than a big name. I'd have made 
 them all rich, and give away the balance. But, 
 maybe, French people don't think like me. 
 
 This being my last night in Philadelphia, Dor- 
 rance gave me what they call a " pick knick " sup. 
 per ; which means as much as me and all my com- 
 pany could eat and drink, and nothing to pay. 
 
 I had forgot to say that I had spent part of the 
 evening before this with Colonel Saint. 
 
 13 
 
1^8 13FE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 
 
 CHAPTER XLX. 
 
 CSolonel Crockett starts for New York — The passage— Gr»nd 
 reception — Committee of young Whigs invite him to go to 
 the American Hotel — Goes to the Park Theater — Sees Fanny 
 Kemble — His opinion of that actress — The Colonel goes to a 
 fire — ^Makes a speech at the Exchange — Goes to Feale's 
 Museum and the City Hall — Dines with Col. Draper — In- 
 vited to a supper by the young Whigs— Has a ride with Col. 
 Jackson — Visits the Five Points— His opinion of the strange 
 sights there — Introduced to Albert Gallatin — Preparations 
 for building the Astor Houser— Celebration at the battery — 
 General Morton — Gideon Lee— Castle Garden — Goes to the 
 Bowery Theater — Colonel Maipes — Grant Thorburn — JSifle- 
 shooting — The Colonel gives a specimen. 
 
 Next morning, Wednesday the 29th, I was invited 
 by Captain Jenkins, of the steamboat New Phila- 
 delphia, to go on with him to New York. I accepted 
 bis offer and started. I saw nothing very particular 
 along the Delaware river, except the place where 
 all the hard stone coal comes to, from the interior 
 of Pennsylvania; where, I am told, they have 
 mountains of it. After some time, we got upon a 
 railroad where they say we run twenty-five miles to 
 the hour. I can only judge of the speed by putting 
 my head out to spit, which I did and overtook it so 
 quick that it hit me smack in the face. "We soon 
 arrived at Amboy, and took the water again ; and 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 179 
 
 soon came in sight of the great city of New York, 
 and a bulger of a place it is. The number of the 
 ships beat me all hollow, and looked for all the 
 world like a big clearing in the West, with the dead 
 trees all standing. 
 
 When we swung round to the wharf, it was cov- 
 ered with people, who inquired if I was on board ; 
 and when the captain told them I was, they slung 
 their hats and gave three cheers. 
 
 Immediately a committee came on board, repre- 
 senting the young Whigs, and informed me they 
 were appointed to wait upon me, and invite me to 
 the American Hotel. I accepted their offer, and 
 went with them to the hotel, where I was friendly 
 received ; conducted to a large parlor, where I was 
 introduced to a great many gentlemen. 
 
 I was invited to visit the new and elegant fire 
 engine, and took some refreshment with the mana 
 gers, and returned in time to visit the Park Theater, 
 and see Miss Fanny Kemble play in grand style 
 The house was better filled, and the fixings looked 
 nicer, than the one in Philadelphia ; but any of them 
 is good enough, if they have such pretty play-actors 
 as Miss Kemble. In fact, she is like a handsome 
 piece of changeable silk ; first one color, then an- 
 other, iDUt always the clean thing. 
 
 I returned home, as I am told all great folks do, 
 after the lady actor was done ; and, sitting with my 
 friends, the cry of " fire, fire," struck my ear. I 
 bounced from my chair, and ran for my hat. " Sit 
 down, colonel," said one of the gentlemen, " it's not 
 
1^0 UFE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 
 
 near us." " A'n't you going to help put it out f * 
 " No," said he, laughing, " we have fire companiea 
 here, and we leave it to them." Well, to me this 
 seemed queer enough, for at home I would have 
 jumped on the first horse at hand, and rode full 
 flight, bare-backed, to help put out a fire. 
 
 I forgot that I was in a city where you may live, 
 as they tell me, years, and not know who lives next 
 door to you : still, I felt curious to see how they 
 managed ; and Colonel Jackson went with me. As 
 it was late, the engines were only assembling when 
 we got there ; but when they began to spirt, they 
 put out a four-story house that was all in a blaze, in 
 less than no time. I asked the colonel where they 
 got so much water from. He said it was raised by 
 the Manhattan Bank, out of a charter got by Aaron 
 Burr. 
 
 Next morning I was invited by Colonel Mapes to 
 walk down to some of the newspaper ofBces. I 
 proposed to go to the Courier and Enquirer and 
 Star offices : we did so. I like Webb, for he comes 
 out plump with what he has to say. Mr. Noah has 
 another way of using a fellow up : he holds him un- 
 easy ; laughs at him, and makes other folks do so ; 
 teazes him ; roasts him, until he don't know what 
 ails him, nor what hurt him, but he can't help 
 limping. 
 
 We went into Pearl street ; and I could not help 
 wondering if they had as many boxes and bags and 
 things inside of the houses as they had out. Elegant 
 place for a lame man to walk, for every one is like 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. Igl 
 
 him — first up, then down ; then one side, then ai>. 
 other, like a pet in a squirrel box. Shortly we came 
 to the Exchange — the place where the merdiants 
 assemble every day at one o'clock, to hear all they 
 can, and tell as little as possible ; and where two 
 lines from a knowing correspondent, prudently 
 used, may make a fortune. 
 
 I had not been long here before I was surrounded, 
 and called on for a speech. I made many apologies, 
 but none seemed to hit right; and was so hard 
 pressed, that I had no corner to get into : so, taking 
 my stand upon the steps above them, I spoke awhile. 
 
 I returned to the hotel, where I found a great 
 many gentlemen waiting to see the wild man from 
 the far West. After spending some time with 
 them, I was taken to Peale's museum. I shall not 
 attempt to describe the curiosities here ; it is above 
 my bend. I could not help, however, thinking what 
 pleasure or curiosity folks could take in sticking up 
 whole rows of little bugs, and such like varmints. 
 I saw a boy there that had been born without any 
 hands or arms ; and he took a pair of scissors in his 
 toes, and cut his name in full, and gave it to me. 
 This I called a miracle. 
 
 From thence I went to the City Hall, and was 
 introduced to the mayor of the city and several of 
 the aldermen. The mayor is a plain, common-sense- 
 looking man. I was told he had been a tanner : 
 that pleased me ; for I thought both him and me 
 had dumb up a long way from where we had 
 started : and it is truly said, " Honor and fame from 
 
182 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 no condition rise." It's the grit of a fellow that 
 makes the man. 
 
 On my return, I received an invitation from 
 Colonel Draper to dine with him, informing me also, 
 that the rale Major Jack Downing was expected to 
 be there. When the hour arrived, I started to walk 
 there, as it was but a short distance. On my way 
 I saw a white man who was in a great rage, cursing 
 a white man-servant. I stopped, and said to him, 
 " Hellow, mister ! if you was to talk that way to a 
 white man in my country, he'd give you first rate 
 hell." He looked at me and said nothing, but 
 walked off. Sure enough, when I got to Colonel 
 Draper's I was introduced to the major. We sat 
 down to a splendid dinner, and amused ourselves 
 with some good jokes. But as this was a private 
 party, I don't think it gentlemanly to tell what was 
 said at this time, and especially as this was not the 
 only communication I had with the major. One 
 observation, however, was made by him, and I gave 
 him an answer which could not offend anybody. 
 ** Colonel," says he, " what d'ye sort o' think about 
 gineral matters and things in purticlur ? " Know- 
 ing him to be a Yankee, I tried to answer him in 
 his own way. So says I, " Major, the Ginneral's 
 matters are all wrong ; but some purticklar things 
 are very well : such, for instance, as the honor I 
 have in dining with you at Colonel Draper's." 
 " Good," says the major, " and we'll talk about 
 them there matters some other time." " Agreed," 
 says I. " major, always at your sarvice." 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 183 
 
 I found a large company waiting for me when I 
 got back to the hotel, and invitation to sup with the 
 young Whigs. "Well, now, thinks I, they had better 
 keep some of these things to eat for somebody else, 
 for I'm sure I'm as full as a young cub. But right 
 or wrong I must go in. There I met the honorable 
 Augustus S. Clayton, of Georgia, and was right 
 glad to see him, for I knew I could get him to take 
 some of the speaking off of me. He speaks prime, 
 and is always ready, and never goes off half-cock. 
 
 Upwards of one hundred sat down to supper. 
 They were going to toast me, but I told some of 
 them near me to toast Judge Clayton first; that 
 there should be more rejoicing over one that wa> 
 lost and found again, than over ninety and nine 
 such as me, that had never strayed away. They did 
 so ; and he made a speech that fairly made the 
 tumblers hop. He rowed the Tories up and over 
 Salt River. 
 
 Then they toasted me as " the undeviating sup- 
 porter of the constitution and laws." I made a 
 short speech, and concluded with the story of the 
 "Bed Cow,'? which was,, that as long as General 
 Jackson went straight, I folio w^ed him ; but when 
 he began to go this way, and that way, and every 
 way, I wouldn't go after him ; like the boy whose 
 master ordered him to plow across the field to the 
 red cow. "Well, he began to plow and she began 
 to walk ; and he plowed all forenoon after her. 
 So when the master came, he swore at him for go- 
 ing so crooked. " "Why, sir," said the boy, "yoB 
 
184 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 told me to plow to the red cow, and I kept aftef 
 her, but she always kept moving." 
 
 Next morning being the first day of May, I went 
 to some of the newspaper offices, read the news, and 
 returned to take a ride with Colonel S. D. Jackson, 
 in an elegant barouche. We drove up to the city, 
 and took a view of the improvements and beautiful 
 houses in the new part. By the time we returned 
 down Broadway, it seemed to me that the city was 
 flying before some awful calamity. " Why," said 
 1, "Colonel, what under heaven is the matter? 
 Everybody appears to be pitching out their furni- 
 ture, and packing it off." He laughed, and said 
 this was the general " moving day." Such a sight 
 nobody ever saw unless it was in this same city. It 
 seemed a kind of frolic, as if they were changing 
 houses just for fun. Every street was crowded 
 with carts, drays, and people. So the world goes. 
 It would take a good deal to get me out of my log- 
 hoase; but here, I understand, many persons 
 " move " every year. 
 
 Having alighted, and taken some refreshment, I 
 asked Colonel Webb to go with me to the " Five 
 Points," a noted place near the center of the city. 
 This is the place where Van Buren's warriors came 
 from during the election, when the wild Irish, with 
 their clubs and bludgeons, knocked down every one 
 they could find that would not huzza for Jackson. 
 However, I had a great curiosity to see them ; and 
 on we went, the major and me, and in the midst of 
 that great city we came to a place where five streets 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 185 
 
 all come together ; and from this it takes the name 
 of the " Five Points." The buildings are little, old, 
 frame houses, and looked like some little country 
 village. The houses all had cellars ; and as that day 
 was fashionable to move, they were moving too. 
 The streets looked like a clearmg, in my part of the 
 world, as they were emptying and burning the straw 
 out of their beds. It appeared as if the cellars were 
 jam full of people ; and such fiddling and dancing 
 nobody ever before saw in this world. I thought 
 they were the true " heaven-boms." Black and 
 white, white and black, all hugemsnug together, 
 happy as lords and ladies, sitting sometimes round 
 in a ring, with a jug of liquor between them : and 
 I do think I saw more drunken folks, men and 
 women, that day than I ever saw before. This is 
 part of what is called by the Regency the " glorious 
 sixth ward " — the regular Yan Buren ground-floor. 
 I thought I would rather risk myself in an Indian 
 fight than venture among these creatures after night. 
 I said to the Colonel, " God deliver me from such 
 constituents, or from a party supported by such. In 
 my country, when you meet an Irishman, you find 
 a first rate gentleman ; but these are worse than 
 savages ; they are too mean to swab hell's kitchen." 
 He took me to the place where the election was 
 held. It appeared to me that all the place round 
 was made ground, and that there was more room in 
 the houses under ground than above : and I sup- 
 pose there must have been a flood of rain during 
 the election, which forced those rats out of their 
 
186 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 holes. There is more people stowed away togethej 
 here than any place I ever saw. I heard a story, 
 and it is asserted to be true, that about here, some 
 years ago, a committee visited all the houses, to see 
 how they were coming on. One house that was 
 four stories high, atid four rooms on a floor, had six- 
 teen families in it, and four in the garret, which was 
 divided into four parts by a streak of charcoal. An 
 old lady, that was spinning up there, was asked how 
 they made out. She said, pretty well; and that 
 they would be quiet enough if it was not for the old 
 woman in the opposite corner, and she took board 
 ers, and they often made a noise. I believe it is true 
 What a miserable plaice a city is for poor people; 
 they are half starved, poorly clothed, and perished 
 for fire. I sometimes wonder they do not clear out 
 to a new country, where every skin hangs by its own 
 tail : but I suppose they think an hour's indulgence 
 in vice is sweet enough for the bitter of the rest. 
 
 Coming home, I took notice that the rear of the 
 City Hall was of brown stone, while the front and 
 sides were of white marble. I asked the Colonel 
 why that was so. He said the Poor House stood 
 behind when they built the Hall. That is like 
 many a great man : if he gets a fine breast to his 
 jacket, he will make the back of fustian — and like 
 thousands of great people, who think that anything 
 will do for poor folks to look at, or eat, or wear. 
 Another thing seemed queer to me, and that was a 
 bell hanging outside of the steeple of the Hall. It 
 was so big that they could not get it in, and rather 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 187 
 
 than lose the money, they hung it outside ; never 
 reflecting that even a backwoodsman must laugh at 
 such a Dutch blunder. 
 
 On the same walk I was introduced to the honor- 
 able Albert GaUatin. He had an old straw hat in 
 his hand, and like everybody else, was " moov. 
 feig," and said he was sorry not to have more time 
 to be acquainted with me. He pointed to the house 
 he was leaving, and said it and several others were 
 to be torn down to build a big tavern. It was a 
 very fine house, fit for any man to live in ; but in a 
 few hours I saw men on the top of it, and before 
 the next evening the daylight was through it. This 
 tavern is to be near the park, and is building by 
 John Jacob Astor. It is to cost seven hnndr^ 
 thousand dollars, and covers a whole square. Mr. 
 Astor, I am told, begun business in New York as a 
 dealer in furs, and is now worth millions. Lord help 
 the beavers and otters ! they must have most got 
 used to getting skinned by this time. And what a 
 meeting of friends and kin there must have been in 
 his warehouse. " Farewell," said the otter to the 
 beaver, " I never expect to see you again, my dear 
 did friend." " Never mind, my dear fellow," said 
 the beaver, " don't be too much distressed, we'll 
 soon meet at the hatter's shop." 
 
 This day a new flag was to be hoisted, down on 
 the Battery, and I was invited to attend. The 
 artillery, under command of General Morton, 
 paraded ; and he invited many of his friends to be 
 present : among the rest, the mayor, Gideon Lee, was 
 
188 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 there, and addressed the people. Among othM 
 things be told them that that flag-staff was placed 
 where the old one stood when the British evacuated 
 New York ; that they left the flag flying, and 
 greased the pole, so that it could not be dim up ; 
 but at last a sailor got up and tore it down, and 
 hoisted the American flag in its place ; and when 
 he came down, the people filled his hat with money. 
 
 General Morton is a revolutioner, and an officer 
 in the society of old soldiers, called the " Cincin- 
 nati Society," and wears its badge on his breast. 
 He gave an entertainment to his friends on this 
 occasion ; for you must know that nobody thinks 
 anything well done in this place, without eating 
 and drinking over it. 
 
 This battery a'n't a place, as its name looks like, 
 for keeping and shooting off cannon. It might have 
 been so, long ago ; but it is a beautiful meadow of 
 a place, all measured off, with nice walks of gravel 
 between the grass plats, full of big shade-trees, and 
 filled with people and a great many children, that 
 come there to get the fresh air that comes off the 
 water of the bay. This is a beautiful place ; and 
 you can see Long Island, and Staten Island, and 
 many others from it. Here is likewise Castle Gar- 
 den, and the bridge that Yan Buren wanted to 
 drown the president off of, when him and Major 
 Jack most fell in. The fact is, the plan was well 
 enough, but General Jackson did not know of it. 
 It was concluded, you see, that the president should 
 make all his big secretaries and Colonel Eeeside go 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 189 
 
 before, and him come after ; and then slam should 
 go the bridge, with the old fellow on it. But he 
 went foremost, and when it fell, they didn't catch 
 any but Governor Cass, secretary of war ; and he 
 only lost his hat and wig, which they say the por- 
 pusses carried off and gave to the sea serpent, so 
 that he might be on their side in the next oyster war. 
 
 After all this, I went that same day to see my 
 young friend "Walden, and enjoyed myself with some 
 friends till evening. 
 
 When I got back to the hotel, 1 found the bill for 
 the Bowery theater ; and it stated I was to be there. 
 Now I knew I had never given the manager any 
 authority to use my name, and I determined not to 
 go. After some time, I was sent for, and refused ; 
 and then the head manager came himself. I told 
 him I did not come for a show ; I did not come for 
 the citizens of New York to look at, I come to look 
 at them. However, my friends said it would be a 
 great disappointment, and might harm the mana- 
 gers ; and so I went, and was friendly received. I 
 remained a short time, and returned. So ended the 
 first day of May, 1834: ; and I should like to see any* 
 body who saw more sights in once waking up. In 
 fact, when I got to bed and begun to think them 
 over, I found it would take me to daylight ; so I 
 just broke off, and went to sleep. 
 
 Next morning, Colonel Mapes told me he was 
 requested to invite me to come over to Jersey City, 
 to see some shooting with a rifle. In the meantime, 
 I had been very kindly invited by Captain Comstock 
 
190 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 to go that day, at half-past three o'clock, with him 
 to Boston. I concluded to go, as 1 might never have 
 another opportunity, and it took only eighteen hoars 
 to go there. 
 
 I went with the Colonel to see little Thawburn's * 
 seed store ; and a great place it is, for he has got all 
 kinds of things there ; and for fear his bird-seed 
 should not be fresh, he keeps a few hundred birds 
 to eat it up in short order ; and to prove that his 
 flower-seed is prime, he keeps thousands of little 
 pots growing, and mostly gits five times as much 
 for the proof as he does for the seed. He is a little, 
 old, weezened-up man, talks broad Scotch, and is as 
 active as a terrier dog. 
 
 I now started to Jersey City, where I found & 
 great many gentlemen shooting rifles, at the di». 
 tance of one hundred yards with a rest. One gentle 
 man gave me his gun, and asked me to shoot. I 
 raised up, off-hand, and cut within about two inches 
 of the center. I told him my distance was forty 
 yards off-hand. He loaded his gun, and we walked 
 down to within forty yards, when I fired, and was 
 deep in the paper. I shot a second time, and did 
 the same. Colonel Mapes then put up a quarter of 
 a dollar in the middle of a black spot, and asked me 
 to slioot at it. I told him he had better mark the 
 size of it and put his money in his pocket. He said, 
 " Fire away." I did so, and made sleight-of-hand 
 work with his quarter. It was now time to return, 
 and prepare for my trip to Boston . 
 
 * Thorbum, the original of Gault's " Lowrie Todd." 
 
LITE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. IJJ 
 
 CHAPTEE XX. 
 
 The Colonel starts for Boston— Passes Hell Gate, and Point 
 Juda — First impressions of New England scenery — Captain 
 Silsbee — Arrives at Tremont House — Mr. Boyden— Visit to 
 the gallery of the artist, Chester Harding— Sits for bis por- 
 trait — Faneuil Hall — General Davis — Quincy Market — India 
 Rubber factory — Colonel Perkins— Carpet factory — Sups 
 with the young Whigs— Bunker Hill — Whig dinner — Chan- 
 trey's statue of Washington — Asylum for the Blind. 
 
 At three o'clock I left the hotel, and went ovot 
 to where the steamboat lay. "When I went on board, 
 the captain showed me into a splendid stateroom, 
 which I was to occupy for the voyage. So, when 
 I had made toilet (as great folks say), that is, 
 combed my hair, and taken a glass of brandy and 
 water, I went on deck. There I saw almost as many 
 people as were when I landed ; and they kept gather- 
 ing until the whole ground was covered ; and when 
 we started, they cheered me for some time ; and all 
 I could do was to stand and bow to them. This 
 brought me into new trouble; for the passengers 
 found I was on board, and came round me, so that 
 I missed seeing the city until we got past it. 
 
 Soon, however, we came to the place called Hell's 
 Gate ; so called, I suppose, because the water boils, 
 and foams, and bounces, about as if it was in a pot 
 
192 LIFE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 
 
 I don't think, however, that this is a good name foi 
 it, because we are told in the good book, that hell's 
 gate is a mighty slick place, and easy to get into. 
 Here 3 first saw a large square-sailed British mer- 
 chant ship, under full saiL She was coming in 
 through the channel, and I was glad to see that, for 
 when we were voting for an appropriation for a fort 
 to defend this place, 1 heard it said that no foreign 
 ship ever attempted coming in that way. But these 
 are the kind of arguments used most generalJy by 
 those who oppose internal improvements, harbors, 
 etc., etc., ; they fancy things, and speak them for 
 truth. 
 
 We went on very pleasantly till night ; and the 
 captain told me if I would rise at daylight, we would 
 be out of sight of land. So I went to bed, and rose 
 as soon as I could see. I walked out on deck, and 
 sure enough, there was no land to be seen. We were 
 coming near Fort Juda, a place where, the captain 
 informed me, people on board was often very sea- 
 sick. So I set myself down for a case, but was dis- 
 appointed ; it was quite calm, and a clear fine morn- 
 ing, and when the sun rose, it came up like a ball of 
 fire out of the water, and looked, for all the world, 
 as if it had been made for the first time. We went 
 around Point Juda, and kept in sight of land on our 
 left hand. There was very little timber to be seen ; 
 the whole country appeared to be laid off in fields, 
 divided by stone fences. These were a great curi- 
 osity to me, and I could not help thinking that theif 
 cattle must be well schooled here ; for one of my 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. I93 
 
 COWS would pitch over a dozen such fences, without 
 flirting her tail. 
 
 We went by the great fort at the Naraganset bay, 
 and landed at Newport for a short time. From 
 thence we took our way again to Providence. There 
 I met a large number of the citizens. They cheered 
 me on my arrival, and wanted me to stay and par- 
 take of a dinner with them. I declined, and took 
 my seat in the fast stage. The driver was ordered 
 to go ahead, and sure enough he did. It was forty 
 miles to Boston, and we run it down in four 
 hours. 
 
 "What mighty hard land it is on this road, and 
 seems as if the whole face of the earth had been 
 covered over with stones, as thick as Kentuck land 
 titles ; but they have got them strung up into fences, 
 as many as they can, by picking of them off ; but 
 they won't stay picked, for every time they plow, 
 a new crop comes up. 
 
 It was somewhere away long here that the pil- 
 grims landed at Plymouth, and begun to people this 
 part of the world ; and a hard time they must have 
 had of it in this barren country ; and it seems odd 
 that they should come all the way across the sea, 
 and not look out for good land. However, I sup- 
 pose it was all right, or God would have given them 
 better pilots. If they had had fine land, they would 
 not have ventured so much on the ocean, and would 
 have had less necessity to work hard, and bring up 
 their children to industry, and give them such cute 
 teaching as makes them know how to make ducks 
 »3 
 
194 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKEIT. 
 
 and drakes of us out yonder, when they come 
 among us. 
 
 Tou would be as much struck as I was with the 
 handsome houses and nice farms ; but when I came 
 to find all out, I didn't wonder so much. This was 
 Captain A, and that B's house; and they made 
 money on sea, and spent it on land ; that's the truth ; 
 for Adam himself could not have made it out of the 
 land. So I found out that the most of them owned 
 a little plantation on shorej and the run of the sea 
 to work on besides. 
 
 One of the passengers, who came from beyond 
 Boston, while we were talking over these tMngs, 
 asked me if I knew Captain Silsbee. I told him no. 
 " I guess you do," says he, " he's our senator ia 
 Congress ; but to home, we old folks call him cap- 
 tain." I told him, certainly I did, but never knew 
 him by that title. " Well, we know that none on 
 'em boxed a compass longer nor better, and he made 
 a power of money, and during the last war planked 
 up more gold and silver to lend the government 
 than Benton ever counted." 
 
 But I must quit philosophy, and tell you where I 
 stopped in Boston — and that was just where any one 
 that has plenty of cash, and plenty of good-will for 
 pleasure, would like — in a clean street, with a tavern 
 on one side, and the theater on the other, and both 
 called Tremont. Mr. Boyden did not know me, nor 
 me him ; but when I told him my name, where they 
 put it on the bar-book, he treated me like an old 
 friend, and continued to do so all the time I was 
 
LIFE OP DAVID CROCKETTT. 195 
 
 there. He gave me a good room and nice bed ; &nd 
 did not, like many landlords, let a stranger take care 
 of himself, but attended to me the kindest in the 
 world, I had seen a great many fine taverns ; but 
 take this out and out, and Tremont House is a smart 
 chance ahead. It is lately built, and has every new 
 arrangement; and for a house with a couple of 
 hundred people about it, is the quietest I ever was 
 in. His head man of the gap, in the bar, has eyes 
 all round him ; and Will Scarlet, as he is called by 
 a friend of mine, has the sound of every bell in the 
 house by heart. When I arrived, I knew no one, 
 but in a short time I made many acquaintances, and^ 
 indeed, was very kindly treated by every person I 
 met. There is a great deal of friendly feeling with 
 the eastern people ; and folks need not go out ol 
 Boston to find rale hospitality. 
 
 Next morning I was invited by Mr. Harding ta 
 visit his gallery of paintings, where he had a great 
 many specimens of the fine arts ; and finally he 
 asked me to sit for him until he could get my like- 
 ness, which I did, during my stay, and he has it 
 now, hung up among the rest of the fine arts. 
 From there I went to Faneuil Hall, where General 
 Davis showed me all the accouterments of war for 
 several companies of infantry and riflemen, that was 
 deposited in it. These are in snug rooms on each 
 side of the second story ; and in the middle is the 
 parade-room, where, summer and winter, the com- 
 panies meet to drill. This is doing things in true 
 style, that is all for use, and no show about it. So^ 
 
196 LIFE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 
 
 instead of hearing a great fuss with volunteers, and 
 drilling, and all that, wheeling and marching, handle 
 cartridge, eyes right — you see a squad of fine sol- 
 diers coming out of this same place, and squared up 
 as if they were the rale breed. 
 
 General Davis informed me this was the house 
 that was called the " cradle of liberty." I reckon 
 old king George thought they were thundering fine 
 children that was rocked in it, and a good many of 
 them ; and that no wonder his red-coats were licked, 
 when the children came out with soldier clothes on, 
 and muskets in their hands. God grant that the 
 liberty-tree bough on which this cradle rocks may 
 never break. 
 
 From here I went to the market, which is a small 
 circumstance ahead of anything I ever saw, and just 
 where it should be. Now, in Philadelphia, it looks 
 like a long feeding-trough, stuck up in the middle of 
 the city. And how d'ye think it was done ? Why, 
 they put a man of head in, as mayor, who laid all 
 his plans, counted the cost, ciphered out the profits, 
 and so forth, and then made one pitch right 
 " ahead " : and before the ninnies and scarey folks 
 had half done telling their long stories about the 
 dreadful expense. Mayor Quincy's hammers were 
 keeping time on the big granite stones, and the 
 beautiful pillars were rising up as if he had just 
 ordered them. In this market-house everything 
 looks like so many different shops or stores, and you 
 are quite indoors, instead of sellers and buyers both 
 being exposed to wet, heat, and cold. The market 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 197 
 
 appeared to be abundantly supplied, but, as I 
 thought, rather dear. 
 
 After returning home, I was invited over to Eox 
 borough, where they make the Indian-rubber cloth- 
 ing, shoes, etc. This is done by dissolving the rub- 
 ber, and putting it on silk and other cloth, which 
 entirely turns the rain, and still is pliable, and not 
 heavy. The proprietor made me a present of a 
 hunting coat, which I have tried, and would risk 
 my powder under it for forty days and nights. It 
 was a great curiosity to see the young ladies cutting 
 out the clothes, and sticking them together without 
 sewing them. I went also through the shoe fac 
 tory, where they make shoes in the same way with- 
 out stitching them. I could not help thinking of 
 the Philadelphia girls — thought they ought to have 
 them, to keep their feet dry. 
 
 "We often wonder how things are made so cheap 
 among the Yankees. Come here, and you will see 
 women doing men's work, and happy and cheerful 
 as the day is long. And why not ? Is it not much 
 better for themselves and families, instead of sitting 
 up all day busy about nothing ? It ain't hard work, 
 neither, and looked as queer to me as it would to one 
 of my countrywomen to see a man milking the 
 cows, as they do here. 
 
 After I had seen all that was to be seen here, 
 I was taken to Colonel Perkins' carpet factory. 
 There I saw the widest web I ever saw, and they 
 were glossing and stamping it in handsome style. 
 I was quite friendly received by the colonel. He is 
 
198 UFB OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 Slid to be a very rich man ; is quite old, but firm and 
 healthy in appearance ; and uses his riches in the 
 best possible way — by keeping a great many people 
 busy. And he is not one of those foolish people, 
 neither, that strive all their days to see how rich 
 they can die: for he gives with his hands open. I 
 saw one house in Boston which he gave to keep the 
 blind in, and was told it was worth fifty thousand 
 dollars. What a comfort the old gentleman must 
 have when he looks at his great possessions, and is 
 calculating, not how much he can laoard up, but how 
 much he can give away. God never made such men 
 to be envied^ or I could begrudge him a few of his 
 blessings from the poor and destitute. 
 
 At the invitation of the owners of the Indian- 
 rubber factory, I met a number of the citizens of 
 Eoxborough, and passed a short time with them 
 very pleasantly. 
 
 When I returned to the Tremont, I received an 
 invitation from the young Whigs, to sup with them 
 at eight o'clock. I accepted their invitation, and 
 then went over to the E"avy Yard, at Oharlestown. 
 I saw many fine ships, and among them was the 
 splendid old Constitution. She was lying in dry 
 dock, and had been new timbered in grand style. 
 The likeness of Andrew Jackson was placed on her 
 for a figurehead. I was asked if it was a good 
 likeness. I said I had never seen him misrepresent- 
 ed ; but that they had fixed him just where he had 
 fixed himself, that was, before the Constitution. 
 
 We then went up to the old battle-ground on 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 199 
 
 Bunker's hill, where they were erecting a monu. 
 ment to those who fell in that daybreak battle of 
 our rising glory. I felt as if I wanted to call them 
 up, and ask them to tell me how to help to protect 
 the liberty they bought for us with their blood ; but 
 as I could not do so, I resolved on that holy ground, 
 as I had done elsewhere, to go for my country, 
 always and everywhere. 
 
 When I came back from Bunker's Lill, I received 
 about a half a dozen invitations from distinguished 
 citizens of Boston, to dine or sup with them, so that 
 it was impossible to attend to all of them unless I 
 had the digestion of a cassowary. I must here state 
 that the citizens generally of Boston are uncommon 
 kind and civil ; and if they understand the art of 
 making money they know how to spend it. I was 
 entertained like a prince, and could have lived there, 
 I suspect, on the same terms for much longer. 
 They appear to me to live generally in New Eng- 
 land more snugly, and have more kind feelings to 
 one another, and live in more peace and harmony 
 than any people 1 ever was among. And another 
 good thing — they don't forget one another when 
 they are among strangers ; old New England binds 
 them hard together ; and this gives them, as it ought 
 to do, strength and confidence, and influence ; and 
 with us in the South Yankee cunning is assuming the 
 true name — Yankee knowledge of business, and per- 
 severence in whatever they undertake. 
 
 During the afternoon many gentlemen came to 
 Bee me, and we spent our time pleasantly until the 
 
200 IJFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 time came for me to attend upon the young "Whiga 
 A coach and four fine horses was sent for me. This I 
 considered as too much honor ; but as I take all things 
 as they come, and everything for the best, I stepped 
 into it, and off they whirled with the backwoods 
 hunter. Which way they drove I did not know, nor 
 did I care. I knew they would not eat supper till I 
 got there ; and that they would not serve me as 
 Lafayette was served at a certain place where he 
 was expected to land and dine. The steamboat 
 went wrong and he did not arrive ; so they eat 
 their dinners and took out the frolic. About sun- 
 down, the boat came up, the orator of the day was 
 called for, he was as blind as a pup; but the 
 moment the old general touched the ground, he 
 put at him with abundance of welcomes and com. 
 pliments about his heroism, until he got up in the 
 pathetics, when he said, " Glorious Lafayette, the 
 blood you have shed, and the treasures you ex- 
 pended in defense of the liberties of this country, 
 call for our gratitude. I want words to convey my 
 ideas ; in fact (striking his hand on his belly instead 
 of his heart), I'm too full to proceed." The old 
 gentleman seized his hand, gave it a hearty shake, 
 and so the oration ended. 
 
 We came to the appointed place, where I was 
 taken in and introduced to about one hundred young 
 gentlemen, true chips of the old block, ready to be 
 rocked in the old cradle, whether for fight or frolic, 
 war or electioneering. They gave me a hearty wel- 
 come, and made me feel all as one of themselves. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 201 
 
 So down we sat to an elegant supper, with the best 
 of wines, and the champagne foaming up as if you 
 were supping fog out of speaking-trumpets. 
 
 After the cloth was removed and several toasts 
 drank, they toasted me very warmly. I rose and 
 addressed them. 
 
 Early next morning I got up, and my health being 
 much improved, I felt just like I was in peace with 
 myself and all the world. After breakfast, I took a 
 long walk through the city, and passed through the 
 Mall. This is a beautiful green of something like 
 forty acres, I should judge, and looks refreshing in 
 the midst of a city. From the top of the State- 
 house I had a fine view of the city, and was quite 
 amused to see the representation of a large codfish, 
 hung up in the House of Assembly, or General 
 Court, as they call it — to remind them either that 
 they depended a good deal on it for food, or made 
 money by the fisheries. This is quite natural to 
 me, for at home I have on one end of my house the 
 antlers of a noble buck, and the heavy paws of a 
 bear. 
 
 I did not like the statue of General Washington 
 in the State-house, They have a Koman gown * on 
 him, and he was an American; this ain't right. 
 They did the thing better atEichmond, in Virginia, 
 where they have him in the old blue and buff. He 
 belonged to this country — heart, soul, and body, and 
 
 • This is a mistake of the Colonel. Chantrey's statue of 
 Washington represents him. in the costume of the Revolution 
 With a militarv cloak. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 I don't want any other to hare any part of him— 
 Dot even his clothes. 
 
 I return the officers in the State-house my thanks 
 for their civility. I can't remember all their names, 
 and therefore I won't name any of them. 
 
 When I returned to Tremont House, a gentleman 
 invited me to walk with him to the old State-honse. 
 When I reached that I saw a great crowd. General 
 Davis conducted me into the house, and we went up- 
 stairs, where there was a platform. I drew off my 
 hat, and bowed to the people ; they immediately 
 cheered me, and called for a speech, which I had to 
 make. 
 
 Here now comes a poser. I was invited to line 
 out, ; but if I can mind the gentleman's name I wish 
 I may be shot. He lived near Tremont; and I 
 hope, if he has curiosity enough to read this here 
 book, that he will write ine a letter, so that in my 
 second edition, I may give his name as large as life, 
 and I beg him to recollect that it ain't every one 
 that signs a letter that makes himself known. Let 
 him write it plain — none of your hieroglyphics — or 
 I won't put him in. 
 
 Some would say that they were mortified that 
 they forgot this gentleman's name. I ain't; I'm 
 sorry — but the truth is, I saw so many folks, and 
 so many new things, that it's no wonder I should 
 not mind everything. He was a clever fellow, and 
 I know he will forgive me. 
 
 When 1 went home, there I met a young man 
 that was stone blind. " Well," says you, " that's no 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 203 
 
 new thing." Stop, if you please : that puts me in 
 mind of an old parson and a scolding woman that 
 belonged to his church. She told him, in one of her 
 tantrums, that she could preach as well as he could, 
 and he might select the text. " Well," said the old 
 man," I'll give you one, and you can study over it — 
 ' It is better to dwell on the house-top than in a wide 
 house with a brawling woman. ' " " You good-for- 
 nothing, impudent, old — what shaU I say ? do you 
 go for to calling me a brawling woman ? " " Dear 
 mistress," said the good old man, " you'll have to 
 study a while longer, for you come to the appli- 
 cation of the text before you discuss the doc- 
 trine." 
 
 Now it was not tha/t I met a blind boy in Tre- 
 mont House that was any curiosity, but it was his 
 errand. He inquired of the barkeeper for me, as I 
 was standing by him, and said he was sent by 
 the teacher of the blind, to invite me to visit 
 the institution, and that he would show me the 
 way. 
 
 I was. told by the gentlemen present that he could 
 go all over Boston. A gentleman accompanied m^ 
 and we went on till we came to a fine house where 
 the institution was kept. "We went, and were in- 
 troduced to the teacher. He asked me if I wished 
 to hear some of them read. I said I did, and he 
 ordered a little girl, perhaps ten or twelve years 
 old, to get her book, asked her to find a certain 
 chapter in the Old Testament, and read it. She 
 took up the book and felt with her fingers until she 
 
204 UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 found it. He then told her to read, and she did b(\ 
 with a clear, distinct voice. This was truly astoa« 
 ishing ; but on examining their books I found that 
 the letters were stamped on the under side of the 
 paper, so as to raise them above the surface of the 
 upper side; and such was the keenness of their 
 touch that, by passing the end of the finger over 
 the word, it served them for sight, and they pro- 
 nounced the word. There was a little boy learning 
 to cipher in the same way. The teacher put several 
 questions to him aloud ; and putting his fingers to- 
 gether and working with them for a short time, he 
 answered all the questions correctly. 
 
 That kind of education astonished me more than 
 anything I ever saw. There were a great many of 
 them. Some were learning to play on the piano- 
 forte ; and many of them were busy making pretty 
 little baskets, such as are carried by the ladies. 
 
 They asked me if I would like to hear them sing ; 
 and telling them it would please me very much, a 
 number of them came up, and some had musical in- 
 struments : one had a large thing which I never saw 
 before, nor did I ask the name ; one had a clarionet, 
 and one had a flute. They played and sung to- 
 gether beautifully, and, indeed, I never saw happier 
 people in my life. I remained some time with them 
 going over the establishment. This is the house 
 that I mentioned before was given by Colonel Per- 
 kins to the blind. There is not such a grand house 
 owned by any person in "Washington. What a sat- 
 isfaction it must be to this old gentleman and 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 206 
 
 others who have helped these unfortunates, to see 
 them surrounded with so many comforts ! * 
 
 * Colonel Thomas Handaside Perkins, the gentleman re- 
 ferred to in Colonel Crockett's narrative, was one of the " mer- 
 chant princes" of Boston. His liberal donations to public 
 institutions were very numerous. Many years since, he pre- 
 sented an estate worth fifty thousand dollars to the Boston 
 Atheneum. The property which he gave to the Asylum for 
 the Blind, was valued at fifty thousand dollars ; and it was 
 given on condition that the citizens of Boston should raise by 
 subscription fifty thousand dollars in thirty days, to be given 
 to the Asylum, which condition was promptly complied with. 
 
306 UFB OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 CSolonel Oookett is invited to visit Harvard University — Jb 
 afraid they will make him a Doctor of Laws, and declines 
 going there — ^Visits the Tremont Theater — ^Visit to Lowell 
 — The Colonel is delighted with the factories and the 
 factory girls — His remarks on Free Labor— The Sear 
 serpent — ^The Tarifif — ^The South — Mr. Lawrence presents 
 the Colonel with a suit of broadcloth of LoweU manufac- 
 ture, from Mississippi wool — The Colonel dines with the 
 young gentlemen of LoweU — New England Hospitality— 
 The Colonel returns to Boston — Spends an evening with 
 Lieutenant-Governor Armstrong — Returns to Providence, 
 New York, and Philadelphia — Visit to Camden, New 
 Jersey — Losei his Pocketbook and money — Betums to 
 Baltimore and Washington, 
 
 When I returned, there were some gentlemen 
 that invited me to go to Cambridge, where the big 
 college or university is, where they keep ready- 
 made titles or nick-names to give people. I would 
 not go, for I did not know but they might stick an 
 LL. D. on me before they let me go ; and I had no 
 idea of changing " Member of the House of Eepre- 
 sentatives of the United States," for what stands 
 for "lazy lounging dunce," which I am sure 
 my constituents would have translated my new 
 title to be, knowing that I had never taken any de- 
 gree, and did not own to any except a small degree 
 of good sense not to pass for what I was not — 1 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 207 
 
 would not go it. There had been one doctor made 
 from Tennessee already, and I had no wish to put 
 on the cap and bells. I recollect the story of a 
 would-be-great man who put on his sign after his 
 name, in large capitals, D. Q. M. G., which stood 
 for Deputy Quarter Master General ; but, which one 
 of his neighbors, to the great diversion of all the 
 rest, and to his mortification, translated into 
 ** damn'd quick made gentleman." No, indeed, not 
 me — anything you please but Granny Crockett ; I 
 leave that for others, I'll throw that in to make 
 chuck full the measure of their country's glory. 
 
 I told them I did not go to this branding school ; 
 I did not want to be tarred with the same stick ; 
 one dignitary was, enough from Tennessee; that as 
 far as my learning went, I would stand over it, and 
 spell a strive or two with any of them, from as-J-asJ 
 to eruoifix^ which was where I left off at school. 
 
 This day I : dined out again ; but I'm most tired 
 talking of dinners, especially after I have eaten 
 them. I went to the theater that night. The act- 
 ing was pretty considerable, considering that one 
 actress, who, it was very plain, was either a married 
 woman or "had ought to be," as they say there, 
 was playing in the character of a young lady ; and 
 one fellow tried to sing that was not half up to a 
 Mississippi boat horn. 
 
 We got a little dry or so, and wanted a horn, but 
 this was a temperance house and there was nothing 
 to treat a friend to that was worth shaking a 
 Stick at, so says I, " When there was a famine io 
 
208 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 the land of Canaan, there was plenty of com in 
 Egypt; let us go over to the Tremont, Boyden 
 keeps stuff that runs friends together, and makes 
 them forget which is which." Over we went, and 
 soon forgot all about the theater. 
 
 I had promised next morning to go to Lowell with 
 Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Harding and others ; but when 
 I woke up it was pouring down rain, so that kept 
 me in the house all day. 
 
 I was not idle, for I had a heap of talk with the 
 folks in the house. One gentleman asked me to 
 come and see him ; but he gave me so many direc- 
 tions about getting to where he lived that I asked 
 him to write it dovm, and told him if ever he came 
 to my part of the country, I hoped he would call 
 and see me. " "Well," said he, " how will I find 
 where you live?" "Why, sir, run down the 
 Mississippi till you come to the Obion river, run a 
 small streak up that, jump ashore anywhere and 
 inquire for me." 
 
 Says I to one of them, " Do you believe in the 
 sea-sarpint ? " " If I don't, there's no snakes. I 
 believe it to be as much true as there is lie in our 
 deacon when he says his red face ain't made by 
 drinking ' New England.' " " Do you consider him 
 dangerous, or is he peaceable ? " " Well, now, to 
 keep the truth, I never saw him; but Capting 
 Hodijah Folger said as how he considered the 
 critter as a sort o' so, and a sort o' not." " Had he 
 a long tail?" "Tail, did you say I You'd a died 
 to hear Didge tell about that verming. Didge said 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 209 
 
 he was like skying a copper — head or tail — but you 
 had to guess which. Ses Didge to me, ' Don't you 
 mind,' ses he, ' that are angel what stood with one 
 leg on the sea, and t'other on the dry land ? ' I 
 guess I do.' ' "Well,' ses he to me, ' that are sarpint's 
 skin was long enough to a queued his hair.'" 
 
 I was asked to sup with a Mr. Eichards, whom I 
 had seen at Washington. He had a house full of 
 ladies and gentlemen, collected to see me : so I was 
 on my manners, and I hope they were all as much 
 gratified as I was. We had a fine supper, plenty of 
 conversation, and some fun. I don't think the 
 northern ladies talk as much publicly as they do , in 
 the south and west. In private conversation they 
 are ready enough. 
 
 When I got back, I saw my old cock again. 
 " Well," says I, " what do you think of nullification 
 up here ? " " Why, they say, some of them, that it 
 was got and bred by the tariff. Squire Williams, 
 my neighbor, said he didn't think so : it was a kind 
 of come-by-chance, that was too wicked to know its 
 own kin ; and he thought it was a very ugly thing." 
 " Well," says I to him, " squire, setting a case as how 
 the Congress of Jackson-men should pass a law tax- 
 ing of all the looms and spindles, and letting cottons 
 and woolens come in from foreign parts, free of 
 duty — what should we do ? " " Why, ask 'em to 
 repeal it." " Suppose they would not do it ; and when 
 we were growing poorer and poorer, the tax-gatherer 
 should come to sell you out, stock and fluke." 
 « Why, I'd dispute his authority desperately ; and 
 14 
 
210 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 if that would not do, I'd fight him, by the blua 
 blazes." " And so would I : but ain't that nullify. 
 ing, or something mighty like it ? " " Why," ses h©j 
 " the toe that's tramped on feels most ; and a man 
 that don't swear, had better try a stumpy field with 
 a young yoke of cattle." "Well," ses I, "them 
 there people down there fought desperate in the old 
 war. They whipped Captain Cornwallis, and scared 
 Sir Harry Clinton out and out ; and I reckon then 
 no more nor now they don't like nobody to wrong 
 them out of their rights. But I'm glad it's all over : 
 and I tell you what I think ; you don't work hard 
 enough in the south, and take good care of your 
 grounds, and cattle, and so on ; at least, I beam 
 Josiah Norton say so, when he come home from 
 down to south, where he had been pedling a spell. 
 Si ses to me, ses he, ' Please goodness 1 but that's a 
 poor country down yander ; it makes the tears come 
 into the kildear's eyes when they fly over the old 
 fields. Dod drot me, if you can ever get a drink of 
 cider ! ! They ain't got no apples but little rants of 
 things, about as big as your thutmb, and so sour, 
 that when a pig sticks his tooth into 'em, he lays 
 back his jaw, and hollers, you might hear him a 
 mile: but it's "eat, pig, or die "^-f or it's all he's 
 got. And then again they're great for huntin* of 
 foxes ; and if you were to see their hounds ! lean, 
 lank, labber-sided pups, that are so poor they have 
 to prop up agin a post-and-rail fence, 'fore they can 
 false a bark at my tin^cart. It's the poorest place 
 was ever made.' " " So," said I, "stranger, you had 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 211 
 
 better come down and judge for yourself, both as 
 to principles and habits : you would be as much 
 pleased, I am sure, as I have been in coming north." 
 
 Next morning I rose early, and started for LoweU 
 in a fine carriage, with three gentlemen who had 
 agreed to accompany me. I had heard so much of 
 this place that I longed to see it ; not because I had 
 heard of the " mile of gals " ; no, I left that for the 
 gallantry of the president, who is admitted, on 
 that score, to be abler than myself : but I wanted 
 to see the power of the machinery, wielded by the 
 keenest calculations of human skill ; I wanted to 
 see how it was that these northerners could buy our 
 cotton, and carry it home, manufacture it, bring it 
 baek, and sell it for half nothing ; and, in the mean 
 time, be well to live, and make money besides. 
 
 "We stopped at the large stone house at the head 
 of the falls of the Merrimao river, and having taken 
 a little refreshment, went down among the factories. 
 The dinner bells were ringing, and the folks pour- 
 ing out of the houses like bees out of a gum. I 
 looked at them as they passed, all well dressed, 
 lively, and genteel in their appearance ; indeed, the 
 girls looked as if they were coming from a quilting 
 frolic. "We took a turn round, and after dining on 
 a fine salmon, again returned, and entered the 
 factories. 
 
 The out-door appearance was fully sustained by 
 the whole of the persons employed in the different 
 rooms. I went in among the young girls, and talked 
 with many of them. Not one expressed herself as 
 
212 LI^E OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 tired of her employment, or oppressed with work ; 
 all talked well, and looked healthy. Some of them 
 were very handsome ; and I could not help observ- 
 ing that they kept the prettiest inside, and put ♦^he 
 homely ones on the outside rows. 
 
 I could not help reflecting on the difference of 
 condition between these females, thus employed, 
 and those of other populous countries, where the 
 female character is degraded to abject slavery. 
 Here were thousands, useful to others, and enjoying 
 all the blessings of freedom, with the prospect before 
 them of future comfort and respectability : and 
 however we, who only hear of them, may call theip 
 houses workshops and prisons, I assure my neigh, 
 bors there is every enjoyment of life realized by 
 these persons, and there can be but few who are not 
 happy. It eannot be otherwise : respectability de- 
 pends upon being neighborlike : here everybody 
 works, and therefore no one is degraded by it ; 
 on the contrary, those who don't work are not 
 estimated. 
 
 There are more than five thousand females em- 
 ployed in LoweU ; and when you come to see the 
 amount of labor performed by them, in superintend- 
 ing the different machinery, you will be astonished. 
 
 Twelve years ago, the place where Lowell now 
 rises in all its pride was a sheep-pasture. It took its 
 name from Francis C. Lowell, the projector of its 
 manufactories, and was incorporated in 1826 — then 
 a mere village. The fall, obtained by a canal from 
 the Merrimac river, is thirty-two feet, affording two 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 213 
 
 levels for mills, of thirteen and seventeen feet ; and 
 the whole water of the river can be used. 
 
 There are about fourteen thousand inhabitants. 
 It contains nine meeting-houses ; appropriates seven 
 thousand five hundred dollars for free schools ; pro- 
 vides instruction for twelve hundred scholars, daily r 
 and about three thousand annually partake of its 
 benefits. It communicates with Boston by the 
 Middlesex canal (the first ever made in the United 
 States) ; and in a short time the railroad to Boston 
 will be completed, affording every facility of inter, 
 course to the seaboard. 
 
 This place has grown by, and must depend upon, 
 its manufactures. Its location renders it impor- 
 tant, not only to the owners, but to the nation. Its 
 consumption not only employs the thousands of its 
 own population, but many thousands far away from 
 them. It is calculated not only to give individual 
 happiness and prosperity, but to add to our na- 
 tional wealth and independence; and instead of 
 depending on foreign countries, to have our own 
 material worked up in our own country. 
 
 Some of the girls attended three looms ; and they 
 make from one dollar seventy-five cents to three 
 dollars per week, after paying their board. These 
 looms weave fifty-five yards per day ; so that one 
 person makes one hundred and sixty-five yards per 
 day. Everything moves on like clockwork, in all 
 the variety of employments ; and the whole manu- 
 facture appears to be of the very best. 
 
 The owner of one of the mills, Mr. Lawrence, 
 
gl4 T^tFE OP DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 Resented me with a suit of broadcloth, made out of 
 wool bought from Mark Cookral, of Mississippi, who 
 sold them about four thousand pounds, and it waa 
 as good cloth as the best 1 ever bought for best 
 imported. 
 
 The calico made here is beautiful, and of every 
 variety of figure and color. To attempt to give & 
 description of the manner in which it is stamped and 
 colored is far beyond my abilities. One thing 1 
 must state, that after the web is Wove, and before 
 they go further, it is actually passed over a red-hoi 
 cylinder, to scorch off the furze. The number of 
 different operations is truly astonishing ; and if one 
 of my cotintry-women had the whole of the persons 
 m her train that helped to make her gown, she 
 ^ould be like a captain on a field muster : and yet, 
 when you come to look at the cost, it would take a 
 trunk full of them to find these same people in 
 living for one day. 
 
 I never witnessed such a combination of industry, 
 and perhaps never will again. I saw the whole 
 process, from the time they put in the raw material, 
 antil it came out completely finished. In fact, it 
 almost came up to the old story of a fellow walking 
 into a patent machine with a bundle of wool under 
 his arm, and coming out at tlie other end with a 
 new coat on. 
 
 Nothing can be more agreeable than the atten- 
 tion that is paid by every one connected with these 
 establishments. Nothing appears to be kept secret 
 — evra-y process is shown and with great cheerful- 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 215 
 
 ness I regret that more of our southern and west- 
 ern men do not go there, as it would help much to 
 do away with their prejudices against these manu- 
 factories. 
 
 I met the young gentlemen of Lowell, by their 
 particular request, at supper. About one hundred 
 gat down. Everything was in grand order, and went 
 oflE well. They toasted me, and I enlightened them 
 by a speech as good as I could make ; and, indeed, 
 I considered them a good set of fellows, and as well 
 worth speaking to as any ones I had met with. 
 The old saying, " them that don't work should not 
 eat," don't apply to them, for they are raleworkiea, 
 and know how to act genteel, too ; for I assure you 
 I was not more kindly, and hospitably, and liber- 
 ally treated anywhere than just by these same 
 people. 
 
 After supper I went to my lodgings for the night. 
 Next morning, I took another range round the town 
 and returned to Boston. 
 
 Part of this evening I spent at Lieutenant Gov- 
 ernor Armstrong's,* where I met a number of ladies 
 and gentlemen. Part of it went off very pleasantly 
 with my worthy landlord in his private rooms, and 
 I do him the justice to say, that while he supplied 
 his visitors with everything that was nice, he had 
 also picked out for himself as pretty a little bird aa 
 ever fluttered, and is in good keeping with every- 
 thing about the establishment. 
 
 Having been invited to the theater, I went ovei 
 
 * Samuel T. Armstrong, an eminent bookseller of Beaton. 
 
216 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 and sat a short time to be looked at. I was very 
 genteel and quiet, and so I suppose I disappointed 
 some of them, who expected to see a half horse 
 half alligator sort of fellow. 
 
 This was my last night in Boston, and I am sure 
 if I never see the place again, I never can forget 
 the kind and friendly manner in which I was treated 
 by them. It appeared to me that everybody was 
 anxious to serve me, and make my time agreeable. 
 And as a proof that comes home — when I called for 
 my bill next morning, I w^as told there was no 
 charge to be paid by me, and that he was very much 
 delighted that I had made his house my home. 1 
 forgot to mention that they treated me so in Lowell 
 — but it is true. This was, to me, at all events, proof 
 enough of Yankee liberality ; and more than they 
 generally get credit for. In fact, from the time I 
 entered New England, I was treated with the great- 
 est friendship ; and I hope never shall forget it ; 
 and I wish all who read this book, and who never 
 were there, would take a trip among them. If they 
 don't learn how to make money, they will know 
 how to use it; and if they don't learn industry, 
 they will see how comfortable everybody can be 
 that turns his hands to some employment. 
 
 Next day the stage called forme at seven o'clock, 
 and I took my departure from Boston, and went to 
 Providence in Bhode Island. Here I was invited 
 to dine at two of the hotels, but declined both. In 
 fact, I was tired out, and wanted a day or two to 
 get rested ; and my face being turned towards 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 217 
 
 "Washington and my business, I thought I had bet- 
 ter go ahead. 
 
 We had, from Providence, what they call apretty 
 considerable of a rvm,, and landed safely in New 
 York that city of eternal din and confusion. 
 
 I spent that evening with some ladies and gentle- 
 
 men, and rode out with , in his carriage, 
 
 faster than I ever was driven by horse power, for 
 twenty -five miles. 
 
 Next morning I took my leave of the city of New 
 York, and arrived safely in Philadelphia. 
 
 Having promised Mr. Hoy of Camden to call and 
 see him on my return, and having fixed the time, I 
 went over accompanied by several gentlemen, to the 
 Jersey shore, where there were a great many people 
 waiting to receive me. They gave me the hand of 
 friendship, and appeared pleased that I had come 
 over to see them. We proceeded to Mr. Hoy's, and 
 then I took a walk around through Camden. On 
 returning to Mr. Hoy's I took some refreshments, 
 and was called on for a toast, but begged off, as I 
 expected to be called on for one at dinner. 
 
 Some time after this we were asked in to dinner, 
 and heard some one say he had lost his pocketbook. 
 And in a few minutes a second cry was raised, that 
 another man had lost his pocketbook. I then felt 
 for mine, but I felt in vain — it was gone, with one 
 hundred and sixty-eight dollars in it. I told them 
 there was another gentleman that had his deposits 
 removed, and it must be a Jackson man who did it, 
 as it was all on their own plan. But as I was 
 
228 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 among my friends, I knew I was not just a broke 
 mau, and therefore I shut pan on the subject, and 
 fell to eating my dinner. We had everything that 
 was good to eat, and abundance of fine wine, so w© 
 soon forgot the ills of life. After the table was 
 cleared and some toasts drunk, they toasted me in a 
 very handsome manner, complimenting me highly 
 for the course I had taken as a public servant. I 
 returned my gratitude in a speech of about half an 
 hour; but which, as is said in certain advertise- 
 ments, would be too tedious to insert. 
 
 After spending a pleasant afternoon, I returned 
 to Philadelphia in the horse-boat ; the very one, 1 
 suppose, the fellow told of when crossing over. He 
 said they had put in a couple of colts, and being 
 very wild, they pitched ahead, ran off with the boat 
 down the river and never stopped till they came up 
 jam against the breakwater. 
 
 Next morning I was invited to go on to Baltimore 
 in the People's Line of steamboats. I accepted th« 
 proposal, and started in the Ohio steamboat. What 
 is a little remarkable is this, that the railroad line 
 had always heretofore beat the People's Line until 
 that day, when we passed them, and came into port 
 sometime before them. Whether this was because 
 they had me on board or not, I do not pretend to 
 say. Some said, if I could tow a boat up the Mis- 
 Sissippi, it was no wonder I could help one along on 
 the Chesapeake bay. 
 
 Many of my friends met me on the wharf at Bal- 
 timore, and escorted me to Barnum's, where there 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 219 
 
 was a great crowd of people. They called on me 
 for a speech. I made a great many apologies, but 
 none seemed to fit the right place, and I was com- 
 pelled once more to play the orator. 
 
 As usual, when there is some speaking going on, 
 there is a good deal of eating and drinking ; so I 
 eat and drank generously, and retired. 
 
 Several friends called on me, and requested me to 
 visit Major James P. Heath, member of Congress 
 from Baltimore. I did so, and staid a short time 
 at his house, and then returned to uncle Davie's. 
 
 Next morning I took the stage for Washington. 
 "When I arrived at the capitol, I found nothing new, 
 more than they had just got through the appropria- 
 tion bill, and was taking the vote to postpone Mr. 
 Boone's resolution, setting the day of adjournment. 
 I went in while the clerk was calling the ayes and 
 noes, and when he came to my name, and I an- 
 swered, every one was astonished to find me at my 
 post. " Did not I tell you," said I, " that I would 
 not vote on the appropriation bill, but when you 
 came to anything else, I was * Charley on the 
 spot ? '" I walked about the house, saw my friends, 
 and sat out the Congress. When the House ad- 
 journed for good and all, I started for home, by the 
 vr&y of Philadelphia. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CECX3KBTT. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXn. 
 
 Breaking up of Congress — Crockett at Philadelphia — Present* 
 ation of the rifle — The Colonel's speech — Visit to the fish 
 house — Celebration of the Fourth of July — The Colonel's 
 Speech at Chestnut Street Theater — Present of gunpowder 
 from Mr. Dupont — Crockett at Pittsburg — His advice to 
 Tennessee — Conversation with Captain Stone — Passage to 
 Cincinnati and Louisville — Speech at Louisville — Return 
 home — Shooting for beef. 
 
 Did you, my good reader, ever witness a breaking 
 np of Congress ? If not, you had better come and 
 see for yourself. The first thing that is done is, to 
 be sure that Sunday shall be one of the last days. 
 That is because we get paid for Sunday ; and then, 
 as they generally fix, at the end of long sessions, on 
 Monday to break up, a good many can start on 
 Saturday evening or Sunday morning, with two 
 days' extra pay in hand, as they never calculate on 
 much to be done on the last day of the session, ex- 
 cept to send messages to the senate and president 
 that they are ready to adjourn, etc., etc. We gen- 
 erally lounge or squabble the greater part of the 
 session, and crowd into a few days of the last of the 
 term three or four times the business done during 
 as many preceding months. Tou may therefore 
 guess at the deliberations of Congress, when you 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 221 
 
 can't hear, for the soul of you, what's going on, nor 
 no one knows what it is, but three or four, and when 
 it's no use to try to know. Wo betide a bill that 
 is opposed ! It is laid aside for further time, and 
 that never comes. This is considered, however, by 
 some of the great men as good legislation ; to reject 
 every claim, as if the American people was a herd 
 of soundrels, and every petitioner a cheat, and there- 
 fore they are doing the country service to reject 
 everything. Most of these worthies are content to 
 vote no, and will not trouble themselves to inves- 
 tigate. I don't know what they are made of, for to 
 me nothing is more delightful than to vote for a 
 claim which, I think, is justly due, and make them 
 feel as if the government cared for them and their 
 concerns, and would pay what was justly due. 
 What do you think would a petitioner care about 
 going to fight for his country who had been dinging 
 at the doors of Congress, ever since the last war, for 
 some claim or other justly due him, but driven from 
 post to pillar, because he does not come within the 
 spirit or letter of some general law, or because if 
 you pay him, you must others like him ? This an't 
 the way with private people ; they must pay, or be 
 called unjust, and be sued into the bargain. 
 
 When I arrived in Philadelphia, I put up at the 
 United States, where I felt a kind of being at home. 
 
 Next morning I was informed that the rifle gun 
 which was to be presented to me by the young men 
 of Philadelphia, was finished, and would be deliv- 
 ered that evening ; and that a committee had been 
 
222 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 appointed to wait on me and conduct me to where 
 I was to receive it. So, accordingly, in the evening 
 the committee came, and I walked with them to a 
 room nearly foment the old state-house: it was 
 crowded full, and there was a table in the center, 
 with the gun, a tomahawk, and butcher-knife, both 
 of fine razor metal, with aU the accouterments nec- 
 essary to the gun — the most beautiful I ever saw, 
 or anybody else ; and I am nov» Aappy to add, as 
 good as they are handsome. My friend, John M. 
 Sanderson, Esq., who had the whole management of 
 getting her made, was present, and delivered the 
 gun into my hands. Upon receiving her, I addressed 
 the company as follows : 
 
 " Gentlemen : I receive this rifle from the young 
 men of Philadelphia, as a testimony of friendship^ 
 which I hope never to live to forget. This is a 
 favorite article with me, and would have been my 
 choice above all presents that could have been 
 selected. I love a good gun, for it makes a man 
 feel independent, and prepared either for war or 
 peace. 
 
 . " This rifle does honor to the gentleman that made 
 it. I must say, long as I have been accustomed to 
 handle a gun, I have never seen anything that could 
 come near a comparison to her in beauty. I can- 
 not think that ever such a rifle was made, either in 
 this, or any other country ; and how, gentlemen, to 
 express my gratitude to you for your splendid pres- 
 ent, I am at loss. This much, however, I will say, 
 that myself and my sons will not forget you while 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 223 
 
 we use this token of your kindness for our amuse- 
 ment. If it should become necessary to use her in 
 defense of the liberty of our country, in my time, 
 I will do as i have done before ; and if the struggle 
 should come when I am buried in the dust, I will 
 leave her in the hands of some who will honor your 
 present, m company with your sons, in standing for 
 our coantry's rights. 
 
 " Accept my sincere thanks, therefore, gentle- 
 men, for your valuable present — one of which I will 
 keep as a testimony of your friendship, so long as I 
 am in existence." 
 
 I then received the gun and accouterments, and 
 returned to the hotel, where I liiade an agreement 
 with Mr Sanderson and Colonel Pulaski, to go with 
 them the next day to Jersey shore, at Oamden, and 
 try my gun. 
 
 Next morning we went out. I had been long out 
 of practise, so that I could not give her a fair trial. 
 I shot tolerable well, and was satisfied that when we 
 became better acquainted, the fault would be mine 
 if the varmints did not suffer. 
 
 I was invited the next day to go up and spend 
 the day at the Fish House on the Schuylkill, where 
 the fathers of our country, in ancient days, used to 
 assemble and spend the day in taking their recrea- 
 tion and refreshments. It has been a noted place 
 ever since, and is as beautiful as you can imagine. 
 It is called the twenty-fifth state. They have reg- 
 ular officers, and keep up the old customs with a 
 great deal of formality. We amused ourselves 
 
294 l^E OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 shooting, and catching perch. We had a nice 
 refreshment, and abundance of the best to drink. 
 Every gentleman took a hand in cooking ; and the 
 day was truly spent in harmony and peace. 
 
 The next morning was the Fourth of July, and I 
 had received an invitation, while at Washington, to 
 take dinner in the first district, at the Hermitage, 
 vrith the Whigs, and had accepted the invitation. 
 
 At an early hour I was invited to the Musical 
 Fund Hall, where an oration was to be delivered ; 
 and went with the honorable Messrs. Webster, 
 Poindexter, Megnm, Ewing, and Eobbins, senators, 
 and Mr. Denny, of the House of Representatives. 
 We were conducted up to a gallery in the first story 
 of an immense building, crowded below to over- 
 flowing, with ladies and gentlemen. 
 
 After the address of the orator, the audience was 
 also addressed by all the senators, and I was then 
 called on. " A speech from Colonel Crockett," was 
 the cry all over the house. I was truly embarrassed 
 to succeed so many great men, and where I saw so 
 many ladies ; but I found no excuse would do, and 
 BO spoke. 
 
 I then returned to the hotel, where I was waited 
 on in a short time by a committee, with a splendid 
 carriage, and was conveyed to the Hermitage, 
 where I met a large concourse of people ; and when 
 it was made known that I had arrived, I was re- 
 ceived with loud and repeated cheers, and peals of 
 cannon. I was conveyed to a large and cool shade, 
 and introduced to a vast number of citizens, who 
 
UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 225 
 
 all appeared glad to see me. I partook of cool 
 drinks of various kinds, and amased myself among 
 the people till near the dinner hour. We were then 
 asked to walk out and take our seats on the stand, 
 where the Declaration of Independence was read, and 
 a most appropriate address was delivered by the 
 orator of the day. 
 
 I was then called on by the crowd for a speech ; 
 but dinner was ready, and we agreed to postpone 
 further speaking until after dinner. 
 
 The dinner, in elegance and variety, did honor to 
 the person who prepared it. After the cloth was 
 removed, and the regular toasts given, I was com- 
 plimented with a toast. 
 
 I rose and requested the company to do me the 
 favor to repair to the stand, and I would endeavor 
 to address them from it, as the crowd was so great, 
 it would be impossible for me to make them hear at 
 the table, and if I had to speak, I desired to gratify 
 all. "When we got out, I found a great many ladies 
 surrounding the stand. I made my way to it among 
 the crowd, who were loudly calling out for my 
 speech, and addressed them. 
 
 I then thanked the people for their attention, and 
 we repaired to the table, filled our glasses, and drank 
 my toast. 
 
 By this time, Mr. Webster, Mr. Eobbins, and Mr. 
 Denny arrived, and each were severally toasted, and 
 each made a speech. The whole of the day was 
 delightfully spent ; everybody seemed pleased, and 
 I enjoyed myself much, 
 «5 
 
LITB OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 Shortly after this the committee returned with 
 me, and we went to the Chesnut street theater. 
 Here I met a great concourse of people, all in a fine 
 Fourth of July condition. Immediately upon its 
 being announced that I had arrived, I was called on 
 from all quarters for a speech. I rose, and made an 
 apology that I was so hoarse, speaking so much, 
 that 1 could hardly be heard. However, no excuse 
 would be taken ; so I was conveyed to the center of 
 the crowd, and made them a short address. They 
 gave me two or three thunders Mke you hear on the 
 stage, and then went on with the show. 
 
 I soon left them and returned to the hotel, and 
 really was worn out with the scenes of the day, and 
 making three off-hand speeches ; and I have often 
 thought since, that nothing could have induced me 
 to have done so, if it had not been in Philadelphia, 
 and on the Fourth of July. 1 was stimulated by 
 being in sight of the old State-house, and Independ- 
 ence square, where the fathers of our country met, 
 as it were, with halters on their necks, and sub- 
 scribed their names to that glorious Declaration of 
 Independence. 
 
 Next morning, I was introduced to the great 
 powderraaker, Mr. Dupont, who said to me, that be 
 had been examining my fine gun, and that he had 
 wished to make me a present of half a dozen canis- 
 ters of his best sportman's powder. I thanked him, 
 and he went oil, and in a short time returned with 
 one dozen, nicely boxed up and directed to me. I then 
 made my arrangements to start the next morning. 
 
UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 227 
 
 While walking about that evening with a friend, 
 we called in at a china importer's store. 1 was in- 
 troduced to him ; and after looking at his splendid 
 collection for some time, he told me he had a wish 
 to present me with a large pitcher. I thought the 
 gentleman was joking, at first ; but he assured me, 
 that if I would accept it, he would pack it up in a 
 box so that it could not break, and I could carry it 
 home safely. I thanked him sincerely for his friend- 
 ship. It was sent to me, and I carried it home and 
 gave it to my wife, telling her that, when I was 
 away, that pitcher should remind her that folks get 
 thirsty, and the same spirit which prompted the 
 gentleman to give, should make us use it. I am 
 sorry I forgot his name. 
 
 Early next morning I set out for Pittsburg, by the 
 fast line, and had a very pleasant trip over the 
 mountains. I attracted much attention as I passed 
 through Pennsylvania, where it was known who I 
 was. About the middle of the State I met with 
 an old man in a tavern, and asked him who was 
 his representative in Congress. "Why," says he^ 
 " Dunlap," I told him that could not be, there was 
 but one of that name in, and he was from Ten- 
 nessee. " Well," says he, " it must be Crawford." 
 No, I told him, there was no Crawford in the 
 House. " Well, hang it, then, it must be George 
 Chambers." " Ah, now you're right ; I know him 
 well, he's a good fellow — walks the planks straight. 
 1 hope you will re-elect him." " Well, I expect wa 
 will ; I know nothing against him, only he isn't go. 
 
228 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT: 
 
 ©ur side." " "What side are you on ? " " "Well, I'm 
 for Jackson." " Why," said I, " I thought that 
 was no side at all ; he's on top." The old man 
 looked at me right hard. Says I, " Mister, what 
 makes you for Jackson ? " " Why," says he, " he 
 licked the British at New Orleans, and paid off the 
 national debt." " Mister," says I, " who was the 
 officers and soldiers that fought at Kew Orleans be- 
 sides General Jackson ? " He said he did not know. 
 " Well," says I, " they ought to have a part of the 
 glory, anyhow — now tell me whose money pays off 
 the national debt?" "Why, I suppose old Jack- 
 son's, as they keep so much talk about it." " Well, 
 now, my good old friend, suppose part of it was 
 yours, and part mine, and part everybody's else ; 
 and suppose he would have been broke of his office 
 if he had not paid out what a law of Congress made 
 twenty years ago, provided for paying, what is the 
 glory of the whole of this ? " He looked kind of 
 stumped. I bid him good-by, and told him that 
 he ought to read both sides. 
 
 I arrived in Pittsburg in the night, and early in 
 the morning went down to the wharf to inquire for 
 a steamboat. I soon found Captain Stone, who 
 commanded the Hunter. He said he had been 
 waiting a day, thinking that T would like to go with 
 him. That was true, and I found him all sorts of a 
 clever man. We were to start at ten o'clock. I 
 returned to the tavern where I had put up, and a 
 great many gentlemen called to see me, and, among 
 others, Mr. Grant, brother-in-law of Governor Car. 
 
LIRE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 229 
 
 roll, of Tennessee. He invited me to walk through 
 the city, and to visit his house, which I did, and he 
 introduced me to a great many of the citizens. I 
 returned, and prepared for a start. 
 
 My acquaintance in this place was very limited. 
 I had been there before, but my name had not made 
 such a noise then as now. 
 
 The marks of industry and enterprise are very 
 visible in Pittsburg. It is a perfect workshop, and 
 is increasing every year in extent, beauty, and pop- 
 ulation. The aqueduct, and other splendid works 
 terminating the great canal from Philadelphia, 
 speaks highly for Pennsylvania foresight and per- 
 severance. What signifies the debt incurred by 
 her ? but it is no debt, in my mind. It is a noble, 
 imperishing, and increasing investment for poster- 
 ity ; and they will, to remotest ages, bless the men 
 who have sustained so much abuse by the pack out 
 of office, and will consider them as the greatest ben- 
 efactors of their State and of the nation. I say of 
 the nation ; for this canal is a new artery in the 
 body politic, through which the life-blood of its fu- 
 ture prosperity and union will flow forever. Its 
 present facilities have brought a part of the State 
 of Ohio, in point of cost of transportation, within 
 two days' drive with a wagon of the city of Philadel- 
 phia, and it will be lower still. Is not this national 
 in its operation ? Who can doubt it ? 
 
 I had heard it said, particularly in New York, 
 that this same canal never could get along, because 
 their great western canal would carry all the prod* 
 
^0 LI^^ OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 ice and merchandize; and I took some pains to 
 hear a little about it, and am fully persuaded such 
 is not the fact, and never can be. I was informed 
 that the trade on this Pennsylvania canal was four 
 or five times what it was when the first year ended, 
 and in a few years would be a profit to the State; 
 and to me it seems clear, that no one south of Pitts- 
 burg, in Ohio, and elsewhere, are going to send their 
 merchandize way round by the New York canal, 
 and run the risks of the lake, when they can put 
 them snug into a boat at Philadelphia, and land 
 them safe, without risk, in Pittsburg. I wish I 
 could agree with the Pennsylvanians as well in 
 other respects as I do on internal improvements. 
 What will she not do for her inhabitants in a few 
 years, when her twenty odd millions, invested in all 
 her vast and various improvements, shall yield but 
 a moderate profit ! Her roads will all be paved ; 
 her rivers and creeks made navigable ; her schools 
 be free for high and low, and her inhabitants free 
 from taxation ! ! I Reader, these events are sure to 
 come. 
 
 And here let me address a word to my own State. 
 Go on with what little you have begun, and never 
 rest until you have opened every facility to every 
 part of our State. Though we are divided into east 
 and west, we are all Tennessee. Give a " long pull, 
 and a strong pull, and a pull altogether," and every 
 difficulty will vanish. Give our inhabitants a 
 chance among the rest of the States, and you'll not 
 hear so much of Alabama, or Arkansas, or Texas. 
 
LIFE OP DAVID CROCKETT. 281 
 
 Well, Pve got a long slipe off from my steamboat, 
 the Hunter, and I had better look up the captain. 
 So off I starts, trunk, gun-case, old lady's pitcher, 
 and ail. "How's the water. Captain Stone?" 
 " "Why, colonel, the river is pretty considerable for 
 a run, but the water is as cool as Presbyterian char- 
 ity, and the old Monongahela is a leetle of the re- 
 mains of what Abigail, the wife of old Nabal, car- 
 ried as a present to Dayid. Clear off the coal-dust 
 out of your wizzand, and give us a yarn, about your 
 tower.'" " Why, captain, may 1 bfe shot if yoti 
 mightn't run with this same craft of yourn down, 
 through, and out of Symmes's lower hole, and back 
 again, afore I could get through half what I'v© 
 seen ; I've been clean away amongst the Yankees, 
 where they call your name Stwrm." ' Me, Stunn ! 
 well, it's hard that as shck a fellow as me should go 
 by such nicknames. Livin' gingers! what d'ya 
 suppose, colonel, they call me in Orlanes ? " "I 
 dare say, some hard name." "Only think of the 
 parly vous ; some call me Mr. Peer, and some, by 
 jingo, call me Mr. Peter ; and you can't beat it out 
 of them. Only think of Sam Gun, the fireman ; he 
 took a spree with some of them Charlies, in Or- 
 lanes, and they begun to call him Mounsheer Fusil. 
 Well, Sam bore it a good while ; but at last he told 
 Joe Head, the engineer, that the first fellow who 
 miscalled his father's name, should have a tip of his 
 daddle. ' Good,' says Joe ; says he, ' Sam, only take 
 care of their ccmiffs, as how they call them long 
 knives.' Well, it wasn't long before Sam peeled the 
 
232 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 bark off of a parly's knowledge box, and so Joe and 
 him had it with a cabin full of them. So Sam ha 
 got off to the boat, but the calaboos men got Joe ; 
 so Joe he sends for me, and when they cum for me, 
 they passed the word that Mr. Tate had sent for me. 
 "Well, off I goes to the police, and they axed me if 
 I would go bail for Mounsheer Tate. ' No,' says 1 ; 
 ' don't know him.' ' Yes, but you do, captain,' said 
 some one inside ; and when I went in, who should 
 it be but Joe Head 1 transmogrified into Mounsheer 
 Tate!! "Well, we got the matter explained, and 
 they all laughed and drunk friends. Well, colonel, 
 here's to you; I'm sure you didn't get anything 
 better anywhere ; and afore we quit, just tell me, 
 did you see the sea-sarpint ? " " No, indeed, I did 
 not, although I spoke for him not to be out of the 
 way." " "Well, colonel, I wonder at them Yankee 
 fellows, they are monstrous cute ; but I suspect they 
 don't know much about making, I think with me 
 in the Hunter here, you with your rifle, and one of 
 these 'long shore Spaniards with his lasso, wo 
 would give him a little of the hurricane tipp'd with 
 thunder." " If we didn't catch him," says I, " we 
 could scare him out of his skin, and that's all they 
 want at the museum." 
 
 So we passed our time till we arrived opposite 
 Wheeling. I walked up into the town, and was 
 Boon surrounded by many of the citizens, and in a 
 short time was waited on by a committee, and in- 
 vited to partake of a dinner that day at three 
 o'clock. This kind invitation I was obUged to do 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 238 
 
 cUtje, lest I should lose ray passage. So they 
 treated me handsomely, and asked the captain, 
 before he started, to run a short distance up tha 
 river, and as he came past they would give him & 
 salute. He did so. I got on the hurricane deck, 
 took off my hat, and returned their salute. They 
 continued to cheer until we got out of hearing. All 
 went on well, and we arrived at the mouth of the Guy- 
 andotte, where we took on board Messrs. Hardii^ 
 Tompkins, and Beaty, three of the members of Coii- 
 gress from Kentucky. We went on pleasantly until 
 we arrived at Cincinnati. Our boat was fine, and 
 the Captain a clever fellow. It was night when we 
 arrived ; so, early next morning, I called to see my 
 two friends, Messrs. Smiths and families, 'spent ^ 
 short time with them, and returned to the boat. By 
 this time it was ascertained that I was on board, 
 and a committee waited on me, and invited me tc 
 partake of a cold cut at three o'clock that day, and 
 make them a speech. I agreed to do so. 
 
 I remained over night and took the packet boat 
 next morning for Louisville, where I arrived the 
 day after. My friends had provided for me at tha 
 Louisville hotel, the finest public house I have been 
 in west of the mountains. I was asked to make a 
 speech to the people next day, which I agreed to, as 
 I had no hope of getting off in a boat for a few days. 
 It was published that I was to speak on the next 
 evening ; so I was sent for in the morning to visit 
 Jeffersonville Springs, m Indiana, across the river. 
 1 went, and found a number of ladies and gentle* 
 
234 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 men, and after being introduced to the company, 
 I was asked to make a speech, to which I had but 
 Jittle objection, as I wished to discuss the question 
 of the President vetoing the Wabash appropriation, 
 and yet signing the Van Buren, New York, Hudson 
 river bill. This I did, and the people appeared well 
 pleased. I partook of some the good things of 
 this life with them, exhorting all Jackson Van 
 Buren men to turn from the evil of their ways, and 
 took myself off for the other side of the river. 
 
 In the evening I attended at the court-house, and 
 met the largest concourse of people that ever has 
 been assembled in Louisville since it has been set* 
 tied. This I was told by a gentleman who had re- 
 gided there for upwards of twenty years. The 
 people all appeared to be excited with curiosity or 
 something else. I had no idea of attracting so 
 much attention; but there I was in the thick of 
 them. I discovered there were a great many ladies 
 amongst the audience, and among them the cele- 
 brated Mrs. Drake. A stand had been erected for 
 me in the court-house yard, on which I stood and 
 addressed the crowd. 
 
 I then returned to the hotel, and in a short time 
 a committee of the young men waited on me and 
 invited me to a dinner on Thursday, as a testimony 
 in favor of my political course. I gave a con- 
 ditional acceptance, and no boat arriving, I attended 
 and partook with them of a splendid dmner. I was 
 toasted, and made a speech, complimenting the 
 young men for their zeal in the cause of their ooun* 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 try. If I had the powers of General Lafayette, I 
 would have written out all my speeches ; but I have 
 not, and therefore omit this one. All passed off 
 pleasantly, and next day I took the steamboat Scot- 
 land, commanded by Captain Buckner, a gentleman, 
 every inch of him. After a fine run, we arrived at 
 Mills' Point on the 22d day of July. Here I once 
 more touched the soil of Tennessee, and found my 
 son William waiting to carry me home, which was 
 distant thirty-five miles. 
 
 When I landed and took out my fine gun, the 
 folks gathered round me to see the great curiosity. 
 .\ large fellow stepped up, and asked me why all 
 the members did not get such guns given them ? 1 
 told him I got that gun for being honest, in support- 
 ing my country instead of bowing down and wor- 
 shiping an idol. He looked at me and said, that 
 was very strong. " No stronger than true, my 
 friend," said I. 
 
 In a short time I set out for my own home : yes, my 
 own home, my own soil and my own humble dwell 
 ing, my own family, my own hearts, my ocean of 
 love and affection which neither circumstances 
 nor time can dry up. Here, like the wearied bird, 
 let me settle down for a while, and shut out the 
 world. * * * * 
 
 In the course of a few days, I determined to try 
 my new gun upon the living subject. I started for 
 a hunt, and shortly came across a fine buck. He 
 fell at the distance of one hundred and thirty steps. 
 Kot a bad shot, you will say. I say, not a bad gun 
 
236 LIFE OF DAVIB CROCECETT. 
 
 either. After a little practise with her, she came up 
 to the eye prime, and I determined to try her at the 
 first shooting-match for beef. 
 
 As this is a novelty to most of my readers, I will 
 endeavor to give a description of this western amuse- 
 ment. 
 
 In the latter part of summer our cattle get very 
 fat, as the range is remarkably fine ; and some one, 
 desirous of raising money on one of his cattle, advert 
 tises that on a particular day, and at a given place, 
 a first-rate beef will be shot for. 
 
 When the day comes, every marksman in the 
 neighborhood will meet at the appointed place, with 
 his gun. After the company has assembled, a sub- 
 scription paper is handed round, with the following 
 heading : 
 
 " A. B. offers a beef worth twenty dollars, to be 
 shot for, at twenty-five cents a shot." Then the 
 names are put down by each person, thus : 
 
 D. C. puts in four shots, . . . $1 00 
 
 E. F. " eight « ... 2 00 
 G. H. « two « ... 050 
 And thus it goes round, until the price is made 
 
 up. 
 
 Two persons are then selected, who have not 
 entered for shots, to act as judges of the match. 
 Every shooter gets a board, and makes a cross in 
 the center of his target. The shot that drives the 
 center, or comes nearest to it, gets the hide and 
 tallow, which is considered the first choice. The 
 next nearest gets his choice of the hind qiiar< 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 23T 
 
 ters; the third gets the other hind quarter; th« 
 fourth takes choice of the fore quarters ; the fifth 
 the remaining quarter ; and the sixth gets the lead 
 in the tree against which we shoot. 
 
 The judges stand near the tree, and when a man 
 fires they cry out, " "Who shot ? " and the shooter 
 gives in his name ; and so on, till all have shot. The 
 judges then take all the boards, and go oflf by them- 
 selves, and decide what quarter each man has won. 
 Sometimes one will get nearly all. 
 
 This is one of our homely amusements — enjoyed as 
 much by us, and perhaps more, than most of your 
 refined entertainments. Here each man takes a 
 part, if he pleases, and no one is ezcludedj unless his 
 improper conduct renders him unfit as an associate. 
 
S38 LIF£2 OF DAVID CBOCEETT. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIIL 
 
 Electioneering— Stump speech— Price of popularity— Treat 
 ing — The coon-skin trick — ^The Yankee merchant outwitted 
 —Offer of compensation on the part of the Colonel ref used--* 
 Adam Huntsman the Colonel's opponent. 
 
 I BBaiN this chapter on the 8th day of July, 1835, 
 at Home, Weakley county, Tennessee. I have just 
 returned from a two weeks' electioneering canvass, 
 and I have spoken every day to large concourses 
 of people with my competitor. I have him badly 
 plagued, for he does not know as much about " the 
 Government," the deposites, and the Little Flying 
 Dutchman, whose life I wrote, as I can tell the 
 people ; and at times he is as much bothered as a 
 fly in a tar pot to get out of the mess. A candidate 
 is often stumped in making stump speeches. His 
 name is Adam Huntsman ; he lost a leg in an Indian 
 fight, they say, during the last war, and the Govern- 
 ment run him on the score of his military services. 
 1 tell him in my speech that I have great hopes of 
 writing one more book, and that shall be the second 
 fall of Adam, for he is on the Eve of an almighty 
 thrashing. He relishes the joke about as much as a 
 doctor does his own physic. I handle the adminis- 
 tration without gloves, and I do believe I will double 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 239 
 
 my competitor, if I have a fair shake, and he does 
 not work like a mole in the dark. Jacksonism is 
 dying here faster than it ever sprung up, and I pre- 
 dict that " the Government " will be the most un- 
 popular man, in one year more, that ever had any 
 pretensions to the high place he now fills. Four 
 weeks from to-morrow will end the dispute in our 
 elections, and if old Adam is not beaten out of his 
 hunting shirt, my name isn't Crockett. 
 
 While on the subject of election matters, I will 
 just relate a little anecdote about myself, which will 
 show the people to the east, how we manage these 
 things on the frontiers. It was when I first run for 
 Congress ; I was then in favor of the Hero, for he 
 had chalked out his course so sleek in his letter to 
 the Tennessee legislature, that, like Sam Patch, says 
 I, " there can be no mistake in him," and so I went 
 ahead. No one dreamt about the monster and the 
 deposites at that time, and so, as I afterward found, 
 many, like myself, were taken in by these fair prom- 
 ises, which were worth about as much as a flash 
 in the pan when you have a fair shot at a fat 
 bear. 
 
 But I am losing sight of my story. Well, I started 
 off to the Cross Eoads, dressed in my hunting shirt, 
 and my rifle on my shoulder. Many of our con- 
 stituents had assembled there to get a taste of the 
 quality of the candidates at orating. Job Snelling, 
 a gander-shanked Yankee, who had been caught 
 somewhere about Plymouth Bay, and been shipped 
 to the west with a cargo of codfish and rum, erected 
 
240 I^IJ^ OF DAVID CROCKETT, 
 
 a large shantee, and set up shop for the occasion, 
 A large posse of the voters had assembled before I 
 arrived, and my opponent had already made con. 
 dderable headway with his speechifying and his 
 treating, when they spied me about a rifle shot from 
 the camp, sauntering along as if I was not a party in 
 business. " There comes Crockett," cried one. 
 " Let us hear the colonel," cried another, and so I 
 mounted the stump that had been cut down for the 
 occasion,; and began to bushwhack in the most ap- 
 proved style. 
 
 I had not been up long before there was such an 
 Bproar in the crowd that I could not hear my own 
 voice, and some of my constituents let me know 
 that they could not listen to me on such a dry sub- 
 ject as the welfare of the nation until they had 
 something to drink, and that I must treat them. 
 Accordingly I jumped down from the rostrum, and 
 led the way to the shantee, followed by my consti- 
 tuents, shouting, " Huzza for Crockett," and " Crock, 
 ett for ever ! " 
 
 When we entered the shantee, Job was busy deal- 
 ing oat his rum in a style that showed he was mak- 
 ing a gdod day's work of it, and I called for a quart 
 of the best, but the crooked oritur returned no other 
 answer than by pointing to a board over the bar, on 
 which he had chalked in large letters, " Pay to-dcey 
 and trust to-morrow" Now that idea brought me 
 np all standing ; it was a sort of cornering in which 
 there was no back out, for ready money in the west, 
 in those times, was the shyest thing in all natui; 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 341 
 
 and it was most particularly shy with me on that 
 occasion. 
 
 The voters, seeing my predicament, fell off to the 
 other side, and I was left deserted and alone, as the 
 Government will be, when he no longer has any 
 offices to bestow. I saw, as plain as day, that the tide 
 of popular opinion was against me, and that, unless 
 I got some rum speedily, I should lose my election 
 as sure as there are snakes in Virginny, — and it 
 must be done soon, or even burnt brandy wouldn't 
 save me. So I walked away from the shantee, but 
 in another guess sort from the way I entered it, for 
 on this occasion I had no train after me, and not a 
 voice shouted, " Huzza for Crockett." Popularity 
 sometimes depends on a very small matter indeed ; 
 in this particular it was worth a quart of New 
 England rum, and no more. 
 
 Well, knowing that a crisis was at hand, I struck 
 into the woods with my rifle on my shoulder, my 
 best friend in time of need, and as good fortune 
 would have it, I had not been out more than a quar- 
 ter of an hour before I treed a fat coon, and in the 
 pulling of a trigger, he lay dead at the root of the 
 tree. I soon whipped his hairy jacket off his back, 
 and again bent my steps towards the shantee, and 
 walked up to the bar, but not alone, for this time I 
 had half a dozen of my constituents at my heels. I 
 threw down the coon skin upon the countei*, and 
 called for a quart, and Job, though busy in dealing 
 out rum, forgot to point at his chalked rules and 
 
 regulations, for he knew that a coon was as good a 
 16 
 
342 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 legal tender for a quart, in the west, as a New York 
 shilling, any day in the year. 
 
 My constituents now flocked about me, and cried^ 
 "Huzza for Crockett," "Crockett for ever," and 
 finding the tide had taken a turn, I told them 
 several yarns, to get them in a good humor, and 
 having soon dispatched the value of the coon, 2 
 went out and mounted the stump, without opposi- 
 tion, and a clear majority of the voters followed me 
 to hear what I had to offer for the good of the na 
 tion. Before I was half through, one of my constit- 
 uents moved that they would hear the balance of 
 my speech, after they had washed down the first 
 part with some more of Job Snelling's extract of 
 cornstalk and molasses, and the question being put, 
 it was carried unanimously. It wasn't considered 
 necessary to tell the yeas and nays, so we adjourned 
 to the shantee, and on the way I began to reckon 
 that the fate of the nation pretty much depended 
 upon my shooting another coon. 
 
 While standing at the bar, feeling sort of bashful 
 while Job's rules and regulations stared me in the 
 face, I cast down my eyes, and discovered one end 
 of the coon skin sticking between the logs that sup. 
 ported the bar. Job had slung it there in the hurry 
 of business. I gave it a sort of quick jerk, and it 
 followed my hand as natural as if I had been the 
 rightful owner. I slapped it on the counter, and 
 Job, little dreaming that he was barking up the 
 wrong tree, shoved along another bottle, which my 
 eonstituents quickly disposed of with great good 
 
UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 243 
 
 humor, for some of them saw the trick, and then we 
 withdrew to the rostrum to discuss the affairs of the 
 nation. 
 
 I don't know how it was, but the voters soon be- 
 came dry again, and nothing would do, but we must 
 adjourn to the shantee, and as luck would have it, 
 the coon skin was still sticking between the logs, as 
 it Job had flung it there on purpose to tempt me. 
 I was not slow in raising it to the counter, the rum 
 followed of course, and I wish I may be shot, if I 
 didn't, before the day was over, get ten quarts for 
 the same identical skin, and from a fellow, too, who 
 in those parts was considered as sharp as a steel 
 trap, and as bright as a pewter button. 
 
 This joke secured me my election, for it soon cir- 
 culated like smoke among my constituents, and they 
 allowed, with one accord, that the man who could 
 get the whip hand of Job Snelling in fair trade 
 could outwit Old Nick himself, and was the real grit 
 for them in Congress. Job was by no means 
 popular ; he boasted of always being wide awake, 
 and that any one who could take him in was free 
 to do so, for he came from a stock, that sleeping or 
 waking had always one eye open, and the other not 
 more than half closed. The whole family were 
 geniuses. His father was the inventor of wooden 
 nutmegs, by which Job said he might have made a 
 fortune, if he had only taken out a patent and kept 
 the business in his own hands ; his mother Patience 
 manufactured the first white oak pumpkin seeds of 
 the mammoth kind, and turned a pretty penny the 
 
244 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 first season ; and his aunt Prudence was the first to 
 discover that corn husks, steeped into tobacco water, 
 would make as handsome Spanish r»/appers as ever 
 came from Havana, and that oak leaves would 
 answer all the purpose of filling, for no one could 
 discover the difference except the man who smoked 
 them, and then it would he too late to make a stir 
 about it. Job, himself, bragged of having made 
 some useful discoveries ; the most profitable of which 
 was the art of converting mahogany sawdust into 
 cayenne pepper, which he said was a profitable and 
 safe business ; for the people have been so long ac- 
 customed to having dust thrown in their eyes, that 
 there wasn't much danger of oeing found out. 
 
 The way I got to the blind side of the Yankee 
 merchant, was pretty generally known before elec- 
 tion day, and the result was, that my opponent 
 might as well have whistled jigs to a milestone, as 
 attempt to beat up for votes in that district. I beat 
 him out and out, quite back into the old year, and 
 there was scarce enough left of him, after the can- 
 vass was over, to make a small grease spot. He 
 disappeared without even leaving a mark behind ; 
 and such will be the fate of Adam Huntsman, if 
 there is a fair fight and no gouging. 
 
 After the election was over, I sent Snelling the 
 price of the rum, but took good care to keep the fact 
 from the knowledge of my constituents. Job re- 
 fused the money, and sent me word that it did him 
 good to be taken in occasionally, as it served to 
 brighten his ideas ; but I afterwards learnt when ha 
 
2JFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 245 
 
 found out the trick that had been played upon him, 
 he put all the rum I had ordered, in his bill against 
 my opponent, who, being elated with the speeches 
 he had made on the affairs of the nation, could not 
 descend to examine into the particulars of a bill of 
 a vender of rum iu the small waj'. 
 
246 I'EB'E OF DAVID CKOCKETT. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 I^ie Colonel loses his election — How it happened — ^Political 
 persecution and corruption — The Colonel's opinions and 
 sentiments on political affairs — Where the public money 
 goes — Anecdote — The Colonel's parting blessing to his con- 
 stituents — He resolves to go to Texas, and engage in the 
 war for its Independence— Specimen of the Colonel's poetry. 
 
 Atigmt 11, 1835. I am now at home in Weak- 
 ley county. My canvass is over, and the re- 
 suit is known. Contrary to all expectation, I am 
 beaten two hundred and thirty votes, from the best 
 information I can get ; and in this instance, I may 
 say, bad is the best. My mantle has fallen upon the 
 shoulders of Adam, and I hope he may wear it with 
 becoming dignity, and never lose sight of the wel- 
 fare of the nation, for the purpose of elevating a 
 few designing politicians to the head of the heap. 
 The rotten policy pursued by " the Government " 
 cannot last long ; it will either work its own down- 
 fall, or the downfall of the republic, soon, unless the 
 people tear the seal from their eyes, and behold 
 their danger time enough to avert the ruin. 
 
 I wish to inform the people of these United States 
 what I had to contend against, trusting that the 
 expose I shall make, will be a caution to the people 
 not to repose too much power in the hands of a 
 
LIFE OP DAVID CROCKETT. 247 
 
 single man, though he should be " the greatest and 
 the best." I had, as I have already said, Mr. Adam 
 Huntsman for my competitor, aided by the popular- 
 ity of both Andrew Jackson and Governor Carroll, 
 and the whole strength of the Union Bank at Jack- 
 son. I have been told by good men, that some of 
 the managers of the bank on the days of the elec- 
 tion were heard say, that they would give twenty- 
 five dollars a vote for votes enough to elect Mr. 
 Huntsman. This is a pretty good price for a vote, 
 and in ordinary times a round dozen might be got 
 for the money. 
 
 I have always believed, since Jackson removed the 
 deposites, that his whole object was to place the 
 treasury where he could use it to influence elections ; 
 and I do believe he is determined to sacrifice every 
 dollar of the treasury, to make the Little Flying 
 Dutchman his successor. If this is not my creed, I 
 wish I may be shot. For fourteen years since I 
 have been a candidate, I never saw such means used 
 to defeat any candidate, as were put in practise 
 against me on this occasion. There was a disci- 
 plined band of judges and oflicers to hold the elec- 
 tions at almost every poll. Of late years they begin 
 to find out that there's an advantage in this, even 
 in the west. Some officers held the election, and at 
 the same time had nearly all they were worth bet 
 on the election. Such judges, I should take it, are 
 like the handle of a jug, all on one side ; and I am 
 told it doesn't require much schooling to make the 
 tally list correspond to a notch with the ballot box. 
 
348 LIFE OP PAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 provided they who make up the returns hare enough 
 loose tickets in their breeches pockets. I have no 
 doubt that I was completely rascalled out of my 
 election, and I do regret that duty to inyself and 
 to my country compels me to expose such villainy. 
 
 "Well might Governor Poindexter exclaim — " Ah ! 
 my country, what degradation thou hast fallen into! " 
 Andrew Jackson was, during my election canvass, 
 franking the extra Globe with a prospectus in it to 
 every post-ofSce in this district, and upon one occsr 
 sion he had my mileage and pay as a member drawn 
 up and sent to this district, to one of his minions, to 
 have it published just a few days before the election. 
 This is what I call small potatoes and a few of a 
 hill. He stated that I had dlarged mileage for one 
 thousand miles and that it was but seven hundred 
 and fifty miles, and held out the idea that I had 
 taken pay for the same mileage that Mr. Fitzgerald 
 had taken, when it was well known that he charged 
 thirteen hundred miles from here to Washington, 
 and he and myself both live in the same county. It 
 is somewhat remarkable how this fact should have 
 escaped the keen eye of " the Government." 
 
 The general's pet, Mr. Grundy, charged for one 
 thousand miles from Nashville to "Washington, and 
 it was sanctioned by the Legislature, I suppose be- 
 cause he would huzza! for Jackson ; and because I 
 think proper to refrain from huzzaing until he goes 
 out from oifioe, when I shall give a screamer, that 
 will be heard from the Mississippi to the Atlantic, 
 or my name's not Crockett — for this reason he came 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 249 
 
 out openly to electioneer against me. I now say, 
 that the oldest man living never heard of the Presi- 
 dent of a great nation to come down to open elec- 
 tioneering for his successor. It is treating thr 
 nation as if it was the property of a single individual, 
 and he had the right to bequeath it to whom he 
 pleased — the same as a patch of land for which ha 
 had the patent. It is plain to be seen that the poor 
 superannuated old man is surrounded by a set of 
 horse leeches, who will stick to him while there is a 
 drop of blood to be got, and their maws are so ca- 
 pacious that they will never get full enough to drop 
 off. The Land office, the Post-oflBcej and the Treas- 
 ury itself may all be drained, and we shall still 
 find them craving for more. They use him to pro- 
 mote their own private interests, and for all his 
 sharp sightj: he remains as blind as a dead lion to 
 the Jackals who are tearing him to pieces. In fact, 
 I do believe he is a perfect tool in their hands, 
 ready to be used to answer any purpose to promote 
 either their interest or gratify their ambition. 
 
 I came within two hundred and thirty votes of 
 being elected, notwithstanding I had to contend 
 against "the greatest and the best," with the whole 
 power of the treasury against me. The Little Fly- 
 ing Dutchman will no doubt calculate upon having 
 a true game cock in Mr. Huntsman, but if he doesn't 
 show them the white feather before the first session 
 is over, I agree never to be set down for a prophet, 
 that's all. I am gratified that I have spoken the 
 <iruth to the people of my district regardless of con- 
 
250 UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 sequences. I would not be compelled to bow down 
 to the idol for a seat in Congress during life. I 
 have never known what it was to sacrifice my own 
 judgment to gratify any party, and I have no doubt 
 of the time being close at hand when I will be re- 
 warded for letting my tongue speak what my heart 
 thinks. I have suffered myself to be politically 
 sacrificed to save my country from ruin and dis- 
 grace, and if I am never again elected, I will have 
 the gratification to know that I have done my duty. 
 Thus much I say in relation to the manner in which 
 my downfall was effected, and in laying it before 
 the public, " I take the responsibility." I may add 
 in the words of the man in the play, " Crockett's 
 occupation's gone." 
 
 Two weeks and more have elapsed since I wrote 
 the foregoing account of my defeat, and I confess 
 the thorn still rankles, not so much on my own ac- 
 count as the nation's, for I had set my heart on 
 following up the traveling deposites until they 
 should be fairly gathered to their proper nest, like 
 young chickens, for I am aware of the vermin that 
 are on the constant lookout to pounce upon them, 
 like a cock at a blackberry, which they would have 
 done long since, if it had not been for a few such 
 men as Webster, Clay, and myself. It is my part- 
 ing advice, that this matter be attended to without 
 delay, for before long the little chickens will take 
 wing, and even the powerful wand of the magician 
 of Kinderhook will be unable to point out the coarse 
 they have flown. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 251 
 
 As my country no longer requires my services, I 
 have made up my mind to go to Texas. My life 
 has been one of danger, toil, and privation, but these 
 difficulties I had to encounter at a time when I con- 
 sidered it nothing more than right good sport to 
 surmount them ; but now I start anew upon my 
 own hook, and God only grant that it may be strong 
 enough to support the weight that may be hung 
 upon it. I have a new row to hoe, a long and rough 
 one, but come what will I'll go ahead. 
 
 A few days ago I went to a meeting of my con- 
 stituents. My appetite for politics was at one time 
 just about as sharp set as a saw mill, but late events 
 have given me something of a surfeit more than I 
 could well digest ; still habit, they say, is second 
 natur, and so I went, and gave them a piece of my 
 mind touching " the Government " and the succes- 
 sion, by way of a codicil to what I have often said 
 before. 
 
 I told them to keep a sharp lookout for the de* 
 posites, for it requires an eye as insinuating as a dis* 
 secting knife to see what safety there is in placing 
 one million of the public funds in some little country 
 shaving shop with no more than one hundred thou 
 sand dollars capital. This bank, we will just suppose, 
 without being too particular, is in the neighborhood 
 of some of the public lands, where speculators, who 
 have everything to gain and nothing to lose, swarm 
 like crows about carrion. They buy the United 
 States' land upon a large scale, get discounts from 
 the aforesaid shaving shop, which are made upon 
 
252 U^FE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 a large scale also upon the United States' funds •} 
 they pay the whole purchase money with these di* 
 counts, and get a clear title to the land, so that when 
 the shaving shop come to make a Flemish account 
 of her transactions, " the Government " will discover 
 that he has not only lost the original deposite, but 
 a large portion of the public lands to boot. So much 
 for taking the responsibility. 
 
 I told them that they were hurrying along a broad 
 M'Adamized road to make the Little Flying Dutch- 
 man the successor, but they would no sooner ac 
 complish that end than they would be obliged to 
 buckle to and drag the Juggernaut through many 
 narrow and winding and out-of-the-way paths, and 
 hub-deep in the mire. That they reminded me of the 
 Hibernian, who bet a glass of grog with a hod 
 carrier that he could not carry him in his hod up a 
 ladder to the third story of a new building. He 
 seated himself in the hod, and the other mounted 
 the ladder with his load upon his shoulder. He as- 
 cended to the second story pretty steadily, but as he 
 ■approached the third his strength failed him, he 
 tegan to totter, and Pat was so delighted at the 
 prospects of winning his bet, that he clapped his 
 hands and shouted, " By the powers, the grog's 
 mine," and he made such a stir in the hod, that I 
 wish I may be shot if he didn't win it, but he 
 broke his neck in the fall. And so I told my 
 constituents that they might possibly gain the 
 victory, but in doing so, they would ruin their 
 country. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CBOGKBTr. 85 J 
 
 I told them, moreover, of my services, pretty 
 straight up and down, for a man may be allowed to 
 speak on such subjects when others are about to 
 forget them ; and I also told them of the manner in 
 which I had been knocked down and dragged out, 
 and that I did not consider it a fair fight any how 
 they could fix it. I put the ingredients in the cup 
 pretty strong I tell you, and 1 concluded my speech 
 by telling them that I was done with politics for 
 the present, and that they might all go to hell, and 
 I would go to Texas. 
 
 When I returned home I felt a sort of cast down 
 at the change that had taken place in my fortunes, 
 and sorrow, it is said, will make even an oyster feel 
 poetical. I never tried my hand at that sort of 
 writing, but on this particular occasion such was my 
 state of feeling, that I began to fansy myself in- 
 spired, so I took pen in hand, and as usual I went 
 ahead. "When I had got fairly through, my poetry 
 looked as zigzag as a worm fence ; the lines wouldn't 
 tally no how ; so I showed them to Peleg Long- 
 fellow, who has a first rate reputation with us for 
 that sort of writing, having some years ago made a 
 carrier's address for the Nashville Banner, and 
 Peleg lopped off some lines, and stretched out others ; 
 but I wish I may be shot if I don't rather think he 
 has made it worse than it was when I placed it in 
 his hands. It being my first, and, no doubt, last, 
 piece of poetry, I will print it in this place, as it 
 will serve to express my feelings on leaving my 
 home, my neighbors, and friends and country, 
 
254 LIFE OP DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 for a strange land, as fully as I could in plain 
 prose. 
 
 Farewell to the mountains whose mazes to me 
 Were more beautiful far than Eden could be ; 
 No fruit was forbidden, but Nature had spread 
 Her bountiful board, and her children were fed. 
 The hills were our garners — our herds wildly grew. 
 And Nature was shepherd and husbandman too. 
 I felt like a monarch, yet thought like a man. 
 Ah I thanked the Great Giver, and worshiped his plan. 
 
 The home I forsake where my offspring arose ; 
 The graves I forsake where my children repose. 
 The home I redeemed from the savage and wild : 
 The home I have loved as a father his child ; 
 The corn that I planted, the fields that I cleared, 
 The flocks that I raised, and the cabin I reared ; 
 The wife of my bosom — Farewell to ye all ! 
 In the land of the stranger I rise or I fall. 
 
 Farewell to my country I I fought for thee well, 
 
 When the savage rushed forth like the demons from hell. 
 
 In peace or in war I have stood by thy side — 
 
 My country, for thee I have lived — ^would have died I 
 
 But I am cast off — my career now is run 
 
 And I wander abroad like the prodigal son — 
 
 Where the wild savage roves, and the broad prairies spread. 
 
 The fallen — despised — will again go ahead ! * 
 
 * The Colonel's resolution to go to Texas was the natural 
 result of his defeat in the election canvass. His experience 
 of public life, and his brilUant triumphs in the North, had 
 given him an appetite for distinction and applause. Defeated 
 in his expectations of returning to Congress, he now sought 
 a new field of usefulness and renown. The sequel gave him 
 additional glory, but he did not survive to witness the 
 triumph of the Texans, or to reap, like General Houston, tha 
 rewards of his courage and public spirit. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 255 
 
 CHAPTEE XXY. 
 
 TSie Colonel starts for Texas — Amusing incident of the man 
 fighting -with his own shadow — Crockett arrives at Little 
 
 ' Bock — The Puppet showman — Disappointanent — Threats of 
 Lynch Law — The Bookseller who becomes fiddler to the 
 Puppet show — Moral of a Puppet show. 
 
 In my last chapter I made mention of my deter- 
 mination to cut and quit the States until such time 
 as honest and independent men should again work 
 their way to the head of the heap ; and as I should 
 probably have some idle time on hand before that 
 state of affairs shall be brought about, I promised 
 to give the Texans a helping hand on the high 
 road to freedom. "Well, I was always fond of 
 having my spoon in a mess of that kind, for if there 
 is anything in this world particularly worth living 
 for, it is freedom; anything that would render 
 death to a brave man particularly pleasant, it is 
 freedom. 
 
 I am now on my journey, and have already 
 tortled along as far as Little Eock, on the Arkansas, 
 about one hundred and twenty-five miles from the 
 mouth. I had promised to write another book, ex- 
 pecting, when I made that promise, to write about 
 politics, and use up " the Government," his suc- 
 cessor, the removal of the deposites, and so on, 
 
856 UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 matters and things that come as natural to me as 
 bear-hunting ; but being rascaled out of my elec- 
 tion, I am taken all aback, and I must now strike 
 into a new path altogether. Still I will redeem my 
 promise and make a book, and it shall be about my 
 adventures in Texas, hoping that my friends, Messrs. 
 Webster, and Clay, and Biddle, will keep a sharp 
 lookout upon "the Government" during my 
 absence — I am told that every author of distinction 
 writes a book of travels nowadays. 
 
 My thermometer stood somewhat below the 
 freezing point as I left my wife and children ; still 
 there was some thawing about the eyelids, a thing 
 that had not taken place since I first ran away 
 from my father's house when a thoughtless vaga- 
 bond boy. I dressed myself in a clean hunting 
 shirt, put on a new fox-skin cap with the tail hang- 
 ing behind, took hold of my rifle Betsey, which all 
 the world knows was presented to me by the patri- 
 otic citizens of Philadelphia, as a compliment for 
 my unflinching opposition to the tyrannic measures 
 of " the Government," and thus equipped, I started 
 off with a heavy heart for Mill's Point, to take 
 steamboat down the Mississippi, and go ahead in ^ 
 Tiew world. 
 
 "While walking along, and thinking whether it 
 was altogether the right grit to leave my poor 
 country at a time she most needed my services, I 
 came to a clearing, and I was slowly rising a slope, 
 when I was startled by loud, profane, and boister- 
 ous voices (as loud and profane as have been heard 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CEOCKETT, 257 
 
 in the White House of late years), which seemed 
 to proceed from a thick covert of undergrowth, 
 about two hundred yards in advance of me, and 
 about one hundred to the right of my road. 
 
 " You kin, kin you ? " 
 
 '' Yes, I kin, and am able to do it ! Boo-oo-oo ! — 
 O! wake snakes, and walk your chalks ! Brimstone 
 
 and fire ! Don't hold me, Nick Stoval ! The 
 
 fight's made up, and let's go at it. my soul 
 
 if I don't jump down his throat and gallop every 
 chitterling out of him, before you can say ' quit ! ' " 
 
 " Now, Nick, don't hold him ! Jist let the wild 
 cat come, and I'll tame him. Ned will see me a fair 
 fight— won't you, Ned ? " 
 
 " Oh 1 yes, I'll see you a fair fight, blast my old 
 shoes if I don't." 
 
 " That's sufficient, as Tom Haynes said, when he 
 saw the elephant. Now let him come." 
 
 Thus they went on, with countless oaths inter- 
 spersed, which I dare not even hint at, and with 
 much that I could not distinctly hear. 
 
 In mercy's name ! thought I, what a band of ruf 
 fians is at work here ! I quickened my gait, and had 
 come nearly opposite to the thick grove whence the 
 jioise proceeded, when my eye caught indistinctly, 
 through the foliage of the dwarf oaks and hick- 
 ories that intervened, glimpses of a man or men, who 
 seemed to be on a violent struggle ; and I could 
 occasionally catch those deep-drawn, emphatic 
 oaths, which men in conflict utter, when they deal 
 blows. I hurried to the spot, but before I reached 
 17 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 it, I saw the combatants come to the ground, and 
 after a short struggle, I saw the uppermost one (fol 
 I could not see the other) make a heavy plunge with 
 both his thumbs, and at the same instant I heard a 
 cry in the accent of keenest torture, " Enough ! my 
 eye is out ! " 
 
 I stood completely horror-struck for a moment. 
 The accomplices in the brutal deed had aU fled at 
 my approach ; at least I supposed so, for they were 
 not to be seen, 
 
 " Now, blast your corn-shucking soul," said the 
 victor, a lad of about eighteen, as he rose from the 
 ground, " come cuttin' your shines 'bout me agin, 
 next time I come to the Court House, will you ? 
 Get your owl-eye in agin, if you can." 
 
 At this moment he saw me for the first time. He 
 looked as though he couldn't help it, and was for 
 making himself particularly scarce, when I called 
 to him, " Come back, you brute, and assist me in 
 relieving the poor crittur you have ruined for- 
 ever." 
 
 Upon this rough salutation, he sort of collected 
 himself, and with a taunting curl of the nose he 
 replied, " You needn't kick before you're spurr'd. 
 There ain't nobody there, nor hain't been, nuther. 
 I was jist a seein' how I could a fout." So saying, 
 he bounded to his plough, which stood in the corner 
 of the fence about fifty yards from the battle 
 ground. 
 
 "How would any man in his senses believe that a 
 rational being could make such a darned fool of 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 259 
 
 himself? but 1 wish I may be shot, if his report was 
 not as true as the last post-office report, every word, 
 and a little more satisfactory. All that I had heard 
 and seen was nothing more nor less than what is 
 called a rehearsal of a knock-down and drag-out 
 fight, in which the young man had played all the 
 parts, for his own amusement, and by way of keep- 
 ing his hand in. I went to the ground from which 
 he had risen, and there were the prints of his two 
 thumbs, plunged up to the balls in the mellow earth, 
 about the distance of a man's eyes apart, and the 
 ground around was broken up, as if two stags had 
 been engaged upon it. 
 
 As I resumed my journey I laughed outright at 
 this adventure, for it reminded me of Andrew Jack- 
 son's attack upon the United States Bank. He had 
 magnified it into a monster, and then began to rip 
 and tear, and swear and gouge, until he thought he 
 had the monster on its back ; and when the fight 
 was over, and he got up to look about for his enemy, 
 he could find none for the soul of him, for his enemy 
 was altogether in his heated imagination. These 
 fighting characters are never at peace unless they 
 have something to quarrel with, and rather than 
 have no fight at all, they will trample on their own 
 shadows. 
 
 The day I arrived at Little Kock, I no sooner quit 
 the steamer than I streaked it straight ahead for the 
 principal tavern, which is nothing to boast of no 
 how, unless a man happens to be like the member 
 of Congress ivova. the south, who was converted to 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 
 
 Jacksonism, and then made a speech as long as the 
 longitude about his political honesty. Some men, 
 it seems, take a pride in saying a great deal about 
 nothing — like windmills, their tongues must be 
 going whether they have any grist to grind or not. 
 This is all very well in Congress, where every mem- 
 ber is expected to make a speech, to let his constit- 
 uents know that some things can be done as well as 
 others ; but I set it down as being rather an imposi- 
 tion upon good nature to be compelled to listen, 
 without receiving the consideration of eight dollars 
 per day, besides mileage, as we do in Congress. 
 Many members will do nothing else for their pay 
 but listen day in and day out, and I wish I may bff 
 shot if they do not earn every penny of it, provided 
 they don't sleep, oi Benton or little Isaac Hill will 
 spin their yarns but once in a week, No man who 
 has not tried it can imagine what dreadful hard 
 work it is to listen. Splitting gum logs in the dog 
 days is child's play to it. I've tried both, and give 
 the preference to the gum logs. 
 
 Well, as I said, I made straight for the tavern, 
 and as I drew nigh, I saw a considerable crowd 
 assembled before the door. So, thought I, they 
 have heard that Colonel Crockett intended to pay a 
 visit to their settlement, and they have already got 
 together to receive him in due form. I confess I 
 felt a little elated at the idea, and commenced ran- 
 sacking the lumber room of my brain to find some 
 one of my speeches that I might furbish up for the 
 occasion ; and then I shouldered my Betsey, straight* 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 261 
 
 enetl myself, and walked up to the door, charged to 
 the muzzle and ready to let fly. 
 
 But, strange as it may seem, no one took any 
 more notice of me than if I had been Martin Yan 
 Buren, or Dick Johnson, the celebrated wool grower. 
 This took me somewhat aback, and I inquired what 
 was the meaning of the gathering ; and I learnt 
 that a traveling showman had just arrived, and was 
 about to exhibit for the first time the wonderful 
 feats of Harlequin, and Punch, and Judy, to the 
 impatient natives. It was drawing towards night- 
 fall, and expectation was on tiptoe : the children 
 were clinging to their mothers' aprons, with their 
 chubby faces dimpled with delight, and asking, 
 " What is it like ? "When will it begin ? " and similar 
 questions, while the women, as all good wives are in 
 duty bound to do, appealed to their husbands for 
 information ; but the call for information was re- 
 sponded to in this instance, as is sometimes the case 
 in Congress ; their husbands understood the matter 
 about as well as " the government " did the post- 
 office accounts. 
 
 The showman at length made his appearance, 
 with a countenance as wo-begone as that of " the 
 government" when he found his batch of dirty 
 nominations rejected by the Senate, and mentioned 
 the impossibility that any performance should take 
 place that evening, as the lame fiddler had over- 
 charged his head, and having but one leg at best, it 
 did not require much to destroy his equilibrium. 
 And, as all the world knows, a puppet show without 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 a fiddle is like roast pork and no apple sauce. Thi» 
 piece of intelligence was received with a general mur- 
 mur of dissatisfaction ; and such was the indigna- 
 tion of his majesty, the sovereign people, at being 
 thwarted in his rational amusements, that according 
 lo the established custom in such cases made and 
 provided, there were some symptoms of a disposition 
 to kick up a row, break the show, and finish the 
 amusements of the day by putting Lynch's law in 
 practise upon the poor showman. There is nothing 
 like upholding the dignity of the people, and so 
 Lieut. Eandolph thought, when with his cowardly 
 and sacrilegious hand he dared to profane the 
 anointed nose of " the government," and bring the 
 whole nation into contempt. If I had been present, 
 may disgrace follow my career in Texas, if I 
 wouldn't have become a whole hog Jackson man 
 upon the spot, for the time being, for the nose of 
 " the government" should be held more sacred than 
 any other member, that it may be kept in good or- 
 der to smell out all the corruption that is going for- 
 ward — not a very pleasant office, and by no means 
 a sinecure. 
 
 The indignant people, as I have already said, 
 were about to exercise their reserved rights upon 
 the unlucky showman, and Punch and Judy too, 
 when, as good fortune would have it, an old gentle- 
 man drove up to the tavern door in a sulky, with a 
 box of books and pamphlets of his own composition 
 — (for he was an author, like myself) — ^thus being 
 able to vouch for the moral tendency of every page 
 
MTE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 263 
 
 he disposed of. Very few booksellers can do the 
 same, I take it. His linen and flannels, which he 
 had washed in the brooks by the wayside, were 
 hanging over the back of the crazy vehicle to dry, 
 while his own snuffy countenance had long bid 
 defiance to sun, wind, and water, to bleach it. 
 
 His jaded beast stopped instinctively upon seeing 
 a Crowd, while the old man remained seated for some 
 moments before he could recall his thoughts from 
 the world of imagination, where they were gleaning 
 for the benefit of mankind. He looked, it must be 
 confessed, more like a lunatic than a moral lecturer ; 
 but being conscious of his own rectitude, he could 
 not conceive how his outward Adam could make 
 him ridiculous in the eyes of another ; but a fair 
 outside is everything to the world. The tulip 
 flower is highly prized, although indebted for its 
 beauty to the corruption engendered at the root ; 
 and so it is with man. 
 
 "We occasionally meet with one possessing suffi- 
 cient philosophy to look upon life as a pilgrimage, 
 and not as a mere round of pleasure : — who, treating 
 this world as a place of probation, is ready to en- 
 counter suffering, and not expecting the sunshine 
 of prosperity, escapes being overclouded by disap- 
 pointment. Such is the character of the old 
 preacher, whose ridiculous appearance in the eyes 
 of the thoughtless and ignorant is only exceeded by 
 the respect and veneration of those who are capa- 
 ble of estimating his real worth. I learnt that he 
 was educated for the church, but not being able to 
 
2^ LIFE OP DAVID CROCEETF. 
 
 obtain a living, lie looked upon the whole earth, as 
 his altar, and all mankind as his flock. He was 
 penniless, and therefore had no predilection for 
 this or that section of the globe^ for wherever he 
 might be, his journey of probation still continued, 
 and in every spot he found that human nature was 
 the same. His life was literally that of a pilgrim- 
 He was an isolated being, though his heart over- 
 flowed with the milk of human kindness ; for being 
 indiscriminate in his affection, very few valued it. 
 He who commences the world with a general love 
 for mankind, and suffers his feelings to dictate to 
 his reason, runs a great hazard of reaping a plenti- 
 ful harvest of ingratitude, and of closing a tedioua 
 existence in misanthropy. But it was not so with 
 the aged preacher. 
 
 Being unable to earn his bread as an itinerant 
 lecturer, — for in those cases it is mostly poor preach 
 and wo^e pay — he turned author and wrote histo- 
 ries which contained but little information, and 
 sermons which, like many others, had nothing to 
 boast of, beyond being strictly orthodox. He suc- 
 ceeded in obtaining a sulky, and a horse to drag it, 
 by a plea of mercy, which deprived the hounds 
 of their food, and with these he traveled over the 
 western states, to dispose of the product of his 
 brain ; and when poverty was deprived of the ben- 
 efit of his labor, in the benevolence of his heart he 
 would deliver a moral lecture, which had the usual 
 weight of homilies on this subject. A lecture is the 
 •heapest thing that a man can bestow in charity, 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 255 
 
 kad many of our uniYersal philanthropists have 
 made the discovery. 
 
 The landlord now made his appearance, and gave 
 a hearty welcome to the reverend traveler, and 
 shaking him by the hand, added, that he never 
 came more opportunely in all his life. 
 
 " Opportunely ! " exclaimed the philosopher. 
 
 "Yes," rejoined the other; " you have a heart 
 and head that labor for the benefit of us poor 
 mortals." 
 
 " Oh ! true, an excellent market for my pam- 
 phlets," replied the other, at the same time begiinning 
 to open the trun^i that lay before him. 
 
 " You misunderstand me," added the landlordi 
 " A poor showman with a sick wif6 and five chil- 
 dren has arrived from New Orleans — — " '• 
 
 "I will sell my pamphlets to relieve their wants, 
 and endeavor to teach them resignation." 
 
 "He exhibits to-iight in m:y large room: you 
 know the room sir,— ^I let him have it gratis." 
 
 "You are an honest fellow. I will witness hig 
 show, and add my mite to his assistance." 
 
 " But," replied the innkeeper, " the lame fiddler 
 is fond of the bottle, and is now snoring in the 
 hayloft." 
 
 " Degrading vice ! " exclaimed the old man, and 
 taking "God's Revenge against Drunkenness" 
 from the trunk, and standing erect in the sulky, he 
 commenced reading to his astonished audience. 
 The innkeeper interrupted him by observing that the 
 homily would not fill the empty purse of the pooj 
 
266 LIFE OP DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 showman, and unless a fiddler could be obtained, he 
 must depend on charity or go supperless to bed. 
 And, moreover, the people, irritated at their disap- 
 pointment, had threatened to tear the show to 
 pieces. 
 
 " But what's to be done ? " demanded the parson. 
 
 " Your reverence shakes an excellent bow," added 
 the innkeeper, in an insinuating tone. 
 
 " 1 ! " exclaimed the parson ; " I fiddle for a pup- 
 pet show ! " 
 
 " Not for the puppet show, but for the sick wife 
 and five hungry children." 
 
 A tear started into the eyes of the old man, as he 
 added in an undertone, " If I could be concealed 
 from the audience " 
 
 " Nothing easier," cried the other ; " we will place 
 you behind the scenes, and no one will ever dream 
 that you fiddled at a puppet show." 
 
 The matter being thus settled, they entered the 
 house, and shortly afterward the sound of a fiddle 
 squeaking like a giggling girl, tickled into ecstasies, 
 restored mirth and good humor to the disappointed 
 assemblage, who rushed in, helter-skelter, to enjoy 
 the exhibition. 
 
 All being seated, and silence restored, they waited 
 in breathless expectation for the rising of the cur- 
 tain. At length Harlequin made his appearance, 
 and performed astonishing feats of activity on the 
 slack rope; turning somersets backward and for- 
 ward, first on this side, and then on that, with as 
 much ease as if he had been a politician all his life, 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 267 
 
 —the parson sawing vigorously on his fiddle all the 
 time. Punch followed, and set the audience in a 
 roar with his antic tricks and jests ; but when Judy- 
 entered with her broomstick the burst of applause 
 was as great as ever I heard bestowed upon one of 
 Benton's slang- whang speeches in Congress, and I 
 rather think quite as well merited. 
 
 As the plot thickened, the music of the parson 
 became more animated ; but unluckily in the warmth 
 of his zeal to do justice to his station, his elbow 
 touched the side scene, which fell to the floor, and 
 exposed him, working away in all the ecstasies of 
 little Isaac Hill, while reading one of his long ora- 
 tions about things in general to empty benches. 
 No ways disconcerted by the accident, the parson 
 seized upon it as a fine opportunity of conveying 
 a lesson to those around him, at the same time 
 that he might benefit a fellow-mortal. He im- 
 mediately mounted the chair upon which he was 
 seated, and addressed the audience to the follow- 
 ing effect : 
 
 " Many of you have come here for amusement, 
 and others no doubt to assist the poor man, who is 
 thus struggling to obtain a subsistence for his sick 
 wife and children. Lo ! the moral of a puppet show ! 
 But is this all ? Has he not rendered unto you your 
 money's worth ? This is not charity. If you are 
 charitably inclined, here is an object fully deserving 
 of it." 
 
 He preached upon this text for full half an hour, 
 and concluded with taking his hat to collect assist- 
 
26R LIPE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 ance from his hearers for the friendless shomnan 
 and his family. 
 
 The next morning, when his sulky was brought 
 to the door, the showman and his wife came out to 
 thank their benefactor. The old man placed his 
 trunk of pamphlets before him, and proceeded on 
 his pilgrimage, the little children following him 
 through the village with bursts of gratitude. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 269 
 
 CHAPTEE XXYL 
 
 Crockett offered a public dinner by tlie citizens of Little Bock 
 — Thinks he will decline — The landlord shows him hia 
 larder — The Colonel accepts— Bifle shooting— Cute trick — 
 The dinner — The ColonePs speech — He tells the Little Bock 
 politicians how to get office — A J0II7 eTenin^. 
 
 The public mind having been quieted by tiie ex- 
 hibition of the puppet show, and allowed to return 
 to its usual channel, it was not long before the good 
 people of Little Kock began to inquire what dis- 
 tinguished stranger had come among them ; and 
 learning that it was neither more nor less than the 
 identical Colonel Crockett, the champion of the 
 fugitive deposites, than straight they went ahead at 
 getting up another tempest in a teapot ; and I wish 
 I may be shot if I wasn't looked upon as almost as 
 great a sight as Punch and Judy. 
 
 Nothing would answer, but I must accept of an 
 invitation to a public dinner. Now as public dinners 
 have become so common, that it is enough to take 
 away the appetite of any man, who has a proper 
 sense of his own importance, to sit down and play 
 his part in the humbug business, I had made up my 
 noind to write a letter declining the honor, express- 
 ing my regret, and winding up with a flourish of 
 trumpets about the patriotism of the citizens of 
 
270 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 Little Bock, and all that sort of thing ; when the 
 landlord came in, and says he, " Colonel, just oblige 
 me by stepping into the back-yard a moment." 
 
 I followed the landlord in silence, twisting and 
 turning over in my brain, all the while, what I 
 should say in my letter to the patriotic citizens of 
 Little Rock, who were bent on eating a dinner for 
 the good of their country ; when he conducted me 
 to a shed in the yard, where I beheld, hanging up, 
 a fine fat cub bear, several haunches of venison, a wild 
 turkey as big as a young ostrich, and small game 
 too tedious to mention. "Well, Colonel, what 
 do you think of my larder ? " says he. " Fine ! " 
 says L " Let us liquor." We walked back to the 
 bar. I took a horn, and without loss of time I wrote 
 to the committee, that I accepted of the invitation 
 to a public dinner with pleasure, — that I would be 
 always found ready to serve my country, either by 
 eating or fasting ; and that the honor the patri- 
 otic citizens of Little Rock had conferred upon me, 
 rendered it the proudest moment of my eventful 
 life. The chairman of the committee was standing 
 by while I wrote the letter, which I handed to 
 him ; and so this important business was soon 
 settled. 
 
 As there was considerable time to be killed, or 
 got rid of in some way, before the dinner could be 
 cooked, it was proposed that we should go beyond 
 the village, and shoot at a mark, for they had heard 
 I was a first-rate shot, and they wanted to see foi 
 themselves, whether fame had not blown her tront 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 271 
 
 pet a little too strong in my favor : for since she had 
 represented " the Government " as being a first-rate 
 statesman, and Colonel Benton as a first-rate orator, 
 they could not receive such reports without proper 
 allowance, as Congress thought of the post-offlce 
 report. 
 
 Well, I shouldered my Betsey, and she is just 
 about as beautiful a piece as ever came out of Phila- 
 delphia, and I went out to the shooting ground, fol- 
 lowed by all the leading men in Little Eock, and 
 that was a clear majority of the town, for it is re- 
 markable, that there are always more leading men 
 in small villages than there are followers. 
 
 I was in prime order. My eye was as keen as a 
 lizard, and my nerves were as steady and unshaken 
 as the political course of Henry Clay ; so at it we 
 went, the distance, one hundred yards. The prin- 
 cipal marksmen, and such as had never been beat, 
 led the way, and there was some pretty fair shoot- 
 ing, I tell you. At length it came to my turn. I 
 squared myself, raised my beautiful Betsey to my 
 shoulder, took deliberate aim, and smack I sent 
 the bullet right into the center of the bull's eye. 
 " There's no mistake in Betsey," said I, in a sort of 
 careless way, as they were all looking at the target, 
 sort of amazed, and not at all over-pleased. 
 
 "That's a chance shot. Colonel," said one who 
 had the reputation of being the best marksman in 
 those parts. 
 
 " Not as much chance as there was," said I, 
 • when Dick Johnson took his darkle for better for 
 
2Y2 I-I^^ OP DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 worse. I can do it five times out of six any day in 
 the week." This I said in as confident a tone as 
 " the Government " did, when he protested that he 
 forgave Colonel Benton for shooting him, and he 
 was now the best friend he had in the world. I 
 knew it was not altogether as correct as it might 
 be, but when a man sets about going the big figure, 
 halfway measures won't answer no how ; and " the 
 greatest and the best" had set me the example, 
 that swaggering will answer a good purpose at 
 times. 
 
 They now proposed that we should have a second 
 trial ; but knowing that I had nothing to gain and 
 everything to lose, I was for backing out and fight- 
 ing shy ; but there waa no let off, for the cock of 
 the village though whipped, determined not to stay 
 whipped ; so at it again we went. They were now 
 put upon their mettle, and they fired much better 
 than the first time ; and it was what might be called 
 pretty sharp shooting. When it came to my turn, I 
 squared myself, and turning to the prime shot, I 
 gave him a knowing nod, by way of showing my 
 confidence ; and says I, " Look out for the bull's eye, 
 Stranger." I blaz6d away, - and I wish I may be 
 shot if I didn't miss the target. They examined it 
 all over, and could find neither hair nor hide of my 
 biillet, and pronquncedit a dead miss; when says I, 
 " Stand aside and let me look, and I warrant you I 
 get on the right trail of the critter." They stood 
 aside, and I examined the bull's eye pretty particu- 
 lar, and at length criediout, " Here it is ; there is no 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 273 
 
 enakes if it ha'n't followed the very track of the 
 other." They said it was utterly impossible, but I 
 insisted on their searching the hole, and I agreed to 
 be stuck up as a mark myself, if they did not find 
 two bullets there. They searched for my satisfac- 
 tion, and sure enough it all come out just as I had 
 told them ; for I had picked up a bullet that had 
 been fired, and stuck it deep into the hole, without 
 any one perceiving it. They were all perfectly 
 satisfied, that fame had not made too great a flourish 
 of trumpets when speaking of me as a marksman ; 
 and they all said they had enough of shooting for 
 that day, and they moved that we adjourn to the 
 tavern and liquor. 
 
 "We had scarcely taken drinks round before the 
 landlord announced that dinner was ready, and I 
 was escorted into the dining-room by the commit- 
 tee, to the tune of " See the conquering hero comes," 
 played upon a drum, which had been beaten until 
 it got a fit of the suUens, and refused to send forth 
 any sound ; and it was accompanied by the wheezing 
 of a fife that was sadly troubled with a spell of the 
 asthma. I was escorted into the dining-room, I 
 say, somewhat after the same fashion that "the 
 Government " was escorted into the different cities 
 when he made his northern tour ; the only difference 
 was, that I had no sycophants about me, but true* 
 hearted hospitable friends, for it was pretty well 
 known that I had^ for the present, abandoned all 
 intention of running for the Presidency against the 
 
 little Flying Dutchman. 
 i8 
 
274 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 The dinner was first rate. The bear meat, the 
 venison, and wild turkey would have tempted a man 
 who had given over the business of eating alto- 
 gether; and everything was cooked to the notch 
 precisely. The enterprising landlord did himself 
 immortal honor on this momentous occasion ; and 
 the committee, thinking that he merited public 
 thanks for his patriotic services, handed his name to 
 posterity to look at in the lasting columns of the 
 Little Rock Gazette ; and when our children's chil- 
 dren behold it, they will think of the pure patriots 
 who sat down in good fellowship to feast on the 
 bear meat and venison ; and the enthusiasm the 
 occasion is calculated to awaken will induce them 
 to bless the patriot who, in a cause so glorious, 
 spared no pains in cooking the dinner and serving it 
 in a becoming manner. And this is fame ! 
 
 The fragments of the meats being cleared off, we 
 went through the customary evolution of drinking 
 thirteen regular toasts, after every one of which our 
 drum with the loose skin grumbled like an old horse 
 with an empty stomach; and our asthmatic fife 
 squeaked, like a stuck pig, a spirit-stirring tune, 
 which we put off christening until we should come 
 to prepare our proceedings for posterity. The fife 
 appeared to have but one tune in it; possibly it 
 might have had more, but the poor fifer, with all 
 his puifing and blowing, his too-too-tooing, and 
 shaking his head and elbow, could not, for the body 
 and soul of him, get more than one out of it. If 
 the fife had had an extra tune to its name, sartin it 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 275 
 
 wouldn't have been quite so hide-bound on such an 
 occasion, but have let us have it, good, bad, or in- 
 different. "We warn't particular by no means. 
 
 Having gone through with the regular toasts, the 
 president of the day drank, "Our distinguished 
 guest. Col. Crockett," which called forth a prodig- 
 ious clattering all around the table, and I soon saw 
 that nothing would do, but I must get up and make 
 them a speech. I had no sooner elongated my out- 
 ward Adam, than they at it again, with renewed 
 vigor, which made me sort of feel that I was still 
 somebody, though no longer a member of Congress. 
 
 In my speech I went over the whole history of 
 the present administration ; took a long shot at the 
 flying depositee, and gave an outline, a sort of char, 
 coal sketch, of the political life of " the Govern- 
 ment's" heir-presumptive. I also let them know 
 how I had been rascaled out of my election, be- 
 cause I refused to bow down to the idol ; and as I 
 saw a number of young politicians around the table, 
 I told them, that I would lay down a few rules for 
 their guidance, which, if properly attended to, could 
 not fail to lead them on the highway to distinction 
 and public honor. I told them, that I was an old 
 hand at the business, and as I was about to retire 
 for a time I would give them a little instruction 
 gratis, for I was up to all the tricks of the trade, 
 though I had practised but few. 
 
 " Attend all public meetings," says I " and get 
 Bome friends to move that you take the chair ; if 
 you fail in this attempt, make a push to be ap> 
 
276 UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 pointed secretary ; the proceedings of course will 
 be published, and your name is introduced to the 
 public. But should you fail in both undertakings, 
 get two or three acquaintances, over a bottle of 
 whislsy, to pass some resolutions, no matter on 
 what subject; publish them even if you pay th6 
 printer — it will answer the purpose of breaking the 
 ice, which is the main point in these matters. In. 
 trigue until you are elected an officer of the militia; 
 this is the second step towards promotion, and can 
 be accomplished with ease, as I know an instance of 
 an election being advertised, and no one attending, 
 the innkeeper at whose house it was to be held, 
 having, a military turn,:elected himself colonel of 
 his regiment." Says I, " You may not accomplish 
 your ends with as little difficulty, but do not be dis. 
 couraged — Home wasn't built in a day. 
 
 " If your ambition or circumstances compel yon 
 to serve your country, and earn three doUars a day, 
 by becoming a member of the legislature, you must 
 first publicly avow that the constitution of the state 
 is a shackle upon free and liberal legislation ; and 
 is, therefore, of as little use in the present enlight* 
 ened age, as an old almanac of the year in which, 
 the instrument was framed. There is policy in this 
 measure, for by making the constitution a mere 
 dead letter, your headlong proceediogs will be attrib- 
 uted to a bold and unshackled mind ; whereas, it 
 might otherwise be thought they arose from sheer 
 mulish ignorance. ' The Government ' has set the 
 example in his attack upon the constitution of 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 271 
 
 the United States, and who should fear to follow 
 where ' the Government ' leads ? 
 
 " When the day of election approaches, visit your 
 constituents far and wide. Treat liberally, and 
 drink freely, in order to rise in their estimation, 
 though you fall in your own. True, you may be 
 called a drunken dog by some of the clean shirt and 
 silk stocking gentry, but the real rough necks will 
 style you a jovial fellow, their votes are certain, and 
 frequently count double. Do all you can to appear 
 to advantage in the eyes of the women. That's 
 easily done-^you have but to kiss and slabber their 
 children, wipe their noses, and pat them on the 
 head ; this cannot fail to please their mothers, and 
 you may rely on your business being done in that 
 quarter. 
 
 " Promise all thdt is asked," said I, " and more if 
 you can think of anything. Offer to build a bridge 
 or a church, to divide a county, create a batch of 
 new offices, make a turnpike, or anything they like. 
 Promises cost nothing, therefore deny nobody who 
 has a vote or sufficient influence to obtain one. 
 
 " Get up on all occasions, and sometimes on no 
 occasion at all, and make long-winded speeches^ 
 though composed of nothing else than wind — tali 
 of your devotion to your country, your modesty and 
 disinterestedness, or on any such fanciful subject 
 Kail against taxes of all kinds, office-holders, and 
 bad harvest weather ; and wind up with a flourish 
 about the heroes who fought and bled for our liber, 
 ties in the times that tried men's souls. To be sure 
 
278 I^E OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 
 
 you run the risk of being considered a bladder oi 
 wind, or an empty barrel, but never mind that, you 
 will find enough of the same fraternity to keep you 
 in countenance. 
 
 " If any charity be going forward, be at the top of 
 it, provided it is to be advertised publicly ; if not, 
 it isn't worth your while. None but a fool would 
 place his candle under a bushel on such an occasion. 
 
 " These few directions," said I, " if properly at- 
 tended to, will do your business; and when once 
 elected, why a fig for the dirty children, the prom- 
 ises, the bridges, the churches, the taxes, the offices, 
 and the subscriptions, for it is absolutely necessary 
 to forget all these before you can become a thorough- 
 going politician, and a patriot of the first water." 
 
 My speech was received with three times three, 
 and all that; and we continued speechifying and 
 drinking until nightfall, when it was put to vote, 
 that we would have the puppet show over again, 
 which was carried nem, con. The showman set his 
 wires to work, just as " the Government " does the 
 machinery in his big puppet show ; and we spent a 
 delightful and rational evening. We raised a sub- 
 scription for the poor showman ; and I went to bed, 
 pleased and gratified with the hospitality and kind- 
 ness of the citizens of Little Eock. There are some 
 first-rate men there, of the real half horse, half alli- 
 gator breed, with a sprinkling of the steamboat, and 
 such as grow nowhere on the face of the universal 
 earth, but just about the back bone of North 
 America. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 27d 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIL 
 
 Western hospitality — ^The Colonel takes leave of his Little 
 Bock friends — Escorted on his way towards Texas — ^Triea 
 for recruits for the Texan war, without success — Whimsical 
 adventure of the fiddlihg bookseller — Great utility of 
 fiddling — Account of Arkansas — Eloquence of the parson— 
 The parting — Specimen of impertinent curiosity baffled^ 
 Job Snelling — ^Arrival at Fulton. 
 
 The day after our public diuner I determined to 
 leave my hospitable friends at Little Eock, and 
 cross Arkansas to Fulton on the Eed Eiver, a 
 distance of about one hundred and twenty miles. 
 They wanted me to stay longer ; and the gentle- 
 man who had the reputation of being the best 
 marksman in those parts was most particularly 
 anxious that we should have another trial of skill ; 
 but says I to myself, " Crockett, you've had just 
 about glory enough for one day, so take my advice 
 and leave well enough alone." I declined shooting, 
 for there was nothing at all to be gained by it, and 
 I might possibly lose some little of the reputation I 
 had acquired. I have always found that it is a very 
 important thing for a man who is fairly going 
 ahead, to know exactly how far to go, and when to 
 stop. " Had " the Government " stopped before he 
 meddled with the constitution, the deposites, and 
 
280 IJFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 " taking the responsibility," he would have retired 
 from office with almost as much credit as he entered 
 upon it, which is as much as any public man can 
 reasonably expect. But the General is a whole 
 team, and when fairly started, will be going ahead ; 
 and one might as well attempt to twist a streak of 
 lightning into a true lover's knot as to stop him. 
 
 Finding that I was bent on going, for I became 
 impatient to get into Texas, my kind friends at 
 Little Hock procured me a good horse to carry me 
 across to Eed Eiver. There are no bounds to the 
 good feeling of the pioneeirs of the west ; they con- 
 sider nothing a trouble that will confer a favor upon 
 a stranger that they chance to take a fancy to : 
 true, we are something like chesnut burs on the 
 outside, rather prickly if touched roughly, but 
 there's good fruit within. 
 
 My horse was brought to the door of the tavern, 
 around which many of the villagers was assembled. 
 The drum and fife were playing what was intended 
 for a lively tune, but the skin of the drum still 
 hung as loose as the hide of a fat man far gone in 
 a consumption ; and the fife had not yet recovered 
 from the asthma. The music sounded something 
 like a fellow singing, " Away with melancholy," on 
 the way to the gallows. I took my leave of the 
 landlord, shook hands with the showman, who had 
 done more than an average business, kissed his 
 wife, who had recovered, and bidding farewell to all 
 my kind-hearted friends^ I mounted my horse and 
 left the village, accompanied by four or five gentle* 
 
LIFE OF DAVID GEOCKETT. 281 
 
 men. The drum and fife now appeaSred to exert 
 themselves, and made more noise than visual, while 
 the crowd sent forth three cheers to encourage me 
 on my way. 
 
 I tried to raise some recruits for Texas among 
 my companions, but they said they had their own 
 affairs to attend to, which would teep them at 
 home for the present, but no doubt they would 
 come over and see us as soon as the distui-bances 
 should be settled. They looked upon Texas as be- 
 ing part of the IJnited States, though the Mexicans 
 did claim it ; and they had no doubt the time was 
 not very distant when it would be received into the 
 glorious Union. 
 
 My companions did not intend seeing me farther 
 on my way than the Washita river, near fifty miles. 
 Conversation was pretty brisk, for we talked about 
 «he affairs of the nation and Texas ; suojects that 
 are by no meanb to be exhausted, if one may judgo 
 by the long speeches made :n Congress, where ttaey 
 talk year in and year out, anc it wouL! seem that 
 as much still remains to be said as even &.s we 
 drew nigh to the Washita, the silence was broksn 
 Klone by our own talk and the clattering of our 
 horses' hoofs, and we imagined ourselves pretty 
 much the only travelers, when we were suddenly 
 somewhat startled by the sound of musia We 
 checked our horses, and listened, and the music con. 
 tinned. "What can all that mean!" says L 
 " Blast my old shoes if I know, Colonel,"' says one 
 of the party- We listened again, and we now 
 
282 i-IFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 heard, " Hail Columbia, happy land ! " played in 
 first rate style. " That's fine," says I. " Fine as 
 silk. Colonel, and a leetle finer," says the other; 
 " but hark, the tune's changed." "We took another 
 spell of listening, and now the musician struck up 
 in a brisk and lively manner, " Over the water to 
 Charley." " That's mighty mysterious," says one ; 
 "Can't cipher it out, no how," says another; "A 
 notch beyant my measure," says a third. "Then 
 let us go ahead," says I, and off we dashed at a 
 pretty rapid gait, T tell you — by no means slow. 
 
 As we approached the river, we saw to the right 
 of the road a new clearing on a hill, where several 
 men were at work, and they running down the hill 
 Jke A/ild Indians, or rather, like the office-holders in 
 pursuit of the deposites. There appeared to be no 
 time to be lost, so they ran, and we cut ahead for 
 the crossing. The music continued in all this time 
 stronger and stronger, and the very notes appeared 
 to speak distinctly, " Over the water to Charley.*' 
 
 When we reached the crossing, we were struck 
 all of a heap, at beholding a man seated in a sulky 
 in the middle of the river, and playing for life on a 
 fiddle. The horse was up to his middle in the water, 
 and it seemed as if the flimsy vehicle was ready to 
 be swept away by the current. Still the fiddler 
 fiddled on composedly as if his life had been insured 
 and he was nothing more than a passenger. We 
 thought he was mad, and shouted to him. He heard 
 ns, and stopped his music. " You have missed the 
 crossing," shouted one of the men from the clearing. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 283 
 
 •* I know I have," returned the fiddler. " If you go 
 ten feet farther you will be drowned." " I know I 
 shall," returned the fiddler. " Turn back," said the 
 man. " I can't," said the other. " Then how the 
 devil will you get out ? " " I'm sure I don't know : 
 come you and help me." 
 
 The men from the clearing, who understood the 
 river, took our horses and rode up to the sulky, and 
 after some diflBculty succeeded in bringing the trav- 
 eler safe to shore, when we recognized the worthy 
 parson who had fiddled for us at the puppet show 
 at Little Eock. They told him that he had had a 
 narrow escape, and he replied that he had found that 
 out an hour ago. He said he had been fiddling to 
 the fishes for a full hour, and had exhausted all the 
 tunes that he could play without notes. We then 
 asked him what could have induced him to think of 
 fiddling at a time of such peril ; and he replied, that 
 he had remarked in his progress through life, that 
 there was nothing in universal nature so well calcu- 
 lated to draw people together as the sound of a fid- 
 dle ; and he knew that he might bawl until he was 
 hoarse for assistance, and no one would stir a peg ; 
 but they would no sooner hear the scraping of his 
 catgut, than they would quit all other business, and 
 come to the spot in flocks. We laughed heartily at 
 the knowledge the parson showed of human natura 
 And he was right. 
 
 Having fixed up the old gentleman's sulky right 
 and tight, and after rubbing down his poor jaded 
 animal, the company insisted on having a dance be- 
 
284 IJFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 fore we separated. We all had our flasks of whis' 
 key J we took a drink all round, and though the 
 parson said he had about enough fiddling for one 
 day, he struck up with great good humor ; at it wa 
 went and danced straight fours for an hour and bet. 
 ter. We all enjoyed ourselves very much, but came 
 to the conclusion that dancing wasn't altogether the 
 thing without a few petticoats to give it variety. 
 
 The dance being over our new friends pointed 
 out the right fording, and assisted the parson across 
 the river. We took another drink all around, and 
 after shaking each other cordially by the hand, we 
 separated, wishing each other aU the good fortune 
 that the rugged lot that has been assigned us will 
 afford. My friends retraced the road to Little Eock, 
 and I pursued my journey 5 and as I thought of 
 their disinterested kindness to an entire stranger, I 
 felt that the world is not quite as heartless and self- 
 ish as some grumblers would have us think. 
 
 The Arkansas is a pretty fine territory, being 
 about five hundred and fifty miles in length from 
 east to wes*, with a mean width of near two hun- 
 dred, extending over an area of about one hundred 
 thousand square miles. The face of the country 
 from its great extent is very much diversified. It 
 is pretty well watered, being intersected by the 
 Arkansas river, and branches of the Red, Washita, 
 and White rivers. The Maserne mountains, which 
 rise in Missouri, traverse Arkansas, and extend into 
 Texas. That part of the Territory to the southeast 
 of the Masemes is for the most part low', %ad Id 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 385 
 
 many places liable to be overflowed annually. To 
 the northwest of the mountains, the country pre- 
 sents generally an open expanse of prairie without 
 wood, except near the borders of the streams. The 
 seasons of the year partake of those extremes of 
 heat and cold, which might be expected in so great 
 an extent, and in a country which affords so much 
 difference of level. The summers are as remarkable 
 as the winters for extreme of temperature. The soU 
 exhibits every variety, from the most productive to 
 the most sterile. The forest trees are numerous and 
 large ; such as oak, hickory, sycamore, cotton-wood, 
 locust, and pine. The cultivated fruit trees are th* 
 apple, pear, peach, plum, nectarine, cherry, and 
 quince ; and the various kinds of grains, such as 
 wheat, rye, oats, barley, and Indian corn, succeed, 
 amazing well. Cotton, Indian corn, flour, peltry, 
 salted provisions, and lumber, are the staples of this 
 territory. Arkansas was among the most ancient 
 eettleraents of the French in Louisiana. That nation 
 had a hunting and trading post on the Arkansas 
 river, as early as the beginning of the eighteenth 
 century. Arkansas, I rather reckon, will be admit- 
 ted as a state into the Union during the next session 
 of Congress ; and if the citizens of Little Rock are 
 a fair sample of her children, she cannot fail to go 
 ahead 
 
 I kept in company with the parson until we ar- 
 rived at Greenville, and I do say, he was just about 
 as pleasant an old gentleman to travel with, as any 
 man who wasn't too darned particular could ask for. 
 
286 I^B OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 We talked about politics, religion, and nature, farm, 
 ing, and bear hunting, and the ^any blessings that 
 an all-bountiful Providence has bestowed upon our 
 happy country. He continued to talk upon this 
 subject, traveUng over the whole ground as it were, 
 until his imagination glowed, and his soul became 
 full to overflowing ; and he checked his horse, and I 
 stopped mine also, and a stream of eloquence burst 
 forth from his aged lips, such as I have seldom lis- 
 tened to : it came from the overflowing fountain of 
 a pure and grateful heart. "We were alone in the 
 wilderness, but as he proceeded, it seemed to me as 
 if the tall trees bent their tops to listen ; — that the 
 mountain stream laughed out joyfully as it bounded 
 on like some living thing ; that the fading flowers 
 of autumn smiled, and sent forth fresher fragrance, 
 as if conscious that they would revive in spring, and 
 even the sterile rocks seemed to be endued with 
 some mysterious influence. "We were alone in the 
 wilderness, but all things told me that God was 
 there. The thought renewed my strength and 
 courage. I had left my country, felt somewhat like 
 an outcast, believed that I had been neglected and 
 lost sight of : but I was now conscious that there 
 was still one watchful Eye over me; no matter 
 whether I dwelt in the populous cities, or threaded 
 the pathless forest alone ; no matter whether I stood 
 in the high places among men, or made my solitary 
 lair in the untrodden wild, that Eye was still upon 
 me. My very soul leaped joyfully at the thought ; 
 T never felt so grateful in all my life ; I never loved 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 287 
 
 raj God SO sincerely in all my life. I felt that I 
 still had a friend. 
 
 "When the old man finished, I found that my eyes 
 were wet with tears. I approached and pressed his 
 hand, and thanked him, and says I, " Now let us 
 take a drink." I set him the example, and he fol- 
 lowed it, and in a style too that satisfied me, that if 
 he had ever belonged to the Temperance society, ha 
 had either renounced membership, or obtained a 
 dispensation. Having liquored, we proceeded on our 
 journey, keeping a sharp lookout for mill-seats and 
 plantations as we rode along. 
 
 I left the worthy old man at Greenville, and sorry 
 enough I was to part with him, for he talked a 
 great deal, and he seemed to know a little about 
 everything. He knew all about the history of the 
 country ; was weU acquainted with all the leading 
 men ; knew where all the good lands lay in most of 
 the western states, as well as the cutest clerk in the 
 Land OflB.ce ; and had traced most of the rivers to 
 their sources. He was very cheerful and happy, 
 though to all appearances very poor. I thought that 
 he would make a first-rate agent for taking up 
 lands, and mentioned it to him: he smiled, and 
 pointing above, said, " My wealth lies not in this 
 world." 
 
 I mounted my horse and pushed forward on my 
 road to Fulton. When I reached "Washington, a 
 village a few miles from the Eed river, I rode up to 
 the Black Bear tavern, when the following conver- 
 sation took place between me and the landlord, 
 
S88 LIFE OF DAVID CBOGKETT. 
 
 which is a pretty fair sample of the cariosity of 
 some folks : — 
 
 " Good morning, mister — I don't exactly recollect 
 your name now," said the landlord as I alighted. 
 
 " It's of no consequence," said I. 
 
 "I'm pretty sure I've seen you somewhere." 
 
 " Very likely you may, I've been there fr^ 
 qnently." 
 
 "I was sure 'twas so ; but strange I should forget 
 your name," says he. 
 
 *' It is indeed somewhat strange that yoo should 
 forget what you never knew," says L 
 
 <( It is unaccountable strange. It's what I'm not 
 often in the habit of, I assure you. I have, for the 
 most patt, a remarkably detentive memory. In the 
 power of people that pass along this way, I've scarce 
 ever made, as the doctors say, a elajastts dinhrnn of 
 this kind afore." 
 
 " Eh heh I " I shouted, while the critter continued. 
 
 "Traveling to the western country, I presume^ 
 mister?" 
 
 " Presume anything you please, sir," said I ; * but 
 don't trouble me with your presumptions." 
 
 " O Lord, no, sir — I won't do that, I've no ideer 
 of that — not the least ideer in the world," says he. 
 "I suppose you've been to the westward afore 
 now?'? 
 
 " "Well, suppose I have? " 
 
 •♦ Why, on that supposition, I was going to say 
 you must be pretty well — that is to say, you muak 
 know something about the place." 
 
LIFB OP DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 *• Eh heh ! ** I ejacniated, looking sort of maxed 
 full in his face. The tarnal critter still went ahead. 
 
 " I take it you're a married man, mister 2 " 
 
 " Take it as you -will, that is no affair of mine," 
 Bays I. 
 
 " "Well, after all, a married life is the most hap- 
 piest way of living ; don't you think so, mister t * 
 
 " Very possible," says T. 
 
 " I conclude you have a family of children, sir ? ** 
 
 " I don't know what reason you have to conclude 
 so." 
 
 " Oh, no reason in the world, mister, not the 
 least," says he ; " but I thought I might just take 
 the liberty to make the presumption, you know ; 
 that's all, sir. I take it, mister, you're a man about 
 my age » " 
 
 «Ehhehl=' 
 
 *' How old do yoa call yoorsejlf, if I may be so 
 bold?'» 
 
 ** You're bold enough, the devil knows," says I ; 
 and as I spoke rather sharp, the varment seemed 
 rather staggered, but ho soon recovered himself, and 
 came up to the chalk again. 
 
 " No offense I hope — I — I — I — wouldn't be 
 thought uncivil, by any means ; I always calculate 
 to treat everybody with civility." 
 
 " You have a very strange way of showing it." 
 
 " True, as you say, I ginerally take my own way 
 in these ere matters. Do you practise law, mistei?, 
 or farming, or mechanicals ? " 
 
 " Perhaps so," says L 
 »9 
 
290 I^E OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 * Ah^ I judge so ; I was pretty certain it mast b« 
 the case. Well, it's as good business as any there is 
 followed nowadays." 
 
 " Eh heh ! " I shouted, and my lower jaw fell in 
 amazement at his perseverance. 
 
 " I take it you've money at interest, mister?" 
 continued the varment, without allowing himself 
 time to take breath. 
 
 " Would it be of any particular interest to you to 
 find out ? " says I. 
 
 " Oh, not at all, not the least in the world, sir • 
 I'm not at all inquisitive about other people's luat- 
 ters; I minds my own business — that's my way." 
 
 " And a very odd way you have of doing it, too." 
 
 " I've been thinking what persuasion ;,on^re of — 
 whether you're a Unitarian or Baptist, or whether 
 you belong to the Methodisses." 
 
 " Well, what's the conclusion ? " 
 
 " Why, I have concluded that I'm pretty near 
 right in my conjectures. Well, after all, I'm inclined 
 to think they're the nearest right of any persuasion 
 — though some folks think differently." 
 
 « Eh heh I " I shouted again. 
 
 " As to polly ticks I take it, you — ^that is to say,! 
 suppose you " 
 
 « Yery likely.** 
 
 " Ah I I could have sworn it was so from the 
 moment I saw you. I have a knack at finding out 
 a man's sentiment. I dare say, mister, you're a 
 justice in your own country ? " 
 
 " And if I may return the compliment, I should 
 
UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 291 
 
 say you're a just ass everywhere." By this time I 
 began to get weary of his impertinence, and led my 
 horse to the trough to water, but the darned critter 
 followed me up. 
 
 *' "Why, yes," said he, " I'm in the commission of 
 the peace, to be sure — and an officer in the militia 
 —though, between you and I, I wouldn't wish to 
 boast of it." 
 
 My horse having finished drinking, I put one foot 
 in the stirrup, and was preparing to mount. " Any 
 more inquiries to make ? " said L 
 
 « Why, no, nothing to speak on," said he. •* When 
 do you return, mister?" 
 
 "About the time I come back," said I; and 
 leaping into the saddle, galloped off. Thepestif* 
 erous varment bawled after me, at the top of his 
 voice, — 
 
 "Well, I shall look for ye, then. I hope yon 
 won't fail to call." 
 
 Now, who in all natur do yon reckon the critter 
 was, who afforded so fine a sample of the imperti- 
 nent curiosity that some people have to pry into 
 other people's affairs? 
 
 I knew him well enough at first sight, though h» 
 seemed to have forgotten me. It was no other than 
 Job Snelling, the manufacturer of cayenne pepper 
 out of mahogany sawdust, and upon whom I played 
 the trick with the coon-skin. I pursued my journey 
 to Fulton, and laughed heartily to think what a 
 swither I had left poor Job in, at not gratifying his 
 curiosity, for I knew he was one of those fellows 
 
292 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 who would peep down your throat just to ascertain 
 what jou had eaten for dinner. 
 
 When I arrived at Fulton, I inquired for a gentle, 
 man to whom my friends at Little Bock had given 
 me a letter of introduction. I wai received in a 
 most hospitable manner ; and as the steamboat did 
 not start for IT'atchitoches until the next day, I 
 spent the afternoon in seeing all that was to be 
 seen. I left the horse with the gentleman, who 
 promised to have him safely returned to the owner; 
 and I took the steamboat, and started on my way 
 flown the Bed river, right well pleased with laj le- 
 oeptionat FoUon. 
 
UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 29S 
 
 CHAPTEE XXVIII. 
 
 Departure from Fulton — Game of thimblerig on the oteain. 
 boat — Sleight of hand — The Colonel makes Thimblerig treat 
 the company — The Colonel's toast — His speech — His opinion 
 of Van Buren — Great applause. 
 
 Thekb was a considerable number of passengers 
 on board the boat, and our assortment was some- 
 what like the Yankee merchant's cargo of notions, 
 pretty particularly miscellaneous, I tell yoii. I 
 moved through the crowd from stem to stern, to see 
 if I could discover any face that was not altogether 
 strange to me ; but after a general survey, I con- 
 cluded that I had never seen one of them before. 
 There were merchants, and emigrants, and gam- 
 blers, but none who seemed to have embarked in the 
 particular business that for the time being occupied 
 aiy mind — I could find none who were going to 
 Texas. All seemed to have their hands full enough 
 of their own affairs, without meddling with the 
 cause of freedom. The greater share of glory will 
 be mine, thought 1, so go ahead, Crockett. 
 
 I saw a small cluster of passengers at one end of 
 the boat, and hearing an occasional burst of laughter, 
 thinks I, there's some sport started in that quarter, 
 and having nothing better to do, I'll go in for my 
 
894 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 ehare of it. Accordingly I drew nigh to the cluster, 
 and seated on the chest was a tall, lank, sea-sarpent- 
 looking blackleg, who had crawled over from Natchez 
 under the hill, and was amusing the passengers 
 with his skill at thimblerig ; at the same time he 
 was picking up their shillings just about as expedi- 
 tiously as a hungry gobbler would a pint of corn. 
 He was doing what might be called an average busi- 
 ness in a small way, and lost no time in gathering 
 up the fragments. 
 
 I watched the whole process for some time, and 
 found that he had adopted the example set by the 
 old tempter himself, to get the weathergage of us 
 poor weak mortals. He made it a point to let his 
 victims win always the first stake, that they might 
 be tempted to go ahead ; and then when they least 
 suspected it, he would come down upon them like a 
 hurricane in a cornfield, sweeping all before it. 
 
 I stood looking on, seeing him pick up the chicken 
 feed from the greenhorns, and thought if men are 
 such darn fools as to be cheated out of their hard 
 earnings by a fellow who had just brains enough to 
 pass a pea from one thimble to another, with such 
 sleight of hand, that you could not tell under which 
 he had deposited it, it is not astonishing that the 
 magician of Kinderhook should play thimblerig upon 
 the big figure, and attempt to cheat the whole 
 nation. 1 thought that " the Government " was 
 playing the same game with the deposites, and vnth 
 such address, too, that before long it would be a 
 hard matter to find them under any of the thim* 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 295 
 
 bles, where it is supposed they have been originally 
 placed. 
 
 The thimble conjurer saw me looking on, and 
 eyeing me as if he thought I would be a good 
 subject, said carelessly, " Come, stranger, won't you 
 take a chance ? '' the whole time passing the pea 
 from one thimble to the other, by way of throw- 
 ing out a bait for the gudgeons to bite at. " I never 
 gamble, stranger," says I, " principled against it ; 
 think it a slippery way of getting through the world 
 at best." " Them are my sentiments to a notch," 
 says he ; " but this is not gambling by no means. 
 A little innocent pastime, nothing more. Better 
 take a hack by way of trying your luck at guessing." 
 All this time he continued working with his thimbles ; 
 first putting the pea under one, which was plain to 
 be seen, and then uncovering it would show that 
 the pea was there ; he would then put it under the 
 second thimble, and do the same, and then under 
 the third ; all of which he did to show how easy it 
 would be to guess where the pea was deposited, if 
 one would only keep a sharp lookout. 
 
 " Come, stranger," says he to me again, " you had 
 better take a chance. Stake a trifle, I don't care 
 how small, just for the fun of the thing." 
 
 " I am principled against betting money," says I, 
 " but I don't mind going in for drinks for the pres- 
 ent company, for I'm as dry as one of little Isaac 
 Hill's regular set of speeches." 
 
 " I admire your principles," says he, " and to 
 show that I play with these hexe thimbles just for 
 
296 LIFE OF DAVDD CHOCKETr. 
 
 the sake of pastime, I will take that bet, though I 
 am a whole hog temperance man. Just say when, 
 stranger." 
 
 He continued all the time slipping the pea from 
 one thimble to another ; my eye was as keen as a 
 lizard's, and when he stopped, I cried out, " Now ; 
 the pea is under the middle thimble." He was 
 going to raise it to show that it wasn't there, when 
 I interfered, and said, " Stop, if you please," and 
 ■raised it niyself, and sure enough the pea was there ; 
 but it mought have been otherwise if he had had 
 the uncovering of it. 
 
 "Sure enough you've won the bet," says he. 
 " You've a sharp eye, but I don't care if I give you 
 another chance. Let us go fifty cents this bout ; 
 I'm sure you'll win." 
 
 "Then you're a darned fool to bet, stranger," 
 says I ; '' and since that is the case, it would be littla 
 better than picking your pocket to bet with yaa ; 
 80 I'll let it alone." 
 
 " I don't mind running the risk," said he. 
 
 " But I do," says I ; " and since I always let well 
 enough alone, and I have had just about glory 
 enough for one day, let us all go to the bar and 
 liquor." 
 
 This called forth a loud laugh at the thimble con- 
 jurer's expense ; and he tried hard to induce me to 
 take just one chance more, but he mought just as 
 well have sung psalms to a dead horse, for my mind 
 was made up ; and I told him, that I looked upon 
 gambling as about the dirtiest way that a man could 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 297 
 
 adopt to get through this dirty world ; and that I 
 would never bet anything beyond a quart of whisky 
 upon a rifle shot, which I considered a legal bet, and 
 gentlemanly and rational amusement. " But all 
 this cackling," says I, " makes me very thirsty, so 
 let us adjourn to the bar and liquor." 
 
 He gathered up his thimbles, and the whole com- 
 pany followed us to the bar, laughing heartily at 
 the conjurer; for, as he had won some of their 
 money, they were sort of delighted to see him beaten 
 with his own cudgel. He tried to laugh too, but 
 his laugh wasn't at all pleasant and rather forced. 
 The barkeeper placed a big-bellied bottle before us ; 
 and after mixing our liquor, I was called on for a 
 toast, by one of the company, a chap just about as 
 rough hewn as if be had been cut out of a gum log 
 with a broad-az, and sent into the market without 
 even being smoothed off with a jack plane ; one of 
 them chaps who, in their journey through life, are 
 always ready for a fight or a frolic, and don't care 
 the toss of a copper which. 
 
 " Well, gentlemen," says I, *• being called upon 
 for a toast, and being in a slave-holding state, in 
 order to avoid giving offense and running the risk 
 of being lynched, it may be necessary to premise 
 that I am neither an abolitionist nor a colonization- 
 ist, but simply Colonel Crockett of Tennessee, now 
 bound for Texas." When they heard my name, 
 they gave three cheers for Colonel Crockett ; and 
 silence being restored, I continued, " Now, gentle- 
 men, I will offer you a toast, hoping, after what I 
 
298 ^FjE of DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 have stated, that it will give offense to no one pres. 
 ent; but should I be mistaken, I must imitate the 
 * old Eoman," and take the responsibility. I offer, 
 gentlemen. The abolition' of slavery : let the work 
 first begin in the two houses of Congress. There 
 are no slaves in the country more servile than the 
 party slaves in Congress. The wink or the nod of 
 their masters is all sufScient for the accomplishment 
 of the most dirty work." 
 
 They drank the toast in a style that satisfied me 
 that the little Magician might as well go to a pigsty 
 for wool, as to beat round in that part for voters; 
 they were all either for Judge White or Old Tipp©. 
 canoe. The thimble conjurer having asked the bar- 
 keeper how much there was to pay, was told, that 
 there were sixteen smallers, which amounted to one 
 dollar. He was about to lay down the blunt, but 
 not in Benton's metallic currency, which I find has 
 already become as shy as honesty with an office^ 
 holder, but he planked down one of Biddle's notes, 
 when I interfered, and told him that the barkeeper 
 had made a mistake^ ' 
 
 " How so ? " demanded the barkeeper. 
 
 " How much do you charge," said I, "when yoo 
 retail your liquor ? '' 
 
 " A fip a glass." 
 
 " "Well, then," says I, " as Thimblerig here, who 
 belongs to the temperance society, took it in whol* 
 sale, I reckon you can afi^ord to let him have it at 
 half price ? " 
 
 Now, as they had all noticed that the conjuref 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 
 
 went what is called the heavy wet, they laughed 
 outright, and we heard no more ahout temperance 
 from that quarter. "When we returned to the deck, 
 the blackleg set to work with his thimbles again, 
 and bantered me to bet ; but I told him that it was 
 against my principle, and as I had already reaped 
 glory enough for one day, I would just let well 
 enough alone for the present. If the " old Eoman " 
 had done the same in relation to the deposites and 
 " the monster," we should have escaped more diffi. 
 oulties than all the cunning of the Little Flying 
 Dutchman, and Dick Johnson to boot, will be able 
 to repair. I shouldn't be astonished if the new Vice 
 President's head should get wool gathering before 
 they have half unraveled the knotted and twisted 
 thread of perplexities that the old General has spun, 
 — ^in which case his charming spouse will no doubt 
 be delighted, for then they, will be all in the family 
 way. What a handsome display they will make in 
 the White House 1 No doubt the first act of Con- 
 gress will be to repeal the duties on Cologne and 
 Lavender waters, for they wUl be in great demand 
 about the Palace, particularly in the dog days. 
 
 One of the passengers hearing that I was on 
 board of the boat, came up to me and began to talk 
 about the affairs of the nation, and said a good deal 
 in favor of " the Magician," and wished to hear 
 what I had to say against him. He talked loud, 
 which is the way with all politicians educated in 
 the Jackson school; and by his slang- whanging 
 drew a considerable crowd around us. JSow, this 
 
800 LIFE OV DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 was the very thing I wanted, as I knew I should 
 not soon have another opportunity of making a po- 
 litical speech ; he no sooner asked to hear what I 
 had to say against his candidate, than I let him 
 have it, strong and hot as he could take, I tell you. 
 " What have I to say against Martin Van Buren ? 
 He is an artful, cunning, intriguing, selfish, specu- 
 lating lawyer, who, by holding lucrative offices for 
 more than half his life, has contrived to amass a 
 princely fortune, and is now seeking the Presi- 
 dency, principally for sordid gain, and to gratify 
 the most selfish ambition. His fame is unknown to 
 the history of our country, except as a most adroit 
 political manager and successful office hunter. He 
 never took up arms in defense of his country, in her 
 days of darkness and peril. He never contributed 
 a dollar of his surplus wealth to assist her in her 
 hours of greatest want and weakness. Office and 
 money have been the gods of his idolatry ; and at 
 their shrines has the ardent worship of his heart 
 been devoted, from the earliest days of his manhood 
 to the present moment. He can lay no claim to pre- 
 eminent services as a statesman ; nor has he ever 
 given any evidences of superior talent, except as a 
 political electioneerer and intriguer. As a poli- 
 tician, he is ' all things to all men.' He is for in- 
 ternal improvement, and against it ; for the tariflF, 
 and against it ; for the bank monopoly, and against 
 it ; for the abolition of slavery, and against it ; and 
 for anything else, and against anything else, just as 
 he can best promote his popularity, and subserve hia 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 301 
 
 own private interest. He is so totally destitute of 
 moral courage, that he never dares to give an opin- 
 ion upon any important question until he first finds 
 out whether it will be popular, or not. He is cele- 
 brated as the ' Little Non-Committal Magician,* 
 because he enlists on no side of any question, until 
 he discovers which is the strongest party ; and then 
 always moves in so cautious, sly, and secret a man- 
 ner, that he can change sides at any time, as easily 
 as a juggler or a magician can play off his arts of 
 leger-de-main. 
 
 " "Who is Martin Yan Buren ? He is the candi- 
 date of the office-holders, and office expectants, who 
 nominated him for the Presidency at a convention 
 assembled in the city of Baltimore, in May last. 
 The first account we have of his political life is 
 while he was a member of the Senate of New York, 
 at the time when Mr. Clinton was nominated as the 
 federal candidate for the presidency, in opposition 
 to Mr. Madison. The support he then gave Mr. 
 Clinton afforded abundant evidence of that spirit of 
 opposition to the institutions of his country, which 
 was prominently developed in the conduct of those 
 with whom he was united. Shortly after the suc- 
 cess of Mr. Madison, and during the prosecution of 
 the war, Eufus King, of New York (for whom Mr. 
 Yan Buren voted), was elected to the Senate of the 
 United States, avowedly opposed to the administra- 
 tion. Upon his entrance into that body, instead of 
 devoting his energies to maintain the war, he com- 
 meuced a tirade of abuse against the administration 
 
g03 U^E O^ DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 for having attempted relief to the oppressed seamen 
 of our gallant navy, who had been compelled by 
 British violence to arm themselves against their 
 country, their firesides, and their friends. Thus 
 Martin Yan Buren countenanced by his vote in the 
 Senate of New York, an opposition to that war, 
 which, a second time, convinced Great Britain that 
 Americans could not be awed into bondage and 
 subjection. 
 
 " Subsequent to this time, Mr. Van Buren became 
 himself a member of the United States Senate, and, 
 while there, opposed every proposition to improve 
 the west, or to add to her numerical strength. 
 
 " He voted against the continuance of the national 
 road through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and against 
 appropriations for its preservation. 
 
 " He voted aga/inst the graduation of the price of 
 the public lands. 
 
 " He voted against ceding the refuse lands to the 
 States in which they lie. 
 
 " He voted agaviist making donations of the lands 
 to actual settlers. 
 
 " He again voted agadnsf ceding the refuse lands, 
 not worth twenty-five cents per acre, to the new 
 States for purposes of education and internal ira- 
 provement. 
 
 " He voted against the bill providing ' settlement 
 and pre-emption rights ' to those who had assisted 
 in opening and improving the western country, 
 and thus deprived many an honest poor man of a 
 home. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 303 
 
 i •* He voted against donations of land to Ohio, to 
 prosecute the Miami Canal ; and, although a mem. 
 ber of the Senate, he was not present when the 
 vote was taken upon the engrossment of the bill 
 giving land to Indiana for her "Wabash and Erie 
 Canal, and was known to have opposed it in all its 
 stages. 
 
 "He voted vnfamor of erecting toll-gates on the 
 national road ; thus demanding a tribute from the 
 west for the right to pass upon her own highways, 
 constructed out of her own money — a thing never 
 heard of before. 
 
 "After his terra of service had expired in the 
 Senate, he was elected Governor of New York, by 
 a plurality of votes. He was afterwards sent to 
 England as minister plenipotentiary, and upon his 
 return was elected Yice-President of the United 
 States, which office he now holds, and from which 
 the office-holders are seeking to transfer him to the 
 Presidency." 
 
 My speech was received with great applause, and 
 the politician, finding that I was better acquainted 
 with his candidate than he was himself, for I wrote 
 his life, shut his fly trap, and turned on his heel 
 without saying a word. He found that he had 
 barked up the wrong tree. I afterward learnt that 
 he was a mail contractor in those parts, and that 
 he also had large dealings in the land office, and 
 therefore thought it necessary to chime in with his 
 penny whistle, in the universal chorus. There's a 
 large band of the same description, but I'm thinking 
 
304 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 Uncle Sam will some day find out that he has paid 
 too much for the piper.* 
 
 • The Colonel's stump speech on this occasion is very inter- 
 esting as a reminiscence of the state of party politics more 
 than twenty years ago. Then the great bugbear was the 
 bank of the United States on the one hand, and Jackson and 
 Van Buren on the other. Mutual abuse and recrimination 
 were the order of the day. The politician who was most 
 severe and unsparing towards his opponents was most i)opu- 
 lar. They were the men to save the country, which was 
 always on the brink of ruin. The Colonel's speech, which 
 may seem odd to us at the present, is really quite a favorable 
 specimen of what was considered political eloquence in his 
 day. 
 
LIFE Ol!' DAVID CBOCKEIT. 805 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Thlmblerig relates the events of bis life to the Colonel'^ 
 Thimblerig courts a planter's daughter — Gets a very broad 
 hint to leave — Becomes a play-actor— Refuses to perform 
 the hind legs of the elephant, because it is not a speaking 
 part — Gets discharged — Becomes marker in a gambling 
 house at New Orleans — Quits — Becomes a professional 
 blackleg — Goes to Natchez under the hill — His description 
 of that place — ^A murder — Punishment of the murderers- 
 Punishment of a gambler for cheating— Arrival of the 
 Colonel at Natchitoches. 
 
 AsTEB my speech, and setting my face against 
 gambling, poor Thimblerig was obliged to break oflf 
 conjuring for want of customers, and call it half a 
 day. He came and entered into conversation ^/itb 
 me, and I found him a good-natured, intelligent. fel« 
 low, with a keen eye for the main chance. lie be- 
 longed to that numerous class, that it is perfectly 
 safe to trust as far as a tailor can sling a buU by 
 the tail — but no farther. He told me that he had 
 been brought up a gentleman ; that is to say, he was 
 not instructed in any useful pursuit by which he 
 could obtain a livelihood, so that when he found he 
 had to depend upon himself for the necessaries of 
 life, he began to suspect that dame nature would 
 have conferred a particular favor if she had con- 
 signed him to the care of any one else. She had 
 
 30 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 made a very injudicious choice when she selected 
 him to sustain the dignity of a gentleman. 
 
 The first bright idea that occurred to him as a 
 speedy means of bettering his fortune, would be to 
 marry an heiress. Accordingly, he looked about 
 himself pretty sharp, and after glancing from one 
 fair object to another, finally, his hawk's eye rested 
 npon the young and pretty daughter of a wealthy 
 planter. Thimbjerig run his brazen face with his 
 tailor for a new suit, fox he abounded more in that 
 metallic currency than he did in either Benton's 
 mint drops or in Biddle's notes ; and having the 
 gentility of his outward Adam thus endorsed by his 
 tailor — an important endorsement, by the way, as 
 times go — he managed to obtain an introduction to 
 the planter's daughter. 
 
 Our worthy had the principle of going ahead 
 strongly developed. He was .possessed of consider- 
 able address, and had brass enough in his face to 
 make a wash-kettle : and having once got access to 
 the planter's house, it was no easy matter to dislodge 
 him. In this he resembled those politicians who 
 commence life as office-holders; they will hang on, 
 tooth and nail, and even when death shakes them 
 off, you'll find a commission of some kind crumpled 
 up in their clenched fingers. Little Yan appears to 
 belong to this class — there's no beating his snout 
 from jlie public crib. He'll feed there while there's 
 a grain of corn left, and even then, from long habit, 
 he'll set to work and gnaw at the manger. 
 
 Thimblerig got the bliild side of the planteir, and 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 80^ 
 
 everything, to outward appearances, went on swim> 
 mingly. Our worthy boasted to his cronies that the 
 business was settled, and that in a few weeks he 
 should occupy the elevated station in society that 
 nature had designed him to adorn. He swelled like 
 the frog in the fable, or, rather, like Johnson's wifej, 
 of Kentucky when the idea occurred to her of 
 figuring away at "Washington. But there's many a 
 slip 'twixt the cup and the lip, says the proverb, and 
 suddenly Thimblerig discontinued his visits at the 
 planter's house. His friends inquired of him the 
 meaning of this abrupt termination of his devo- 
 tions. 
 
 *' I have been treated with disrespect," replied 
 the worthy indignantly, 
 
 " Disrespect I in what way ? " 
 
 "My visits, it seeffi,'3, are not altogether agree- 
 able.'* 
 
 " But how hr»ve you ascertained that ? " 
 
 " I received hint to that effect ; and I can take 
 a hint as soon as another." 
 
 " A hint ! — and have you allowed a hint to drive 
 you from the pursuit ? For shame. Go back 
 again." 
 
 " No, no, never ! a bint is sufficient for a man of 
 my gentlemanly feelings. I asked the old man fof 
 his daughter," 
 
 " Well, what followed ? what did he say ? " 
 
 " Didn't say a word." 
 
 •* Silence gives consent all the world over." 
 
 ** So I thought. I then told him to fix the day/ 
 
308 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 "Well, what then?" 
 
 " Why, then, he kicked me down-stairs, and or. 
 dared his slaves to pump upon me. That's hint 
 enough for me, that my visits are not properly 
 appreciated ; and blast my old shoes if I condescend 
 to renew the acquaintance, or notice them in any 
 way until they send for me." 
 
 As Thimblerig's new coat became rather too seedy 
 to play the part of a gentleman much longer in real 
 life, he determined to sustain that character upon 
 the stage, and accordingly joined a company of 
 players. He began, according to custom, at the top 
 of the ladder, and was regularly hissed and pelted 
 through every gradation until he found himself at 
 the lowest rowel. " This," said he, " was a dread, 
 ful check to proud ambition ; " but he consoled him- 
 self with the idea of peace and quietness in his present 
 obscure walk ; and though he had no prospect of 
 being elated by the applause of admiring multitudes, 
 he no longer trod the scene of mimic glory in con- 
 stant dread of becoming a target for rotten eggs and 
 oranges. " And there was much in that," said 
 Thimblerig. But this calm could not continue foi^ 
 ever. 
 
 The manager, who, like all managers who pay 
 salaries regularly, was as absolute behind the scenes 
 as the " old Boman " is in the White House, had 
 fixed upon getting up an eastern spectacle, called 
 the Cataract of the Ganges. He intended to intro- 
 duce a fine procession, in which an elephant was to 
 be the principal feature. Hera A difficulty occurred. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 809 
 
 What was to be done for an elephant ! Alligators 
 were plenty in those parts, but an elephant was not 
 to be had for love or money. But an alligator would 
 not answer the purpose, so he determined to make a 
 pasteboard elephant as large as life, and twice as 
 natural. The next difficulty was to find members of 
 the company of suitable dimensions to perform the 
 Beveral members of the pasteboard star. The man- 
 ager cast his eye upon the long, gaunt figure of the 
 unfortunate Thimblerig, and cast him for the hinder 
 legs, the rump, and part of the back of the elephant. 
 The poor player expostulated, and the manager re- 
 plied, that he would appear as a star on the occa- 
 sion, and would no doubt receive more applause 
 than he had during his whole career. •' But I shall 
 not be seen," said the player. "All the better," 
 replied the manager, " as in that case you will have 
 nothing to apprehend from eggs and oranges." 
 
 Thimblerig, finding that mild expostulation availed 
 nothing, swore that he would not study the part, 
 and accordingly threw it up in dignified disgust. 
 He said that it was an outrage upon the feelings of 
 the proud representative of Shakespeare's heroes, to 
 be compelled to play pantomime in the hinder parts 
 of the noblest animal that ever trod the stage. If 
 It had been the fore quarters of the elephant, it 
 might possibly have been made a speaking part ; at 
 any rate, he might have snorted through the trunk, 
 if nothing more ; but from the position he was to 
 occupy, damned the word could he utter, or even 
 roar with propriety. He therefore positively re- 
 
810 I^Jf^ OF DAVID CROCKETT, 
 
 fused to act, as he considered it an insult to his 
 reputation to tread the stage in such a character; 
 and he looked upon the whole affair as a profanation 
 of the legitimate drama. The result wab, our worthy 
 was discharged from the company, and compelled to 
 commence hoeing another row. 
 
 He drifted to New Orleans, and hired himself as 
 marker to a gambling table. Here he remained but 
 a few months, for his idea of arithmetic differed 
 widely from those of his employer, and accordingly 
 they had some difficulty in balancing their cash 
 account; for when his employer, in adding up the 
 receipts, made it nought and carry two, Thimblerig 
 insisted that it should be nought and carry one ; and 
 in order to prove that he was correct, he carried 
 himself off, and left nothing behind him. 
 
 He now commenced professional blackleg on his 
 own hook, and took up his quarters in ^Natchez 
 under the hill. Here he remained, doing business 
 in a small way, until Judge Lynch commenced his 
 practise in that quarter, and made the place too hot 
 for his comfort. He shifted his habitation, but not 
 having sufficient capital to go the big figure, he 
 practised the game of thimblerig until he acquired 
 considerable skill, and then commenced passing up 
 and down the river in the steamboats; and man- 
 aged, by close attention to business, to pick up a 
 decent livelihood in the small way, from such as 
 had more pence in their pockets than sense in theii 
 lioddles. 
 
 I found Thimblerig to be a pleasant talkative fd- 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. Sll 
 
 low. He communioated the foregoing facts with aa 
 much indifference as if there had been nothing dis> 
 graceful in his career ; and at times he would 
 ohuckle with an air of triumph at the adroitness he 
 had displayed in some of the knavish tricks he had 
 practised. He looked upon this world as one vast 
 stage, crowded with empires and jugglers ; and that 
 he who could practise his deceptions with the great 
 est skill was entitled to the greatest applause. 
 
 I asked him to give me an account of Natchez and 
 his adventures there, and I would put it in the book 
 I intended to writej when he gave me the following, 
 which, betrays that his feelings were somewhat irri» 
 tated at being obliged to giVe them leg bail when 
 Judge Lynch made his appearance. I give it in his 
 own words : 
 
 "Natchez is aland of fevers, alligators,, niggers, 
 and cotton bales : where the sun shines with force 
 sufficient to melt the diamond, and the word ice is ex< 
 panged from the dictionary, for its definition cannot 
 be comprehended by the natives : where to refuse 
 grog' before breakfast would degrade you below the 
 brute creation; and where a good dinner is looked 
 upon as an angel's visit, and voted a miracle : where 
 the evergreen and majestic magnolia tree, with its 
 superb flower, unknown to the northern climes, and 
 its fragrance unsurpassed, calls forth the admiration 
 of every beholder ; and the dark moss hangs in fes- 
 toons from the forest trees, like the drapery of a 
 funeral pall : where bears, the size of young jack- 
 asses, are fondled in lieu of pet dogs ; and knives, 
 
812 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 the length of a barber's pole, usurp the place of tooth, 
 picks : where the filth of the town is carried off by 
 buzzards, and the inhabitants are carried off by 
 fevers : where nigger women are knocked down by 
 the auctioneer, and knocked up by the purchaser : 
 where the poorest slave has plenty of yellow boys, 
 but not of Benton's mintage ; and indeed the shadea 
 of color are so varied and mixed, that a nigger is 
 frequently seen black and blue at the same time. 
 And such is Natchez. 
 
 " The town is divided into two parts, as distinct in 
 character as they are in appearance. Natchez on 
 the hill, situated upon a high bluff overlooking the 
 Mississippi, is a pretty little town with streets regu- 
 larly laid out, and ornamented with divers handsome 
 public buildings. Natchez under the hill, — where 
 oh ! where shall I find words suitable to describe the 
 peculiarities of that unholy spot ? 'Tis, in fact, the 
 jumping-off-place. Satan looks on with glee, and 
 chuckles as he beholds the orgies of his votaries. 
 The buildings are for the most part brothels, taverns, 
 or gambling houses, and frequently the whole three 
 may be found under the same roof. Obscene songs 
 are sung at the top of the voice in all quarters. I 
 have repeatedly seen the strumpets tear a man's 
 clothes from his back, and leave his body beautified 
 with all the colors of the rainbow. 
 
 " One of the most popular tricks is called the 
 ' Spanish burial.' "When a greenhorn makes his 
 appearance among them, one who is in the plot 
 announces the death of a resident, and that all 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT, 313 
 
 strangers must subscribe to the custom of the place 
 upon such an occasion. They forthwith arrange a 
 procession ; each person, as he passes the departed, 
 kneels down and pretends to kiss the treacherous 
 corpse. When the unsophisticated attempts this 
 ceremony the dead man clinches him, and the mourn- 
 ers beat the fellow so entrapped until he consents 
 to treat all hands ; but should he be penniless, his 
 life will be endangered by the severity of the casti- 
 gation. And such is Natchez under the hill. 
 
 " An odd affair occurred while I was last there," 
 continued Thimblerig. " A steamboat stopped at 
 the landing, and one of the hands went ashore under 
 the hill to purchase provisions, and the adroit citi- 
 zens of that delectable retreat contrived to rob him 
 of all his money. The captain of the boat, a deter- 
 mined fellow, went ashore in the hope of persuading 
 them to refund, but that cock wouldn't fight. With- 
 out farther ceremony, assisted by his crew and 
 passengers, some three or four hundred in number, 
 he made fast an immense cable to the frame tene- 
 ment where the theft had been perpetrated, and 
 allowed fifteen minutes for the money to be forth- 
 coming ; vowed if it was not produced within that 
 time, to put steam to his boat, and drag the house 
 into the river. The money was instantly produced. 
 
 "I witnessed a sight during my stay there," con- 
 tinued the thimble conjurer, " that almost froze my 
 blood with horror, and will serve as a specimen of 
 the customs of the far south. A planter, of the 
 name of Foster, connected with the best families of 
 
314 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 the state, unprovoked, in cold blood, murdered his 
 young and beautiful wife, a few months after mar- 
 riage. He beat her deliberately to death in a walk 
 adjoining his dwelling, carried the body to the hut 
 of one of his slaves, washed the dirt from her person, 
 and assisted by his negroes, buried her upon his 
 plantation. Suspicion was awakened, the body dis- 
 interred, and the villain's guilt established. He fled, 
 was overtaken and secured in prison. His trial was, 
 by some device of the law, delayed until the third 
 term of the court. At length it came on, and so 
 clear and indisputable was the evidence that not a 
 doubt was entertained of the result ; when, by an 
 oversight on the part of the sheriff, who neglected 
 swearing into office his deputy who summoned the 
 jurors, the trial was abruptly discontinued, and all 
 proceedings against Foster were suspended, or rather 
 ended. 
 
 "There exists throughout the extreme south, 
 bodies of men who style themselves Lynchers. When 
 an individual escapes punishment by some techni- 
 cality of the law, or perpetrates an offense not recog- 
 nized in courts of justice, they seize him, and inflict 
 such chastisement as they conceive adequate to the 
 offense. They usually act at night and disguise 
 their persons. This society at Natchez embraces all 
 the lawyers, physicians, and principal merchants of 
 the place. Foster, whom all good men loathed as 
 a monster unfit to live, was called into court, and 
 formally dismissed. But the Lynchers were at 
 hand. The moment he stept from the court-house 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 315 
 
 he was knocked down, his arms bound behind him, 
 his eyes bandaged, and in this condition was marched 
 to the rear of the town, where a deep ravine afforded 
 a fit place for his punishment. His clothes were 
 torn from his back, his head partially scalped, they 
 next bound him to a tree ; each Lyncher was sup- 
 plied with a cow-skin, and they took turns at the 
 flogging until the flesh hung in ribbons from his 
 body. A quantity of heated tar was then poured 
 over his head, and made to cover every part of his 
 person ; they finally showered a sack of feathers on 
 him, and in this horrid guise, with no other apparel 
 than a miserable pair of breeches, with a drummer 
 at his heels, he was paraded through the principal 
 streets at midday. No disguise was assumed by the 
 Lynchers; the very lawyers employed upon his 
 trial took part in his punishment. 
 
 " Owing to long confinement his gait had become 
 crampedj and his movements were very faltering. 
 By the time the procession reached the most public 
 part of the town, Foster fell down from exhaustion, 
 and was allowed to lie there f ol" a time, without ex- 
 citing the sympathies of any one, an object of univer- 
 sal detestation. The blood oozing from his stripes 
 had become mixed with the feathers and tar, and 
 rendered his aspect still more horrible and loath- 
 some. Finding him unable to proceed further, a 
 common dray was brought, and with his back to 
 the horse's tail, the drummer standing over him 
 playing the rogue's march, he was reconducted to 
 prison, the only place at which he would be received. 
 
816 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 *' A guard was placed outside of the jail to give 
 notice to the body of Lynchers when Foster might 
 attempt to escape, for they had determined on brand- 
 ing him on the forehead and cutting his ears off. 
 At two o'clock in the morning of the second bubse* 
 quent day, two horsemen with a led horse stopped 
 at the prison, and Foster was with difficulty placed 
 astride. 
 
 "The Lynchers wished to secure him; he put 
 gpurs to his beast, and passed them. As he rode by 
 they fired at him ; a ball struck his hat, which was 
 thrown to the ground, and he escaped ; but if ever 
 found within the limits of the state, he will be shot 
 down as if a price was set on his head. 
 
 " Sights of this kind," continued Thimblerig, •' are 
 by no means unfrequent. I once isaw a gambler, a 
 sort of friend of mine by the way, detected cheating 
 at faro, at a time when the bets were running pretty 
 high. They flogged him almost to death, added 
 the tar and feathers, and placed him aboard a dug- 
 out, a sort of canoe, at twelve at night ; and with no 
 other instrument of navigation than a bottle of 
 whisky and a paddle, set him adrift in the Missis- 
 sippi. He has never been heard of since, and the 
 presumption is, that he either died of his wounds or 
 was run down in the night by a steamer. And this 
 is what we call Lynching in Natchez." 
 
 Thimblerig had also been at Vicksburg in his 
 time, and entertained as little liking for that 
 place as he did for Natchez. He had luckily made 
 his escape a short time before the recent clearing' 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 817 
 
 out of the sleight-of-hand gentry ; and he reckoned 
 some time would elapse before he would pay them 
 another visit. He said they must become more 
 civilized first. All the time he was talking to me 
 he was seated on a chest, and playing mechanically 
 with his pea and thimbles, as if he was afraid that 
 he would lose the sleight unless he kept his hand in 
 constant practise. Nothing of any consequence 
 occurred in our passage down the river, and I 
 arrived at Natchitoches in perfect health, and in 
 good spirits.* 
 
 • Thimblerig's account of Natchez under the hill some 
 twenty years since is only too true. It was a notoriously bad 
 place. Life and property were so unsafe there that few 
 decent persons were willing to run the risk of visiting the 
 place. Of late years it seems to have lost its former bad 
 eminence. We hear no more of riots, murders, lynchings, 
 and gambling broils at Natchez under the hill ; and the next 
 generation will probably doubt the credibility of the storiee 
 related of this den of infamy. 
 
318 LU^ OF DAVID CEOCKEIT. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 Account of Natchitoches — The Colonel advises Thimblerig to 
 reform and join the Texan patriots — Thimblerig decides to 
 do so— Curious incident of the Yellow Boy — ^The singer and 
 the politician — A brisk conversation — ^The singer thrashes 
 the politician — The bee-hunter — He joins the patriots — The 
 Cclonel, Thimblerig, and the bee-hunter set out for Nacog- 
 doches on their way to Texas. 
 
 ITatohitoohes is a post town and seat of justice 
 for the parish of Natchitoches, Louisiana, and is 
 situated on the right bank of the Eed river. The 
 houses are chiefly contained in one street, running 
 parallel to the river ; and the population I should 
 reckon at about eight hundred. The soil in this 
 parish is generally sterile, and covered with pine 
 timber, except near the margin of Eed river, where 
 the greatest part of the inhabitants are settled on 
 the alluvial banks. Some other, though compara. 
 tively small, tracts of productive soil skirt the 
 streams. An extensive body of low ground, subject 
 to annual submersion, extends along the Eed river, 
 which, it is said, will produce forty bushels of frogs 
 to the acre, and alligators enough to fence it. 
 
 I stayed two days at Natchitoches, during which 
 time I procured a horse tQ carry me across Texas to 
 the seat of war. Thimblerig remained with me^ 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CKOCEBTT. 319 
 
 and I found his conversation very amusing : for he 
 is possessed of humor and observation, and has seen 
 something of the world. Between whiles he would 
 amuse himself with his thimbles, to which he ap- 
 peared greatly attached, and occasionally he would 
 pick up a few shillings from the tavern loungers. 
 He no longer asked me to play with him, for he 
 lelt somewhat ashamed to do so, and he knew it 
 would be no go. 
 
 I took him to task in a friendly manner, and 
 tried to shame him out of his evil practises. I 
 told him that it was a burlesque on human nature, 
 that an able-bodied man, possessed of his full share 
 of good sense, should voluntarily debase himself, 
 and be indebted for subsistence to such pitiful arti- 
 
 " But what's to be done. Colonel ? " says he. " I'm 
 in the slough of despond, up to the very chin. A 
 miry and slippery path to travel." 
 
 '* Then hold your head up," says I, *' before the 
 glough reaches your lips." 
 
 " But what's the use ? " says he : " it's utterly im^ 
 possible for me to wade through; and even if I 
 could, I should be in such a dirty plight, that it 
 would defy all the waters in the Mississippi to wash 
 me clean again. No," he added in a desponding 
 tone, " I should be like a live eel in a frying pan, 
 Colonel ; sort of out of my element, if I attempted 
 to live like an honest man at this time o' day." 
 
 " That I deny. It is never too late to become 
 honest," said I. " But even admit what you say to 
 
820 I'l^ OF DAVED CBOCKETT. 
 
 be true — that you cannot live like an honest man, 
 you have at least the next best thing in your power, 
 and no one can say nay to it." 
 
 "And what is that?" 
 
 " Die like a brave one. And I know not whether, 
 in the eyes of the world, a brilliant death is not 
 preferred to an obscure life of rectitude. Most men 
 are remembered as they died, and not as they lived. 
 We gaze with admiration upon the glories of the 
 setting sun, yet scarcely bestow a passing glance 
 upon its noonday splendor." 
 
 " You are right ; but how is this to be done ? " 
 
 •* Accompany me to Texas. Cut aloof from your 
 degrading habits and associates here, and in fighting 
 for their freedom, regain your own." 
 
 He started from the table, and hastily gathering 
 up the thimbles with which he had been playing all 
 the time I was talking to him, he thrust them into 
 his pocket, and after striding two or three times 
 across the room, suddenly stopped, his leaden eye 
 kindled, and grasping me by the hand violently, he 
 
 exclaimed with an oath, " By , I'll be a man 
 
 again. Live honestly, or die bravely. I go with 
 you to Texas." 
 
 I said what I could to confirm him in his resolu. 
 tion, and finding that the idea had taken fast hold 
 of his mind, 1 asked him to liquor, which he did not 
 decline, notwithstanding the temperance habits that 
 he boasted of ; we then took a walk on the banks 
 of the river. 
 
 The evening preceding my departure from Xatchi- 
 
LIFE OP DAVID CROCKETT. 821 
 
 toches, a gentleman, with a good horse and a light 
 wagon, drove up to the tavern where I lodged. 
 He was accompanied by a lady who carried an 
 infant in her arms. As they alighted I recognized 
 the gentleman to be the politician at whom I had 
 discharged my last political speech, on board the 
 boat coming down the Eed river. We had let him 
 out in our passage down, as he said he had some 
 business to transact some distance above Katchi- 
 toches. He entered the tavern, and seemed to be 
 rather shy of me, so I let him go, as I had no idea 
 of firing two shots at such small game. 
 
 The gentleman had a private room, and called for 
 supper ; but the lady, who used every precaution to 
 keep the child concealed from the view of any one 
 refused to eat supper, saying she was unwell. How- 
 ever, the gentleman made a hearty meal, and ex* 
 cused the woman, saying, " My wife is subject to a 
 pain in the stomach, which has deprived her of her 
 food." Soon after supper the gentleman desired a 
 bed to be prepared, which being done, they imme' 
 diately retired to rest. 
 
 About an hour before daybreak, next morning, 
 the repose of the whole inn was disturbed by the 
 screams of the child. This continued for some time, 
 and at length the landlady got up to see what it was 
 ailed the noisy bantling. She entered the chamber 
 without a light, and discovered the gentleman seated 
 in the bed alone, rocking the infant in his arms, 
 and endeavoring to quiet it by saying, " Hush, my 
 dear — ^mamma will soon return." However the 
 
 21 
 
iilFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 child still squalled on, and the long absence of th« 
 mother rendered it necessary that something shoald 
 be done to quiet it. 
 
 The landlady proposed taking up the child, to see 
 what was the reason of its incessant cries. She ap- 
 proached the bed, and requested the man to give her 
 the infant, and tell her whether it was a son ot 
 daughter ; but this question redoubled his conster- 
 nation, for he was entirely ignorant which sex the 
 child belonged to ; however, with some difficulty, he 
 made the discovery, and infonned the landlady it 
 was a son. 
 
 She immediately called for a light, which was no 
 sooner brought than the la;ndlady began to unfold 
 the wrapper from the child, and exclaim, " O, what 
 a fine big son you have got!" But on a more 
 minute examination they found to their great as* 
 tonishment, and to the mortification and vexation 
 of the supposed father, that the child was a 
 mulatto. 
 
 The wretched man, having no excuse to offer, 
 immediately divulged the whole matter without 
 reserve. He stated that he had fell in with her on 
 the road to Natchitoches the day before^ and had 
 offered her a seat in his vehicle. Soon perceiving 
 that she possessed an uncommon degree of assurance 
 induced him to propose that they should pass as man 
 and wife. Wo doubt she had left her own home in 
 order to rid herself of the stigma which she had 
 brought on herself by her lewd conduct ; and at 
 midnight she had eloped from the bed, leaving the 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 infant to the paternal care of her pretended has- 
 band. 
 
 Immediate search was made for the mother of the 
 child, but in vain. And, as the song says, " Single 
 misfortunes ne'er come alone," to his great conster- 
 nation and grief, she had taken his horse, and left 
 the poor politician destitute of everything except 
 a fine yellow loy, but of a widely different des- 
 cription from those which Benton put in circula- 
 tion. 
 
 By this time all the lodgers in the tavern had got 
 up and dressed themselves, from curiosity to know 
 the occasion of the (disturbance. I descended to the 
 street in front of the inn. The stars were faintly 
 glimmering in the heavens, and the first beams of 
 the morning sun were struggling through the dim 
 clouds that skirted the eastern horizon. I thought 
 myself alone in the street, when the hush of morn- 
 ing was suddenly broken by a clear, joyful, and 
 musical voice, which sang, as near as I could catch 
 it, the following scrap of a song : — 
 
 " Oh, what is the time of the merry round year. 
 That is fittest and sweetest for love ? 
 Ere sucks the bee, ere buds the tree ; 
 And primroses by two, by three. 
 Faintly shine in the path of the lonely deer. 
 Like the few stars of twilight above." 
 
 I turned towards the spot whence the sounds pro- 
 ceeded, and discovered a tall figure leaning against 
 the sign post. His eyes were fixed on the streak* 
 of light in the east ; his mind was absorbed, and he 
 
824 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 was clearly unconscious of any one being near him. 
 He continued his song in so full and clear a tone 
 that the street re-echoed — 
 
 " When the blackbird and thrush, at early dawn. 
 Prelude from leafy spray — 
 Amid dewy scents and blandishments, 
 Like a choir attuning their instruments. 
 Ere the curtain of nature aside be drawn 
 For the concert the livelong day." 
 
 I now drew nigh enough to see him distinctly. 
 He was a young man, not more than twenty-two. 
 His figure was light and graceful, and at the same 
 time it indicated strength and activity. He was 
 dressed in a hunting shirt, which was made with 
 uncommon neatness, and ornamented tastily with 
 fringe. He held a highly finished rifle in his right 
 hand, and a hunting pouch covered with Indian 
 ornaments, was slung across his shoulders. His clean 
 shirt collar was open, secured only by a black 
 ribbon around his neck. His boots were polished 
 without a soil upon them ; and on his head was a 
 neat fur cap tossed on in a manner which said, " I 
 
 don't care a d n," just as plainly as any cap 
 
 could speak it. I thought it must be some popinjay 
 of a lark, until I took a look at his countenance. It 
 was handsome, bright and manly. There was no 
 mistake in that face. From the eyes down to his 
 breast he was sunburnt as dark as mahogany, while 
 the upper part of his high forehead was as white 
 and polished as marble. Thick clusters of black 
 
UFB OP DAVID CROCKETT. 325 
 
 hair curled from under his cap. I passed on unper< 
 ceived, and iie continued his song : — 
 
 " In the green spring-tide, all tender and bright, 
 "When the sun sheds a kindlier gleam 
 O'er the velvet bank, that sweet flowers prank, 
 That have fresh dews and sunbeams drank— 
 Softest and most chaste, as enchanted light 
 In the visions of maiden's dream." 
 
 The poor politician, whose misfortunes had roused 
 np the inmates of the tavern at such an unusual 
 hour, now returned from the stable, where he had 
 been in search of his horse and his woman ; but thev 
 were both among the missing. He held a whip in 
 his hand, and about a dozen men followed him, some 
 from curiosity to see the result of the adventure, 
 and others from better feelings. As he drew nigh 
 to the front of the tavern, chafing with mortification 
 at both his shame and his loss, his rage increasing 
 to a flame as his windy exclamations became louder 
 and louder, he chanced to espy the fantastic person- 
 age I have just described, still leaning against the 
 sign post, carelessly humming his song, but in a 
 lower tone, as he perceived he was not alone. 
 
 The irritated politician no sooner saw the stranger 
 against the sign post, whose self-satisfied air was in 
 striking contrast with the excited feelings of the 
 other, than he paused for a moment, appeared to 
 recognize him ; then coming up in a blustering man- 
 ner, and assuming a threatening attitude, he ex- 
 claimed fiercely, 
 
826 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 " You're an infernal scoundrel, do you hear ? an 
 infernal scoundrel, sir ! " 
 
 " I do ; but it's news to me," replied the other 
 quietly. 
 
 " News, yon scoundrel 1 do you call it news ? " 
 
 « Entirely so." 
 
 " You needn't think to carry it off so quietly. I 
 say, you're an infernal scoundrel, and I'll prove it." 
 
 " I beg you will not ; I shouldn't like to be proved 
 a scoundrel," replied the other, smiling with the 
 most provoking indifference. 
 
 " No, I dare say you wouldn't. But answer ma 
 directly — did you, or did you not say, in presence of 
 certain ladies of my acquaintance, that I was a 
 mere — " 
 
 " Calf ? — O, no, sir ; the truth is not to be spoken 
 at all times." 
 
 " The truth ! Do you presume to call me a calf, 
 sir?" 
 
 " O, no, sir ; I call you nothing," replied the 
 
 stranger, just as cool and as pleasant as a morning 
 in spring. 
 
 " It's well you do ; for if you had presumed to 
 call me " 
 
 " A man, I should have been grossly mistaken." 
 
 " Do you mean to say I am not a man, sir ? " 
 
 " That depends upon circumstances." 
 
 " What circumstances ? " demanded the other 
 fiercely. 
 
 " If I should be called as an evidence in a court of 
 justice, I should be bound to speak the truth." 
 
UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 327 
 
 * And yon would say I was not a man, hey ? Do 
 fou see this cow-skin ? " 
 
 " Yes ; and I have seen it with surprise ever since 
 you came up," replied the stranger, calmly, at the 
 same time handing me his rifle to take care of. 
 
 " With surprise ! " exclaimed the politician, who 
 saw that his antagonist had voluntarily disarmed 
 himself. " Why, did you suppose that I was such 
 a coward that I dare not use the article when I 
 thought it was demanded ? " 
 
 " £hall I tell you what I thought ? " 
 
 " Do, if you dare." 
 
 " I thought to myself what use has a calf for a 
 cow-skin ? " He turned to me, and said, " I had for- 
 got, Colonel, shall I trouble you to take care of this 
 also ? " Saying which he drew a long hunting-knife 
 from his belt, and placed it in my hand. He then 
 resumed his careless attitude against the sign 
 post. 
 
 " Tou distinctly call me a calf, then? " 
 
 " If you insist upon it, you may." 
 
 " Tou hear, gentlemen," said he, speaking to the 
 bystanders. " Do you hear the insult ? What shall 
 I do with the scoundrel ? " 
 
 "Dress him, dress him!" exclaimed twenty 
 voices, with shouts and laughter. 
 
 " That I'll do at once ! " Then, turning to the 
 stranger, he cried out fiercely, " Come one step this 
 way, you rascal, and I'll fiog you within an inch of 
 your life." 
 
 " I've no occasion." 
 
328 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 " You're a coward." 
 
 " Not on your word." 
 
 " I'll prove it by flogging you out of your skuu" 
 
 « I doubt it." 
 
 *' I am a liar, then, am I ? " 
 
 " Just as you please." 
 
 " Do you hear that, gentlemen ? " 
 
 " Aye, we hear," was the unanimous response. 
 " You can't avoid dressing him now." 
 
 " O heavens 1 grant me patience ! I shall fly out 
 of my skin." 
 
 " It will be so much the better for your pocket ; 
 calf-skins are in good demand." 
 
 « I shall burst." 
 
 " Not here in the street, I beg of you. It would 
 be disgusting." 
 
 " Gentlemen, can I any longer avoid flogging 
 him?" 
 
 " Not if you are able," was the reply. " Go at 
 him." 
 
 Thus provoked, thus stirred up, and enraged, the 
 fierce politician went like lightning at his provoking 
 antagonist. But before he could strike a blow he 
 found himself disarmed of his cow-skin, and lying 
 on his back under the spout of a neighboring pump, 
 whither the young man had carried him to cool hia 
 rage, and before he could recover from his astonish- 
 ment at such unexpected handling, he was as wet as 
 a thrice drowned rat, from the cataracts of water 
 which his laughing antagonist had liberally pumped 
 upon him. His courage, by this time, had fairly 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 329 
 
 oozed out ; and he declared, as he arose and went 
 dripping away from the pump, that he would never 
 again trust to quiet appearances, and that the devil 
 himself might, the next time, undertake to cow-skin 
 such a cucumber-blooded scoundrel for him. The 
 bystanders laughed heartily. The politician now 
 went in pursuit of his horse and his woman, taking 
 his yellow boy with him ; and the landlady declared 
 that he richly deserved what he had got, even if he 
 had been guilty of no other offense than the dirty 
 imposition he had practised on hei. 
 
 The stranger now came to me, and calling me by 
 name, asked for his rifle and knife, which I returned 
 to him. I expressed some astonishment at being 
 known to him, and he said that he had heard of my 
 being in the village, and had sought me out for the 
 purpose of accompanying me to Texas. He told me 
 that he was a bee-hunter: that he had traveled 
 pretty much over that country in the way of his 
 business, and that I would And him of considerable 
 nse in navigating through the ocean of prairies. 
 
 He told me that honey-trees are abundant ^n 
 Texas, and that honey of an excellent quality, and 
 in any quantity, may be obtained from them. There 
 are persons who have a peculiar tact in coursing the 
 bee, and thus discovering their deposits of the lus- 
 cious food. This employment is not a mere pastime, 
 but is profitable. The wax alone, thus obtained, is 
 a valuable article of commerce in Mexico, and com- 
 mands a high price. It is much used in churches, 
 where some of the candles made use of are as 
 
830 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 long as a man's arm. It often happens that the 
 hunters throw away the honey, and save only the 
 wax. 
 
 " It is a curious fact," said the bee-hunter, " in 
 the natural history of the bee, that it is never found 
 in a wild country, but always precedes civilization, 
 forming a kind of advance guard between the white 
 man and the savage. The Indians, at least, are 
 perfectly convinced of this fact, for it is a common 
 remark among them, when they observe these 
 insects, ' There come the white men.' " 
 
 Thimblerig came up, and the bee-hunter spoke lo 
 him, caUiQg him by name, for he had met with him 
 in Ifew Orleans. I; told him that the conjurer had 
 determined to ;accompamy me also, at which he 
 seemed well pleased, arid encourageid the poor fel- 
 low to adhere to that resolution ; for he would be a 
 man among men in Texas, and no one would be 
 yesry particular in inquiring about his fortunes in 
 the States. If once there, he might boldly stand 
 np and feed out of the same ra<i with the rest. 
 
 I asked him what was his cause of quarrel with 
 the politician, and he told me that he had met him 
 a. few weeks before down at Baton Rouge, where 
 the fellow was going the b;g figure, and that he had 
 exposed him to some ladies, which completely cut 
 his comb, and he took wing; that this was the 
 first time they had met since, and being determined 
 to have his revenge, he had attacked him without 
 first calculating consequences. 
 
 With the assistance of our new friend, who was a 
 
UFE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 331 
 
 generous, pleasant fellow, we procured a horse and 
 rifle for Thimblerig-, and we started for Nacog- 
 doches, which is about one hundred and twenty 
 miles west of iN'atchitoches, under the guidance of 
 the bee-hunter. 
 
332 U:^^ OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Honte to Nacogdoches — ^Accomplishments of the bee-himter 
 — Story of Andrew Tumlinson — His death— Society in Texas 
 — Arrival at Nacogdoches — Account of that place — Scene 
 between the bee-hunter and his lady love— Departure from 
 Nacogdoches. 
 
 OuB route, which lay along what is called the old 
 Spanish road, I found to be much better defined on 
 the map than upon the face of the country. We 
 had, in many instances, no other guide to the path 
 than the blazes on the trees. The bee-hunter was a 
 cheerful, communicative companion, and by his 
 pleasant conversation, rendered our journey any- 
 thing but fatiguing. He knew all about the coun- 
 try, had undergone a variety of adventure, and 
 described what he had witnessed with such fresh- 
 ness, and so graphically, that if I could only re- 
 member one half he told me about the droves of 
 wild horses, buffalo, various birds, beautiful scenery 
 of the wide-spreading and fertile prairies, and his 
 adventures with the roving tribes of Indians, I 
 should fill my book, I am sure, much more agree- 
 ably than I shall be able to do on my own hook. 
 When he'd get tired of talking, he'd commence 
 singing, and his list of songs seemed to be as long 
 as a rainy Sunday. He had a fine, clear voice, and 
 
OFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 333 
 
 though I have heard the Woods sing at the Park 
 Theater, in New York, I must give the bee-hunter 
 the preference over all I have ever heard, except 
 my friend Jim Crow, who, it must be allowed, is a 
 real steamboat at the business, and goes a leetle 
 ahead of anything that will come after him. 
 
 He gave me, among other matters, the following 
 account of a rencounter between one of the early 
 settlers and the Indians : — 
 
 " Andrew Tumlinson," said he, " belonged to a 
 family which the colonists of De "Witt will long re- 
 member as one of their chief stays in the dangers 
 of settling those wilds trod only by the children of 
 the forest. This indefatigable champion of revenge 
 for his father's death, who had fallen some years 
 before by Indian treachery, had vowed never to rest 
 until he had received satisfaction. In order the 
 better to accomplish his end, he was one of the fore- 
 tnost, if possible, in every skirmish with the Indi- 
 ans ; and that he might be enabled to do so with- 
 out restraint, he placed his wife under the care 
 of his brother-in-law, shouldered his rifle and 
 headed a ranging party, who were resolved to se- 
 cure peace to those who followed them, though 
 purchased by their own death. 
 
 " He had been frequently victorious in the most 
 desperate fights, where the odds were greatly 
 against him, and at last fell a victim to his own im- 
 prudence. A Caddo had been seized as a spy, and 
 threatened with death, in order to compel him to 
 deliver up his knife. The fellow never moved a 
 
S34 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 mnscle, or eren winked, as he beheld the rifles 
 pointed at him. He had been found lurking in the 
 yard attached to the house of a solitary and unpro- 
 tected family, and he knew that the whites were 
 exasperated at his tribe for injuries that they had 
 committed. When discovered he was accompanied 
 by his little son. 
 
 " Tumlinson spoke to him in Spanish, to learn 
 what had brought him there at such a time, but in- 
 stead of giving any satisfaction, he sprung to his 
 feet, from the log where he was seated, at the same 
 time seizing his rifle, which was lying beside him. 
 The owner of the house, with whom the Indian had 
 been on a friendly footing, expostulated with Mm, 
 and got him to surrender the gun, telling him that 
 the whites only wished to be satisfied of his friendly 
 intentions, and had no desire to injure one wlu!> 
 might be useful in conciliating his red brethren. 
 
 " He appeared to acquiesce, and wrapping his 
 blanket more clbsely around his body, moved on in 
 silence aTiead of the whites. Tumlinson approached 
 him, and though the rest of the party privately 
 cautioned him not to go too nigh, as they believ^ 
 the Indian had a, knife under his blanket, he disre- 
 garded the warning, trusting for safety to his rifle 
 and dexterity. 
 
 " He continued to interrogate the captive until he 
 awakened his suspicions that his life was not safe. 
 The Indian returned no answer but a short caustic 
 laugh at the end of every question. Tumlinson at 
 length beheld his countenance become more s^uage, 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 335 
 
 which was followed by a sudden movement of the 
 right hand beneath his blanket. He fired, and the 
 next instant the Caddo's knife was in his heart, for 
 the savage sprung with th« quickness of the wild 
 cat upon his prey. The rifle ball had passed through 
 the Indian's body, yet his victim appeared to be no 
 more in his grasp than a sparrow in the talons of an 
 eagle, for he was a man of gigantic frame, and he 
 knew that not only his own life,, but that of his little 
 son, would be taken on the spot. He called to the 
 boy to fly, while he continued to plunge his knife 
 into thc' bosom of his prostrate victim. The rest of 
 the party leveled their rifles, and the victor shouted^ 
 with an air of triumph, — ' Do your worst. I have 
 ^crificed another pals-face to the spirits of my 
 fathers.' They fired, and he fell dead across the 
 body of the unfortunate Tumlinson. The poor boy 
 fell alsoi He had sprung forward some distance, 
 when his father was shot, and; was running in a zig- 
 zag manner, taught them in their youth, to avoid 
 the balls of their enemies, by rendering it diflB,cu]t 
 for the best marksman to draw a sight upon them." 
 In order to afford me some idea of the state of 
 society in the more thickly settled parts of Texas, 
 the bee-hunter told me that he had set down to the 
 breakfast table one morning, at an inn, at San Felipe, 
 and among the small party around the board were 
 eleven who had fled from the States charged with 
 having committed murder. So accustomed are the 
 inhabitants to the appearance of fugitives from 
 justice, that they are particularly careful to make 
 
336 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 inquiries of the characters of newcomers, and 
 generally obtain early and circumstantial informa,. 
 tion concerning strangers. " Indeed," said he, " it 
 is very common to hear the inquiry made, ' What 
 did he do that made him leave home ? ' or, ' What 
 have you come to Texas for ? ' intimating almost an 
 assurance of one's being a criminal. Notwithstand- 
 ing this state of things, however, the good of the 
 public, and of each individual, is so evidently depend- 
 ent on the public morals, that all appear ready to 
 discountenance and punish crime. Even men who 
 have been expatriated by fear of justice, are here 
 among the last who would be disposed to shield a 
 culprit guilty of a crime against life or property." 
 
 Thimblerig was delighted at this favorable account 
 of the state of society, and said that it would be the 
 very place for him to flourish in ; he liked their 
 liberal way of thinking, for it did not at all tally 
 with his ideas of natural law, that a man who hap- 
 pened to give offense to the straight-laced rules of 
 action established by a set of people contracted In 
 their notions, should be hunted out of all society, 
 even though willing to conform to their regulations. 
 He was lawyer enough, he said, to know that every 
 offense should be tried on the spot where it was 
 committed ; and if he had stolen the pennies from 
 his grandmother's eyes in Louisiana, the people in 
 Texas would have nothing to do with that affair 
 nohow they could fix it. The dejected conjurer 
 pricked up his ears, and from that moment was as 
 gay and cheerful as a blue bird in spring. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 337 
 
 As we approached Nacogdoches, the first object 
 that struck our view, was a flag flying at the top of 
 a high liberty pole. Drums were beating, and fifes 
 playing, giving an indication, not to be misunder- 
 stood, of the spirit that had been awakened in a 
 comparative desert. The people of the town no 
 sooner saw us than many came out to meet us. The 
 bee-hunter, who was known to them, introduced 
 me ; and it seems that they had already received 
 the news of my intended visit, and its object, and I 
 met with a cordial and friendly reception. 
 
 Nacogdoches is the capitol of the department of 
 that name, and it is situated about sixty miles west 
 of the river Sabine, in a romantic dell, surrounded 
 by woody bluffs of considerable eminence, within 
 whose inner borders, in a semicircle embracing the 
 town, flow the two forks of the Nana, a branch of 
 the Naches. It is a flourishing town, containing 
 about one thousand actual citizens, although it 
 generally presents twice that number on account of 
 its extensive inland trade, one-half of which is sup- 
 ported by the friendly Indians. The healthiness of 
 this town yields to none in the province, except 
 Bexar, and to none whatsoever south of the same 
 latitude, between the Sabine and the Mississippi. 
 There was a fort established here, by the French, as 
 far back as the year 1717, in order to overawe the 
 wandering tribes of red men, between their borders 
 and the colonists of Great Britain. The soil around 
 it is of an easy nature and well adapted to cultiva- 
 tion. 
 
838 I^FE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 
 
 I passed the day at Nacogdoches in getting in- 
 formation from the principal patriots as to the 
 grievances imposed upon them by the Mexicaa 
 government ; and I passed the time very pleasantly, 
 but I rather reckon not quite so much as my friend 
 the bee-hunter. , In the evening, as I had missed him 
 for several hour?, while I was attending the affairs 
 of the patriots, I. inquired for my companion, and 
 was directed by the landlord to an apartment 
 appropriated to his family, and accordingly 1 pushed 
 ahead. Before I reached the door, I heard the joy- 
 ous and musical voice of the young rover singing 
 as usuaL 
 
 " I'd like to have, a little farm. 
 
 And leave sucli scenes as these, 
 Where I could live, without a care. 
 
 Completely at my ease. 
 I'd like to have a pleasant hoiise 
 
 Upon my little farm. 
 Airy and cool in summer time, 
 
 In winter close and warm." 
 
 " And is there nothing dse you'd like to have ta 
 make you happy, Edward ! " demanded a gentle 
 voice, which sounded even more musical in my ear 
 than that of the bee-hunter. 
 
 " Yes, in good faith there is, my gentle Kate f 
 and I'll tell you what it is," he exclaimed, and re« 
 somed his song : — 
 
 " rd like to have a little, wife— 
 I reckon I know who ; 
 I'dl like to have a little son— 
 A little daughter too ; 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 839 
 
 And when they climb upon my knee, 
 
 I'd like a Uttle toy 
 To give my pretty little girl. 
 
 Another for my boy, 
 
 " O, fie, for shame of you to talk so, Edward ! * 
 exclaimed the same gentle voice. 
 
 " "Well, ray pretty Kate, if you'll only listen, nowr 
 I'll tell you what I wouldn't like." 
 
 "Let me hear that, by all means." 
 
 " I should not like my wife to shake 
 
 A broomstick at my head — 
 For then I might begin to think 
 
 She did not love her Ned ; 
 But I should always like to see 
 
 Her gentle as a dove ; 
 I should not like to have her seoM— < 
 
 But be all joy and love." 
 
 " And there is not much danger, Edward, of her 
 ever being otherwise." 
 
 " Bless your sweet lips, that I am certain of," 
 exclaimed the bee-hunter, and I heard something 
 that sounded marvelously like a kiss. But he re- 
 sumed his song : — 
 
 " If I had these I would not ask 
 
 For anything beside ; 
 I'd be content thus smoothly through 
 
 The tedious world to glide. 
 My little wife and I would then 
 
 No earthly troubles see — 
 Surrounded by our little ones, 
 
 How happy we would be I " 
 
 I have always endeavored to act up to the golden 
 rule of doing as I would be done hy, and as I never 
 
340 LITE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 liked to be interrupted on such occasions, I returned 
 to the bar-room, where I found Thimblerig seated 
 on a table practising with his thimbles, his large 
 white Vicksburg hat stuck up in a most independent 
 manner on the side of his head. About half a 
 dozen men were looking on with amazement at his 
 skill, but he got no bets. When he caught my eye, 
 his countenance became sort of confused, and he 
 hastily thrust the thimbles into his pocket, saying, 
 as he jumped from the table, " Just amusing my- 
 self a little. Colonel, to kill time, and show the 
 natives that some things can be done as well as 
 others. Let us take an ideer." So we walked up 
 to the bar, took a nip, and let the matter drop. 
 
 My horse had become lame, and I found I would 
 not be able to proceed with him, so I concluded to 
 sell him and get another. A gentleman offered to 
 give me a mustang in exchange, and I gladly ac- 
 cepted of his kindness. The mustangs are the wild 
 horses, that are to be seen in droves of thousands 
 pasturing on the prairies. They are taken by means 
 of a lasso, a long rope with a noose, which is thrown 
 around their necks, and they are dragged to the 
 ground with violence, and then secured. These 
 horses, which are considerably smaller than those in 
 the States, are very cheap, and are in such numbers 
 that in times of scarcity of game the settlers 
 and the Indians have made use of them as food. 
 Thousands have been destroyed for this purpose. 
 
 I saw nothing of the bee-hunter until bedtime, 
 and then I said nothing to him about what I had 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 341 
 
 overheard. The next morning, as we were pre- 
 paring for an early start, I went into the private 
 apartment where my companion was, but he did not 
 appear quite as cheerful as usual. Shortly after- 
 ward, a young woman, about eighteen, entered the 
 room. She was as healthy and blooming as the 
 wild flowers of the prairie. My companion intro- 
 duced me, she courtesied modestly, and turning to 
 the bee-hunter, said, " Edward, I have made you a 
 new deer-skin sack since you were last here. Will 
 you take it with you ? Your old one is so soiled." 
 
 " Wo, no, dear Kate, I shall not have leisure to 
 gather wax this time." 
 
 " I have not yet shown you the fine large gourd 
 that I have slung for you. It will hold near a 
 gallon of water." She went to a closet, and pro- 
 ducing it, suspended it around his shoulders. 
 
 " My own kind Kate ! " he exclaimed, and looked 
 as if he would devour her with his eyes. 
 
 " Have I forgotten anything ? Ah ! yes, your 
 books." She ran to a closet, and brought out two 
 small volumes. 
 
 " One is sufficient this time, Kate — ray Bible. I 
 will leave the poet with you." She placed it in his 
 hunting bag, saying, 
 
 " You will find here some biscuit and deer sinews, 
 in case you should get bewildered in the prairies. 
 You know you lost your way the last time, and were 
 nearly famished." 
 
 " Kind and considerate Kate." 
 
 I began to find out that I was a sort of fifth 
 
34:2 I*IFE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 
 
 wheel to the wagon,, so I went to the front of thft 
 tavern to see about starting. There was a consider- 
 able crowd there, and I made them a short address 
 on the occasion. I told them, among other things, 
 that " I wUl die with my Betsey in my arms. No, 
 I will not die — I'U grin down the walls of the 
 Alamo, and the Americans will lick up the Mexicans 
 like fine salt." 
 
 I mounted my little mustang, and my legs nearly 
 reached the ground. The thimble conjurer was also 
 ready ; at length the, bee-hunter made his appear- 
 ajice, followed by his sweetheart, whose eyes looked 
 as though she had been weeping., He took a cordial 
 leave of all his friends, for he appeared to be a 
 general favorite ; he then approached Kate, kissed 
 her, and leaped upon his horse. He tried to con- 
 ceal his emotion by singing, carelessly, 
 
 " Saddled and bridled, and booted rode he, 
 A plume in his helmet, a sword at his knee." 
 
 The tremulous and plaintive voice of Kate took up 
 the next two lines of the song, which sounded like 
 a prophecy : 
 
 " But toom cam' the saddle, all bluidy to see, 
 And hame cam' the steed, but hame never cam' he." 
 
 "We started oif rapidly, and left Nacogdoches amid 
 the cheering of true patriots and kind friends.* 
 
 * The story of the bee-hunter and his lady love forms one 
 of the most agreeable episodes in this portion of the Colonel's 
 narrative. The bee-hunter is a very original and spirited 
 character, of whom the reader is destined to meet with stili 
 more interesting partioulars in the sequdL 
 
UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 343 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 Incidents on the road — Tricks upon the travelers — Tka mad 
 dog hoax — Another curious trick — Cane brake — ^Wolves and 
 game — fhe party joined by one of Lafltte's pirates and an 
 Indian hunter — Scene at the dinner table — Sudden disap- 
 pearance of the bee-hunter — The party encounters an im- 
 mense herd of buffaloes — The Colonel gives chase— Gets lost 
 — flails in with a herd of mustang8-~A race with the mus- 
 tangs — ^Beaches the Navasola river where the mustangs leave 
 bim. 
 
 As hour or two elapsed before the bee-hunter 
 recovered his usual spirits, after parting from his 
 kind little Kate of Nacogdoches. The conjurer 
 rallied him good-humoredly, and had become quite 
 a different man from what he was on the west side 
 of the Sabine. He sat erect in his saddle, stuck his 
 large white Vicksburger conceitedly on his bushy- 
 head, carried his rifle with as much ease and grace as 
 if he had been used to the weapon, and altoge'l&er, 
 he assumed an air of impudence and independence 
 which showed that he had now a soul above thim- 
 bles. The bee-hunter at length recovered his 
 spirits, and commenced talking very pleasantly, for 
 the matters we related were for the most part new 
 to me. ' 
 
 My companions, by way of '^leguilin^th©*-^^'""* 
 
944 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 ness of our journey, repeatedly played tricks upon 
 each other, which were taken in good part. One 
 of them I will relate. We had observed that the 
 bee- hunter always disappeared on stopping at a 
 house, running in to talk with the inhabitants and 
 ingratiate himself with the women, leaving us to 
 take care of the horses. On reaching our stopping 
 place at night he left us as usual, and while we were 
 rubbing down our mustangs, and hobbling them, a 
 negro boy came out of the house with orders from 
 our companion within to see to his horse. Thim- 
 blerig, who possessed a good share of roguish inge- 
 nuity, after some inquiries about the gentleman: in 
 the house, how he looked and what he was doing 
 told the boy, in rather a low voice, that he had 
 better not come nearer to him than was necessary, 
 for it was possible he might hurt him, though still 
 he didn't think he would. The boy asked why he 
 need be afraid of him. He replied he did not 
 certainly know that there was any reason— he hoped 
 there was none- -but the man had been bitten by a 
 mad dog, and it was rather uncertain whether he 
 was not going mad himself. Still he would not 
 alarm the boy, but cautioned him not to be afraid, 
 for there might be no danger, though there was 
 something rather strange in the conduct of his poor 
 friend. This was enough for the boy; he was 
 almost afraid to touch the horse of such a man, and 
 when, a moment afterward, our companion came out 
 of the house, he slunk away behind the horse, and 
 though he was in a, great hurry to get him unsad* 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 345 
 
 died, kept his eyes fixed steadily on the owner, 
 closely watching his motions. 
 
 " Take off that bridle," exclaimed the impatient 
 bee-hunter, in a stern voice: and the black boy 
 sprung off, and darted away as fast as his feet could 
 carry him, much to the vexation and surprise of our 
 companion, who ran after him a little distance, but 
 could in no way account for his singular and pro- 
 voking conduct. "When we entered the house, 
 things appeared a great deal more strange ; for the 
 negro had rushed hastily into the midst of the family 
 and in his terrified state communicated the alarming 
 tale, that the gentleman had been bitten by a mad 
 dog. He, unconscious all the time of the trick that 
 was playing off, endeavored, as usual, to render 
 himself as agreeable as possible, especially to the 
 females with whom he had already formed a par- 
 tial acquaintance. We could see that they looked 
 on him with apprehension, and retreated whenever 
 he approached them. One of them took an oppor- 
 tunity to inquire of Thimblerig the truth of the 
 charge ; and his answer confirmed their fears, and 
 redoubled their caution ; though, after confessing 
 with apparent candor, that his friend had been 
 bitten, he stated that there was no certainty of evil 
 consequences, and it was a thing which of course 
 could not be mentioned to the sufferer. 
 
 As bedtime approached the mistress of the house 
 expressed her fears, lest trouble should arise in the 
 night, for the house, according to custom, contained 
 but two rooms, and was not built for security. 
 
846 MFE OF DAVID CEOCKETP. 
 
 She therefore urged us to sleep between him and th« 
 door, and by no means to let him pass us. It so 
 happened, however, that he chose to sleep next the 
 door, and it was with great difficulty that we could 
 keep their fears within bounds. The ill-disguised 
 iklarm of the whole family was not less a source of 
 merriment to him who had been the cause, than of 
 surprise and wonder to the subject of it. What- 
 ever member of the housiBhold he approached 
 promptly withdrew, and as for the negro,, whenever 
 he vras spoken to by him, he would jump and roll his 
 eyes. In the morning, when we were about to de- 
 part, we commissioned our belied companion to pay 
 our bill ; but as he approached the hostess she fled 
 from him, and shut the door in his face. " I. want 
 to pay our bill," said he. " Oh ! if you will only leave 
 the housOj" cried she, in terror, " you are welcome 
 to your lodging." 
 
 The jest, howevet, did not end here. The bee- 
 hunter found out the trick that bad been played 
 upon him, and determined to retaliate. As we were 
 about mounting, the conjurer's big white Viols- 
 burger was unaccountably missing, and nowhere to 
 be found. He was not altogether pleased with the 
 liberty that had been taken with him, and after 
 searching sometime in vain, he tied a handkerchief 
 around his head, sprung upon his horse, and rode off 
 with more gravity than usual. We had rode about 
 two miles, the bee-hunter bantering the other with 
 a story of his hat lying in pawn at the house we bad 
 left, and urged upon him to return and redeem it ; 
 
UFE OF DAVID CKOCKETT. 347 
 
 bat finding Thimblerig out of humor, and resolved 
 not to return, Ike began to repent of his jest, and 
 offered to go back and bring it, on condition that 
 the past should be forgotten and there should be no 
 more retaliation. The other consented to the terms, 
 so lighting a cigar with his sun glass, he set off at a 
 rapid rate on his return. He had not been gone 
 long before I presented Thimblerig with his hat, for 
 I had seen the bee-hunter conceal it, and had se- 
 cretly brought it along with me. It was some time 
 before our absent friend overtook us, having fright- 
 ened all the family away by his sudden return, and 
 searched the whole house without success. When 
 he perceived the object of his ride upon the head of 
 the conjurer, and recollected the promise by whica 
 he had bound himself not to have any more jesting 
 he could only exclaim, '? Well, it's hard, but it's 
 fair," We all laughed heartily, and good humor 
 was once again restored. 
 
 Cane-brakes are common in some parts of Texas. 
 Our way led us through one of considerable extent. 
 The frequent passage of men and horses had kept 
 open a narrow path not wide enoii^ for two mus- 
 tangs to pass with convenience. The reeds, the 
 same as are used in the northern states as fishing 
 rods, had grown to the height of about twenty feet 
 and were so slender, that having no support directly 
 over the path, they drooped a little inward, and in- 
 termingled their tops, forming a complete covering 
 overhead. We rode about a quarter of a mile along 
 this sin^lar Arched avenue with the view of tha 
 
348 UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 sky completely shut out. The bee-hunter told me 
 that the largest brake is that which lines the banks 
 of Cane Creek, and is seventy miles in length, 
 with scarcely a tree to be seen the whole distance. 
 The reeds are eaten by cattle and horses in the 
 winter when the prairies yield little or no other 
 food. 
 
 "When we came out of the brake we saw three 
 black wolves jogging like dogs ahead of us, but at 
 too great a distance to reach them with a rifle. 
 Wild turkeys and deer repeatedly crossed our path, 
 and we saw several droves of wild horses pasturing 
 in the prairies. These sights awakened the ruling 
 passion strong within me, and I longed to have a 
 hunt upon a large scale ; for though I had killed 
 many bears and deer in my time, I had never brought 
 down a buffalo in all my life, and so I told my 
 friends ; but they tried to dissuade me from it, by 
 telling me that I would certainly lose my way, and 
 perhaps perish ; for though it appeared as a cultivated 
 garden to the eye, it was still a wilderness. I said 
 little more on the subject until we crossed the Trin- 
 idad river, but every mile we traveled I found the 
 temptation grow stronger and stronger. 
 
 The night after we crossed the river we fortu. 
 nately found shelter in the house of a poor woman, 
 who had little but the barest necessaries to offer us. 
 "While we were securing our horses for the night we 
 beheld two men approaching the house on foot. 
 They were both armed with rifles and hunting-knives, 
 and though I have been accustomed to the sight of 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 349 
 
 men who have not stepped far over the line of civil- 
 ization, I must say these were just about the roughest 
 samples I had seen anywhere. One was a man of 
 about fifty years old, tall and rawboned. He was 
 dressed in a sailor's round jacket, with a tarpaulin 
 on his head. His whiskers nearly covered his face ; 
 his hair was coal black and long, and there was a 
 deep scar across his forehead, and another on the 
 back of his right hand. His companion, who was 
 considerable younger, was bareheaded, and clad in 
 a deer-skin dress made after our fashion. Thousrh 
 be was not much darker than the old man, 1 per- 
 ceived that he was an Indian. They spoke friendly 
 to the bee-hunter, for they both knew him, and said 
 they were on their way to join the Texan forces, at 
 that time near the San Antonio river. Though they 
 bad started without horses, they reckoned they 
 would come across a couple before they went much 
 farther. The right of ownership to horse flesh is 
 not much regarded in Texas, for those that have 
 been taken from the wild droves are soon after 
 turned out to graze on the prairies, the owner hav- 
 ing first branded them with his mark, and hobbled 
 them by tying their fore feet together, which will 
 enable another to capture them just as readily as 
 himself. 
 
 The old woman set about preparing our supper, 
 and apologized for the homely fare, which consisted 
 of bacon and fried onions, when the Indian went to 
 a bag and produced a number of eggs of wild fowls, 
 and a brace of fat rabbits, which were speedily 
 
350 I'IFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 dressed, and we made as good a meal as a hnngiy 
 man need wish to set down to. The old man spoke 
 very little: but the Indian ■wuo had lived much 
 among the whites, was talkative^ and manifested 
 much impatience to arrive at the army. The first 
 opportunity that occurred I inquired of the bee- 
 hunter who our new friends were, and he told me 
 that the old man had been for many years a pirate 
 with the famous Lafitte, and that the Indian was a 
 hunter belonging to a settler near Galveston Bay. 
 I had seen enough of land rats at Washington, bat 
 this was the first time that I was ever in company 
 with a water rat to my knowledge ; however, baitmg 
 that black spot on his escutcheon, he was a well-be^ 
 haved and inoffensive man. Yice does not appear 
 so shocking when we Are familiar with the perpe- 
 trator of it. 
 
 Thimblerig was for taking airs upon himself after 
 learning who our companions were, and protested 
 to me that he would not sit down at the same table 
 with a man who had outraged the laws in sueh a 
 manner ; — for it was due to society that honest men 
 should discountenance sueh unprincipled characters^ 
 and much more to the same effect ; when the old 
 man speedily dissipated the gambler's indignant 
 feelings by calmly saying, " Stranger, you had bet- 
 ter take a seat at the table, I think," at the same 
 time drawing a long hunting-knife from his belt, 
 and laying it on the table. " I think you had bet- 
 ter take some supper with us," he added, in a mild 
 tone, bat fixing his eye sternly qpon Thimblerig 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROGKET'i; 351 
 
 Tke conjurer first eyed the knife, and then the fierce 
 whiskers of the pirate, and, unlike some politicians, 
 h& wasn't long in making up his mind what course 
 to pursue, but he determined to Tote as the pirate 
 voted, and said, " I second that motion, stranger," 
 at the same time seating himself on the bench beside 
 me. The old man then commenced cutting up the 
 meat, for which purpose he had drawn his hunting- 
 knife, though the gambler had thought it was for a 
 different purpose ; and being relieved from his fears, 
 eTOrything passed off quite sociable. 
 
 Early the following morning we compensated the 
 old woman for the trouble she had been at, and we 
 mounted our horses and pursued our journey, our 
 new friends following on foot, but promising to 
 arrive at the Alamo as soon as we should. About 
 noon we stopped to refresh our horses beneath a 
 cluster of trees that stood in the open prairie, and I 
 again spoke of my longing for a buffalo hunt. We 
 were all seated on the grass, and they strived hard 
 to dissuade me from the folly of allowing a ruling 
 passion to lead me into such imminent danger and 
 difficulty as I must necessarily encounter. At this 
 time, while they were running down my weakness, 
 as they called it, Thimblerig was amusing him- 
 self with his eternal thimbles and pea upon the 
 crown of his big white hat. I could not refrain 
 from laughing outright to see with what gravity 
 and apparent interest he slipped the pea from one 
 thimble to another while in the midst of a desert. 
 It&n is a queer animal, and Colonel Dick Johnson is 
 
362 LIFE OP DAVID CROCBaETT. 
 
 disposed to make him even queerer than Dame 
 Nature originally intended. 
 
 The bee-hunter told me, that if I was determined 
 to leave them, he had in his bag a paper of ground 
 coffee, and biscuit, which little Kate of Nacogdoches 
 had desired him to carry for my use, which he 
 handed to me, and proposed drinking her health, 
 saying that she was one of the kindest and purest of 
 God's creatures. We drank her health, and wished 
 him all happiness when she should be his own, 
 which time he looked forward to with impatience. 
 He still continued to dissuade me from leaving 
 them, and all the time he was talking his eyes were 
 wandering above, when suddenly he stopped, sprang 
 to his feet, looked around for a moment, then leapt 
 on his mustang, and without saying a word, started 
 off like mad, and scoured along the prairie. We 
 watched him, gradually diminishing in size, until he 
 seemed no larger than a rat, and finally disappeared 
 in the distance. I was amazed, and thought to be 
 sure the man was crazy ; and Thimblerig, who con- 
 tinued his game, responded that he was unques- 
 tionably out of his head. 
 
 Shortly after the bee-hunter had disappeared, we 
 heard a noise like the rumbling of distant thunder. 
 The sky was clear, there were no signs of a storm, 
 and we concluded it could not proceed from that 
 cause. On turning to the west, we saw an immense 
 cloud of dust in the distance, but could perceive no 
 object distinctly, and still the roaring continued. 
 " What can all this mean ? " said I. " Burn my old 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 353 
 
 shoes if I know," said the conjurer, gathering up 
 his thimbles, and at the same time cocking his large 
 Vicksburger fiercely on his head. "We continued 
 looking in the direction whence the sound pro- 
 ceeded, the cloud of dust became thicker and thicker, 
 and the roaring more distinct — much louder than 
 was ever heard in the "White House at "Washington. 
 We at first imagined that it was a tornado, but 
 whatever it was, it was coming directly toward the 
 spot where we stood. Our mustangs had ceased to 
 graze, and cocked up their ears in evident alarm. 
 "We ran and caught them, took off the hobbles, and 
 rode into the grove of trees ; — still the noise grew 
 louder and louder. We had scarcely got under the 
 shelter of the grove before the object approached 
 near enough for us to ascertain what it was. It 
 was a herd of buffalo, at least four or five hundred 
 in number, dashing along as swift as the wind, and 
 roaring as if so many devils had broke loose. They 
 passed near the grove, and if we had not taken shel- 
 ter there, we should have been in great danger of 
 being trampled to death. My poor little mustang 
 shook worse than a politician about to be turned 
 out of oiBce, as the drove came sweeping by. At 
 their head, apart from the rest, was a black bull, 
 who appeared to be their leader ; he came roaring 
 along, his tail straight on an end, and at times toss. 
 ing up the earth with his horns. I never felt such 
 a desire to have a crack at anything in all my life. 
 He drew nigh the place where I was standing ; I 
 raised my beautiful Betsey to my shoulder, took de- 
 23 
 
364 LI^^ O^ DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 liberate aim, blazed away, and he roared and sud- 
 denly stopped. Those that were near him did so 
 likewise, and the concussion occasioned by the im- 
 petus of those in the rear was such, that it was a 
 miracle that some of them did not break their legs 
 or necks. The black bull stood for a few moments 
 pawing the ground after he was shot, then darted 
 off around the cluster of trees^ and made for the 
 uplands of the prairies. The whole herd followed, 
 sweeping by like a tornado, and I do say, I never 
 witnessed a more beautiful sight to the eye of the 
 hunter in all my Ufe. Bear-hunting is no more to 
 be compared to it than Colonel Benton is to Henry 
 Clay. I watched them for a few moments, then 
 clapped spurs to my mustang and followed in their 
 wake, leaving Thimblerig behind me. 
 
 I followed on the trail of the herd for at least two 
 hours, by which time the moving mass Appeared 
 like a small cloud in the distant horizon. Still, I 
 followed, my whole mind absorbed by the excite- 
 ment of the chase, until the object was entirely lost 
 in the distance. I now paused to allow my mustang 
 to breathe, who did not altogether fancy the rapidity 
 of my movements, and to consider which course I 
 would have to take to regain the path I had aban- 
 doned. I might have retraced my steps by follow- 
 ing the trail of the buffaloes, but it had always been 
 my principle to go ahead, and so I turned to the 
 west and pushed forward. 
 
 I had not rode more than an hour before I found 
 I was as completely bewildered as "the GoTem- 
 
UFE OP DAVID CROCKETT. 355 
 
 ment " was when he entered upon an examination 
 of the Post-office accounts. I looked around, and 
 there was, as far as the eye could reach, spread be^ 
 fore me a country apparently in the highest state of 
 cultivation. Extended fields, beautiful and pro- 
 ductive, groves of trees cleared from the underwood, 
 and whose margins were as regular as if the art and 
 taste of man had been employed upon them. But 
 there was no other evidence that the sound of the 
 ax, or the voice of man had ever here disturbed the 
 solitude of nature. My eyes would have cheated 
 my senses into the belief that I was in an earthly 
 paradise, but my fears told me that I was in a 
 wilderness. 
 
 I pushed along, following the sun, for I had no 
 compass to guide me, and there was no other path 
 than that which my mustang made. Indeed, if I 
 had found a beaten track, I should have been almost 
 afraid to have followed it ; for my friend the bee^ 
 hunter had told me that once, when he had been 
 lost in the prairies, he had accidentally struck into 
 his own path, and had traveled around and around 
 for a whole day before he discovered his error. 
 This I thought was a poor way of going ahead ; so 
 I determined to make for the first large stream, and 
 follow its course. 
 
 I had traveled several hours without seeing the 
 trace of a human being, and even game was almost 
 as scarce as Benton's mint drops, except just about 
 election time, and I began to wish that I had fol- 
 iowed the advice of my companions. I was a good 
 
356 UPB OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 deal bothered to account for the abrupt manner in 
 which the bee-hunter had absconded; and I felt 
 concerned for the poor thimble conjurer, who was 
 left alone, and altogether unaccustomed to the diffi- 
 culties that he would have to encounter. "WhUe 
 my mind was occupied with these unpleasant reflec- 
 tions, I was suddenly startled by another novelty 
 quite as great as that I have just described. 
 
 I had just emerged from a beautiful grove of 
 trees, and was entering upon an extended prairie, 
 which looked like the luxuriant meadows of a 
 thrifty farmer ; and as if nothing should be wanting 
 to complete the delusion, but a short distance be- 
 fore me, there was a drove of about one hundred 
 beautiful horses quietly pasturing. It required 
 some effort to convince my mind that man had no 
 agency in this. But when I looked around, and 
 fully realized it all, I thought of him who had 
 preached to me in the wilds of the Arkansas, and in, 
 voluntarily exclaimed, " God, what has thou not done 
 for man, and yet how little he does for thee ! Not 
 even repays thee with gratitude I " 
 
 I entered upon the prairie. The mustangs no 
 sooner espied me than they raised their heads, 
 whinnied, and began coursing around me in an ex- 
 tended circle, which gradually became smaller and 
 smaller, until they closely surrounded me. My lit- 
 tle rascally mustang enjoyed the sport, and felt dis- 
 posed to renew his acquaintance with his wild 
 companions ; first turning his head to one, then to 
 another, playfully biting the neck of this one, rub- 
 
UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 3S7 
 
 blng noses with that one, and kicking up his heels 
 at a third. I began to feel rather uncomfortable, 
 and plied the spur pretty briskly to get out of the 
 mess, but he was as obstinate as the " old Eoman " 
 himself, who will neither be led nor driven. I 
 kicked, and he kicked, but fortunately he became 
 tired first, and he made one start, intending to 
 escape from the annoyance if possible. As I had 
 an annoyance to escape from likewise, I beat the 
 devil's tattoo on his ribs, that he might have some 
 music to dance to, and we went ahead right merrily, 
 ihe whole drove following in our wake, head up, 
 and tail and manes streaming. My little critter, 
 who was both blood and bottom, seemed delighted 
 at being at the head of the heap ; and having once 
 got fairly started, I wish I may be shot if I did 
 not find it impossible to stop him. He kept along, 
 tossing his head proudly, and occasionally neighing, 
 as much as to say, " Come on, my hearties, you see 
 I ha'n't forgot our old amusement yet." And they 
 did come on with a vengeance, clatter, clatter, clat- 
 ter, as if so many fiends had broke loose. The prai- 
 rie lay extended before me as far as the eye could 
 reach, and I began to think that there would be no 
 end to the race. 
 
 My little animal was full of fire and mettle, and 
 as it was the first bit of genuine sport that he had 
 had for some time, he appeared determined to make 
 the most of it. He kept the lead for full half an 
 hour, frequently neighing as if in triumph and de- 
 rision. I thought of John Gilpin's celebrated ride, 
 
368 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 but that was child's play to -this. The provedb 
 says, " The race is not always to the swift, nor tha 
 battle to the strong," and so it proved in the present 
 instance. My mustang was obliged to carry weight, 
 while his competitors were as free as nature had 
 made them. A beautiful bay, who had trod close 
 upon my heels the whole way, now ca,me side by 
 side with my mustang, and we had it hip and thigh 
 for about ten minutes, in such style as would have 
 delighted the heart of a true lover of the turf. I no w 
 felt an interest in the race myself, and for the credit 
 of my bit of blood, determined to win it if it was at 
 all in the nature of things. I plied the lash and 
 spur, and the little critter took it quite kindly, and 
 tossed his head, and neighed, as much as to say, 
 "Colonel, I know what you're after — ^go ahead!" 
 — and he cut dirt in beautiful style, I tell you. 
 
 This could not last forever. At length my com- 
 petitor darted ahead, somewhat the same way that 
 Adam Huntsman served me last election, except 
 that there was no gouging; and my little feUow 
 was compelled to clatter after his tail, like a needy 
 politician after an office-holder when he wants his 
 iBflnenoe, and which my mustang found it quite as 
 difficult to reach. He hung on like grim death for 
 some time longer, but at last his ambition began to 
 flag ; and having lost his ground, others seemed to 
 think that he was not the mighty critter he was 
 cracked up to be, no how, and they tried to outstrip 
 him also. A second shot ahead, and he kicked up 
 his heeils in derision as he passed us ; then a third, a 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 359 
 
 fonrth, and so on, and even the scrubbiest little ras- 
 cal in the whole drove was disposed to have a fling 
 at their broken-down leader. A true picture of politi- 
 cians and their truckling followers, thought I. We 
 now followed among the last of the drove until we 
 came to the banks of the Navasola river. The fore 
 most leaped from the margin into the rushing stream^ 
 the others, politician like, followed him, though ha 
 would lead them to destruction ; but my weacied 
 ajiimal fell on the banks, completely exhausted with 
 fatigue. It was a beautiful sight to see them 
 stemming the torrent, ascend the opposite bank, 
 and scour over the plain, having been refreshed by 
 the water. I relieved my wearied animal from the 
 saddle, and employed what means were in my 
 power to restore him.* 
 
 * This characteristio episode in the Colonel's eventful jour- 
 ney to Texas, will afford instruction as well as pleasure to 
 the reader: The chase of the great herd of buffaloes, and 
 the race with the other herd of mustangs, are entirely con- 
 sistent with the go-ahead character of Colonel Crockett. He 
 was always ready to enter upon any perilous adventure which 
 offered itself ; and not less ready, as we shall presently see, 
 to meet with resolute composure the inevitable couseqnenoes 
 of his rashness. 
 
fiQO I^B OF DAVID CBOCKETX 
 
 CHAPTER XXXm. 
 
 rhe Colonel's mustang apparently very ill — ^The Colonel has a 
 hard fight with a cougar, and kills him — ^Passes the night 
 in a tree — Loses his mustang — Breakfasts on roast goose- 
 Falls in with a party of Comanches — Ride with them — 
 Singular recovery of his mustang — ^A prairie on fire — Polite- 
 ness of the Comanches — Meeting with Thimblerig — Re 
 union of the whole party — Meeting with a band of Mexicans 
 —A fight — ^The Mexicans beaten and put to flight — Arrival 
 at the Alamo. 
 
 Afteb toiling for more than an hour to get my 
 mustang upon his feet again, I gave it up as a bad 
 job, as little Van did when he attempted to raise 
 himself to the moon by the waistband of his 
 breeches. Night was fast closing in, and as I began 
 to think that I had just about sport enough for one 
 day, I might as well look around for a place of 
 shelter for the night, and take a fresh start in 
 the morning, by which time I was in hopes my 
 horse would be recruited. Near the margin of the 
 river a large tree had been blown down, and I 
 thought of making my lair in its top, and approached 
 it for that purpose. While beating among the 
 branches I heard a low growl, as much as to say, 
 " Stranger, the apartments are already taken." 
 Looking about to see what sort of a bed-fellow I 
 \rae likely to have, I discovered, not more than fiv« 
 
UFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 361 
 
 or six paces from me, an enormous Mexican cougar, 
 eying me as an epicure surveys the table before the 
 selects his dish, for I have no doubt the cougar 
 looked upon me as the subject of a future supper. 
 Kays of light darted from his large eyes, he showed 
 his teeth like a negro in hysterics, and he waa 
 crouching on his haunches ready for a spring ; all 
 of which convinced me that unless I was pretty 
 quick upon the trigger, posterity would know little 
 of the termination of my eventful career, and it 
 would be far less glorious and useful than I intend 
 to make it. 
 
 One glance satisfied me that there was no time to 
 tie lost, as Pat thought when falling from a church 
 steeple, and exclaimed, "This would be mighty 
 pleasant, now, if it would only last," — but there was 
 no retreat either fOr me or the cougar, so I leveled 
 my Betsey and blazed away. The report was fol- 
 lowed by a furious growl (which is sometimes the 
 case in Congress), and the next moment, when I 
 expected to find the tarnal critter struggling with 
 death, I beheld him shaking his head as if nothing 
 more than a bee had stung him. The ball had 
 struck him on the forehead and glanced off, doing 
 no other injury than stunning him for an instant, 
 and tearing off the skin, which tended to infuriate 
 him the more. The cougar wasn't long in making 
 Tip his mind what to do, nor was I neither ; but he 
 would have it all his own way, and vetoed my mo- 
 tion to back out. I had not retreated three steps 
 before he sprang at me like a steamboat ; I stepped 
 
362 I^IFE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 
 
 aside, and as he lit upon the ground, I struck him 
 violently with the. barrel of my rifle, but he didn't 
 mind that, but wheeled around and made at me 
 again. The gun was now of no use, so I threw it 
 away, and drew my hunting-tnife, for I knew we 
 should come to close quarters before the fight would 
 be over. This time he succeeded in fastening on my 
 left arm, and was just beginning to amuse himself 
 by tearing the flesh off with his fangs, when I 
 ripped my knife into his side, and he let go his hold 
 much to my satisfaction. 
 
 He wheeled about and came at me with increased 
 fury, occasioned by the smarting of his wounds. I 
 now tried to blind him, knowing that if I succeeded 
 he would become an easy prey ; so as he approached 
 me I watched my opportunity, and aimed a blow at 
 his eyes with my knife, but unfortunately it struck 
 him on the nose, and he paid no other attention to 
 it than by a shake of the head and a low growL 
 He pressed me close, and as I was stepping back, 
 ward my foot tripped in a vine, and I fell to the 
 ground. He was down upon me like a nighthawk 
 upon a June bug. He seized hold of the outer part 
 of my right thigh, which afforded him considerable 
 amusement ; the hinder part of his body was towards 
 my face ; I grasped his tail with my left hand, and 
 tickled his ribs with my hunting-knife, which I held in 
 my right. Still the critter wouldn't let go his hold ; 
 and as I found that he would lacerate my leg dread- 
 fully, unless he was speedily shaken off, I tried to 
 hurl him down the bank into the river, for our 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. , 363 
 
 scuffle had already brought us to the edge of the 
 bank. I stuck my knife into his side, and summoned 
 all my strength to throw him over. He resisted, 
 was desperate heavy ; but at last I got him so far 
 down the declivity that he lost his balance, and he 
 rolled over and over till he landed on the margin of 
 the river ; but in his fall he dragged me along With 
 him. Fortunately, I fell uppermost, and his neck 
 presented a fair mark for my hunting-knife. With- 
 out allowing myself time even to draw breath, I 
 aimed one desperate blow at his neck, and the knife 
 entered his gullet up to the handle, and reached his 
 heart. He struggled for a few moments, and died. 
 I have had many fights with bears, but that was 
 mere child's play ; this was the first fight ever I had 
 with a cougar, and I hope it may be the last. 
 
 I now returned to the tree-top to see if any one 
 else would dispute my lodging; but now I could 
 take peaceable and quiet possession. I parted some 
 of the branches, and cut away others to make a bed 
 in the opening, I then gathered a quantity of moss, 
 which hung in festoons from the trees, which I spread 
 on the litter, and over this I spread my horse blanket ; 
 and I had as comfortable a bed as a weary man need 
 ask for. I now took another look at my mustang, 
 and from all appearances, he would not live until 
 morning. I ate some of the cakes that little Kato 
 of Nacogdoches had made for me, and then carried 
 my saddle into my tree-top, and threw myself down 
 upon my bed with no very pleasant reflections at 
 the prospect before me. 
 
864 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 I was weary, and soon fell asleep, and did not 
 awake until daybreak the next day. I felt some, 
 what stiff and sore from the wounds I had received 
 in the conflict with the cougar ; but I considered 
 myself as having made a lucky escape. I looked 
 over the bank, and as I saw the carcass of the 
 cougar lying there, I thought that it was an even 
 chance that we had not exchanged conditions ; and 
 I felt grateful that the fight had ended as it did. I 
 now went to look after my mustang, fully expecting 
 to find him as dead as the cougar ; but what was 
 my astonishment to find that he had disappeared 
 without leaving trace of hair or hide of him ! I 
 first supposed that some beasts of prey had con- 
 sumed the poor critter; but then they wouldn't 
 have eaten his bones, and he had vanished as effectu- 
 ally as the deposites, without leaving any mark of 
 the course they had taken. This bothered me 
 amazing ; I couldn't figure it out by any rule that 
 I had ever heard of, so I concluded to think no more 
 about it. 
 
 I felt a craving for something to eat, and looking 
 around for some game, I saw a flock of geese on the 
 Khore of the river. I shot a fine, fat gander, and 
 soon stripped him of his feathers : and gathering 
 some light wood, I kindled a fire, run a long stick 
 through my goose for a spit, and put it down to 
 iroast, supported by two sticks with prongs. I had a 
 desire for some coffee ; and having a tin cup with me, 
 I poured the paper of ground coffee that I had re- 
 «eived from the bee-hunter into it, and made a 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 365 
 
 strong cup, which was very refreshing. Off of my 
 goose and biscuit I made a hearty mea], and was 
 preparing to depart without clearing up the break, 
 fast things, or knowing which direction to pursue, 
 when I was somewhat taken aback by another of 
 the wild scenes of the west. I heard a sound like 
 the trampling of many horses, and I thought to be 
 sure the mustangs or buffaloes were coming upon 
 me again ; but, on raising my head, I beheld in the 
 distance about fifty mounted Comanches, with their 
 spears glittering in the morning sun, dashing toward 
 the spot where I stood at full speed. As the column 
 advanced, it divided, according to their usual prac- 
 tise, into two semicircles, and in an instant I was 
 surroimded. Quicker than thought I sprang to my 
 lifLe, but as my hand grasped it, I felt that resistance 
 against so many would be of as little use as pumping 
 for thunder in dry weather* 
 
 The chief was for making love to my beautiful 
 Betsey, but I clung fast to her, and assuming an air 
 of composure, I demanded whether their nation was 
 at war with the Americans. " No," was the reply. 
 " Do you like the Americans i " " Yes ; they are 
 our friends." " Where do you get your spear heads, 
 your rifles, your blankets, and your knives from ? " 
 "Get them from our friends, the Americans." 
 " Well, do you think, if you were passing through 
 their nation, as I am passing through yours, they 
 would attempt to rob you of your property ? " " No, 
 they would feed me, and protect me ; and the Co. 
 manche will do the same by his white brother." 
 
366 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 I now asked him what it was had directed him to 
 the spot where I was, and he told me, that they had 
 seen the smoke from a great distance, and had coma 
 to see the cause of it. He inquired what had brought 
 me there alone ; and I told him that I had come to 
 hunt, and that my mustang had become exhausted, 
 and though I thought he was about to die, that he 
 had escaped from me ; at which the chief gave a 
 low chuckling laugh, and said it was all a trick of 
 the mustang, which is the most wily and cunning 
 of all animals. .But he said, that as I was a brave 
 hunter, he would furnish me with another ; he gave 
 orders, and a fine young horse was immediately 
 brought forward. 
 
 When the party approached there were three old 
 squaws at their head, who made a noise with their 
 mouths, and served as trumpeters. I now told the 
 chief that, as I now had a horse, I would go for my 
 saddle which was in the place where I had slept. 
 As I approached the spot I discovered one of the 
 squaws devouring the remains of my roasted goose, 
 but my saddle and bridle were nowhere to be found- 
 Almost in despair of seeing them again, I obser^^ 
 in a thicket at a little distance, one of the trumpet- 
 ers kicking and belaboring her horse to make him 
 move off, while the sagacious beast would not move 
 a step from the troop. I followed her, and, thanks 
 to her restive mustang, secured my property, which 
 the chief made her restore to me. Some of the 
 warriors had by this time discovered the body of 
 the cougar, and had already commenced skinning 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 867 
 
 it ; and seeing how many stabs were about it, I re- 
 lated to the chief the desperate struggle I had had ; 
 he said, " Brave hunter, brave man," and wished 
 me to be adopted into his tribe, but I respectfully 
 declined the honor. He then offered to see me oij 
 my way ; and I asked him to accompany me to the 
 Colorado river, if he was going in that direction, 
 which he agreed to do. I put my saddle on my 
 fresh horse, mounted, and we darted off, at a rata 
 not much slower than I had rode the day previous* 
 with the wild herd, the old squaws at the head of 
 the troop braying like young jackasses the whole 
 way. 
 
 About three hours after starting we saw a drove 
 of mustangs quietly pasturing in the prairie at a 
 distance. One of the Indians immediately got his 
 lasso ready, which was a long rope made of hide 
 plaited like whip cord, with an iron ring at one end, 
 through which the rope was passed so as to form a 
 noose ; and thus prepared, he darted ahead of the 
 troop to make a capture. They allowed him to ap- 
 proach pretty nigh, he all the time flourishing his 
 lasso ; but before he got within reaching distance, 
 they started off at a brisk canter, made two or three 
 wide circuits around him, as if they would spy out 
 what he was after, then abruptly changed their 
 course and disappeared. One mustang out of all 
 the drove remained standing quietly ; the Indian 
 made up to him, threw the lasso, but the mustang 
 dodged his head between his fore legs, and escaped 
 the noose, but did not attempt to escape. The 
 
868 I-IFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 Indian then rode up to him, and the horse rery 
 patiently submitted while he put a bridle on him, 
 and secured him. When I approached, I immedi-. 
 ately recognized in the captive the pestilent little 
 animal that had shammed sickness and escaped from 
 me the day before ; and when he caught my eye he 
 cast down his head and looked rather sheepish, as if 
 he were sensible and ashamed of the dirty trick he 
 had played me. I expressed my astonishment to 
 the Indian chief at the mustang's allowing himself 
 to be captured without an effort to escape ; and he 
 told me that they are generally hurled to the ground 
 with such violence when first taken with the lasso, 
 that they remember it ever after, and that the sight 
 of it will subdue them to submission, though they 
 may have run wild for years. Just so with an 
 office-holder, who, being kicked out, turns patriots- 
 shake a commission at him, and the fire of his pa- 
 triotism usually escapes in smoke. 
 
 We traveled all day, and toward evening we ran 
 across a small drove of buffaloes ; and it was a 
 beautiful sight to behold with what skill the Indians 
 hunted down this noble game. There are no horse- 
 men who ride more gracefully than the Comanches ; 
 and they sit so closely, and hold such absolute con- 
 trol over the horse, that he seems to be part of their 
 own person. I had the good fortune to bring down 
 a young heifer, and as it was the only beef that we 
 killed, the chief again complimented me as being a 
 brave hunter ; and while they were preparing the 
 heifer for our supper, I related to him many of my 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 hunting exploits, at whieh he manifested pleasure 
 and much astonishment for an Indian. He again 
 urged upon me to become one of the tribe. 
 
 We made a hearty supper, hobbled our mustangs, 
 which we turned into the prairie to graze, and then 
 encamped for the night. I awoke about two hours 
 before daybreak, and looking over the track of 
 country through which we had traveled, the sky 
 was as bright and clear as if the sun had already 
 risen. I watched it for some time without being 
 able to account for it, and asked my friend, the 
 chief, to explain, who told me that the prairie was 
 on fire, and that it must have caught when we cooked 
 our dinner. I have seen hundred of acres of moun- 
 tain timber on fire in my time, but this is the first 
 time that I ever saw a prairie burning. 
 
 Nothing of interest occurred until we reached the 
 Colorado, and were following the river to the place 
 where it crosses the road to Bexar, which place the 
 Indians promised to conduct me to. We saw a light 
 column of smoke ascending in the clear sky, and 
 hastened toward it. It proceeded from a small 
 cluster of trees near the river. When we came 
 within five hundred yards of it, the warriors ex- 
 tended their line around the object, and the chief 
 and myself cautiously approached it. When we 
 came within eyeshot, what was my astonishment to 
 discover a solitary man seated on the ground near 
 the fire, so intent upon some pursuit that he did not 
 perceive our approach. We drew nigh to him, and 
 still he was unconscious of our approach. It was 
 
 24 
 
370 LIFB OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 poor Thimblerig, practising his game of thimbles 
 upon the crown of his white Vicksburger. This is 
 what I call the ruling passion most amazing strong. 
 The chief shouted the war whoop, and suddenly the 
 warriors came rushing in from all quarters, preceded 
 by the old squaw trumpeters squalling like mad. 
 The conjurer sprang to his feet, and was ready to 
 sink into the earth when he beheld the ferocious 
 looking fellows that surrounded him. I stepped up, 
 took him by the hand, and quieted his fears. I told 
 the chief that he was a friend of mine, and I was 
 very glad to have found him, for I was afraid that 
 he had perished. I now thanked him for his kind- 
 ness in guiding me over the prairies, and gave him a 
 large bowie-knife, which he said he would keep for 
 the sake of the brave hunter. The whole squadron 
 then wheeled off, and I saw them no more. I have 
 met with many polite men in my time, but no one 
 who possessed in a greater degree what may be 
 called true spontaneous politeness than this Coman- 
 che chief, always excepting Philip Hone, Esq., of 
 New York, whom I look upon as the politest man I 
 ever did see ; for when he asked me to take a drink 
 at his own sideboard he turned his back upon me, 
 that I mightn't be ashamed to fill as much as I 
 wanted. That was what I call doing the fair thing. 
 Thimblerig was delighted at meeting me again, 
 but it was some time before he recovered suflBciently 
 from the cold sweat into which the sudden appear- 
 ance of the Indians had thrown him to recount his 
 adventures to me. He said that he felt rather down< 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 371 
 
 hearted when he found himself abandoned both by 
 the bee-hunter and myself, and he knew not which 
 course to pursue ; but after thinking about the mat- 
 ter for two hours, he had made up his mind to 
 retrace the road we had traveled over, and had 
 mounted his mustang for that purpose, when hr 
 spied the bee-hunter laden with honey. The mystery 
 of his abrupt departure was now fully accounted 
 for ; he had spied a solitary bee shaping its cours* 
 to its hive, and at the moment he couldn't control 
 the ruling passion but followed the bee without re- 
 fleeting for a moment upon the difficulties and dan- 
 gers that his thoughtlessness might occasion his 
 friends. 
 
 I now asked him what had become of the be^ 
 hunter, and he said that he had gone out in pursuit 
 of game for their supper, and he expected that he 
 would return shortly, as he had been absent at least 
 an hour. While we were still speaking our friend 
 appeared, bending under the weight of a wild turkey. 
 He manifested great joy at meeting with me so un- 
 expectedly ; and desiring the conjurer to pluck the 
 feathers of the bird, which he cheerfully undertook, 
 for he said he had been accustomed to plucking 
 pigeons, we set about preparing our supper. 
 
 The position we occupied was directly on the route 
 leading to Bexar,and at the crossings of the Colorado. 
 We were about to commence our supper, for the 
 turkey was done in beautiful style, when the sound 
 of a horse neighing startled us. We looked over the 
 prairie, and beheld two men. approaching on horse* 
 
872 ISFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 back, and both armed with rifles and knives. The 
 bee-hunter said that it was time for us to be on our 
 gnard, for we should meet, perhaps, more enemies 
 than friends as soon as we crossed the river, and the 
 newcomers were making directly for the spot we 
 aocupied ; but, as they were only two, it occasioned 
 oo uneasiness. 
 
 As they drew nigh we recognized the strangers ; 
 (hey turned out to be the old pirate and the Indian 
 hunter who had lodged with us a few nights before. 
 We hailed them, and on seeing us they alighted and 
 asked permission to join our party, which we gladly 
 agreed to, as our journey was becoming rather more 
 perilous every mile we advanced. They partook of 
 onr tui-key, and as they had some small cakes of 
 bread, which they threw into the general stock, we 
 made a hearty supper : and, after a battle song from 
 the bee'hunter, we prepared to rest for the night. 
 
 Early next morning we crossed the river and 
 pushed forward for the fortress of Alamo. The old 
 pirate was taciturn as ever, but his companion was 
 talkative and in good spirits. I asked him where 
 he had procured their mustangs, and he said he had 
 found them hobbled in !Burnet's Grant, just at a 
 time that he felt very tired ; and as he believed that 
 no one would lay claim to them at Bexar, he couldn't 
 resist mounting one, and persuading his friend to 
 mount the other. 
 
 Nothing of interest occurred until we came within 
 about twenty miles of San Antonio. We were in 
 the open prairie, and beheld a l^nd of about fifteen 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CE0CB:ETT. 373 
 
 or twenty armed men approaching us at full speed. 
 " Look out for squalls," said the old pirate, who had 
 not spoken for an hour ; " they are a scouting party 
 of Mexicans." " And are three or four times our 
 number," said Thimblerig. "No matter," replied 
 the old man ; " they are convicts, jail birds, and 
 cowardly ruffians, no doubt, who would tremble at 
 a loud word as much as a mustang at the sight of a 
 lasso. Let us spread ourselves, dismount, and trust 
 to our arms." 
 
 "We followed his orders, and stood beside our 
 horses, which served to protect our persons, and we 
 awaited the approach of the enemy. When they 
 perceived this movement of ours, they checked their 
 speed, appeared to consult together for a few minutes, 
 then spread their line, and came within rifle shot of 
 OS. The leader called out to us in Spanish, but as I 
 did not understand him, I asked the old man what 
 it was, who said he called upon us to surrender. 
 
 " There will be a brush with those blackguards," 
 continued the pirate. " Now each of you single out 
 your man for the first fire, and they are greater 
 fools than I take them for if they give us a chance 
 at a second. Colonel, as you are a good shot, just 
 settle the business for that talking fellow with the 
 red feather ; he's worth any three of the party." 
 
 " Surrender, or we fire," shouted the fellow with 
 the red feather, in Spanish. 
 
 " Fire, and be d — d," returned the pirate, at the 
 top of his voice, in plain English. 
 
 And sure enough they took his advice, for the 
 
374 I'IFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 next minute we were saluted with a discharge of 
 musketry, the report of which was so loud that we 
 ■jy^ere convinced they all had fired. Before the smoke 
 had cleared away we had each selected our man, 
 fired, and I never did see such a scattering among 
 their ranks as followed. We beheld sever..,l mus- 
 tangs running wild without their riders over the 
 prairie, and the balance of the company were 
 already retreating at a more rapid gait than they 
 approached. We hastily mounted, and commenced 
 pursuit, which we kept up until we beheld the in- 
 dependent flag flying from the battlements of the 
 fortress of Alamo, our place of destination. The 
 fugitives succeeded in evading our pursuit, and we 
 rode up to the gates of the fortress, announced to 
 the sentinel who we were, and the gates were thrown 
 open ; and we entered amid shouts of welcome be- 
 stowed upon us by the patriots. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 37fi 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIT. 
 
 Description of the Alamo fortress and Bexar — Capture of the 
 Alamo by the Texan army — Account of Colonel Bowie — 
 His stratagem for deceiving the Comanches — News of the 
 approach' of Santa Anna — History of Texas — ^Account of 
 Santa Anna — His ambition — Anecdote — Siege of a convent 
 
 The fortress of Alamo is at the town of Bexar, 
 on the San Antonio river, which flows through the 
 town. Bexar is about one hundred and forty milea 
 from the coast, and contains upward of twelve hun- 
 dred citizens, all native Mexicans, with the excep- 
 tion of a few American families who have settled 
 there. Besides these there is a garrison of soldiers, 
 and trading pedlers of every description, who resort 
 to it from the borders of the Eio Grande, as their 
 nearest depot of American goods. A military out- 
 post was established at this spot by the Spanish 
 government in 1718. In 1721 the town was settled 
 by emigrants sent out from the Canary Islands by 
 the King of Spain. It became a flourishing settle- 
 ment, and so continued until the revolution in 1812. 
 since which period the Comanche and other Indians 
 have greatly harassed the inhabitants, producing 
 much individual suffering, and totally destroying, 
 for a season at least, the prospects of the town. Its 
 site is one of the most beautiful in the western 
 
376 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 world. The air is salubrious, the water delightful, 
 especially when mixed with a little of the ardent, 
 and the health of the citizens is proverbial. The 
 soil around it is highly fertile, and well calculated 
 for cotton and grain. 
 
 The gallant young Colonel Travis, who commands 
 the Texian forces in the fortress of Alamo, received 
 me like a man ; and though he can barely muster 
 one hundred and fifty efficient men, should Santa 
 Anna make an attack upon us, with the whole host 
 of ruffians that the Mexican prisons can disgorge, 
 he will have snakes to eat before he gets over the 
 wall, I tell you. But one spirit appeared toanimate 
 this little band of patriots — and that is liberty, or 
 death. To worship God according to the dictates 
 of their own conscience, and govern themselves as 
 freemen should be governed. 
 
 All the world knows by this time,, that the town 
 of Bexar, or, as some call it, San Antonio, was cap- 
 tured from the Mexicans: by General Burlison on the 
 10th day of December^ 1835, after a severe struggle 
 of five days and five nights, during which he sus- 
 tained a loss of four men only, but the brave old 
 Colonel Milam was among them. There were 
 seventeen hundred men in the town, and the Texian 
 forces consisted of but two hundred and sixteen. 
 The Mexicans had walled up the streets leading 
 from the public square, intending to make a desper- 
 ate resistance; the Texians however made an en- 
 trance, and valiantly drove them from house to 
 house, until General Cos retreated to the castle of 
 
LIFK OF DAVID CKOCKETT. Zlt 
 
 Alamo, without the city, and there hoisted the 
 vrhite flag, and sent out the terms of capitulation, 
 which were as follows : 
 
 General Cos is to retire within six days, with his 
 officers, arms, and private property, on parole of 
 honor. He is not to oppose the re-establishment of 
 the constitution of 1824. 
 
 The infantry and the cavalry, the remnant of 
 Morale's battalion, and the convicts, to return, tak- 
 mg with them ten rounds of cartridge for safety 
 against the Indians. 
 
 All public property, money, arms, and ammuni- 
 tion, to be delivered to General .Buxlison, of the 
 Texian army, with some other stipulation in relation 
 to the sick and wounded, private property, and 
 prisoners of war. The Texians would not have 
 acceded to them, preferring to storm him in his 
 stronghold, but at this critical juncture they hadn't 
 a single round of ammunition left, having fought 
 from the 5th to the 9th of the month. General 
 Ugartechea had arrived but the day before with 
 three hundred troops, and the four hundred convicts 
 mentioned above, making a reinforcement of seven 
 hundred men ; but such rubbish was no great ob- 
 stacle to the march of freedom. The Mexicans lost 
 about three hundred men during the siege, and the 
 Texians had only four killed and twenty wounded. 
 The articles of capitulation being signed, we marched 
 into the town, took possession of the fortress, hoisted 
 the independent flag, and told the late proprietora 
 to pack up their movables and clear out in the 
 
378 JJFE OP DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 snapping of a trigger, as we did not think out 
 pockets quite safe with so many jail birds around 
 us. And this is the way the Alamo came into our 
 possession ; but the way we shall maintain our pos- 
 session of it will be a subject for the future historian 
 to record, or my name's not Crockett. I wish I may 
 be shot if I don't go ahead to the last. 
 
 I found Colonel Bowie, of Louisiana, in the for- 
 tress, a man celebrated for having been in more des- 
 perate personal conflicts than any other in the coun- 
 try, and whose name has been given to a knife of a 
 peculiar construction, which is now in general use in 
 the southwest. I was introduced to him by Colonel 
 Travis, and he gave me a friendly welcome, and ap- 
 peared to be mightily pleased that I had arrived 
 safe. While we were conversing, he had occasion 
 to draw his famous knife to cut a strap, and I wish 
 I may be shot if the bare sight of it wasn't enougfe 
 to give a man of a squeamish stomach the cholic, 
 especially before breakfast. He saw I was admiring 
 it, and, said he, " Colonel, you might tickle a fellow's 
 ribs a long time with this little instrument before 
 you'd make him laugh ; and many a time have I 
 seen a man puke at the idea of the point touching 
 the pit of his stomach." 
 
 My companions, the bee-hunter and the conjurer, 
 joined us, and the colonel appeared to know them both 
 very well. He had a high opinion of the bee-hunter, 
 for turning to me, he said, " Colonel, you could not 
 have had a braver, better, or more pleasant fellow 
 for a companion than honest Ned here. With fif> 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 379 
 
 teen hundred such men I would undertake to march 
 to the city of Mexico, and occupy the seat of Santa 
 Anna myself before three months should elapse." 
 
 The colonel's life has been marked by constant 
 peril, and deeds of daring. A few years ago, he 
 went on a hunting excursion into the prairies of 
 Texas, with nine companions. They were attacked 
 by a roving party of Comanches, about two hundred 
 strong, and such was the science of the colonel in 
 this sort of wild warfare, that after killing a consid. 
 erable number of the enemy, he fairly frightened 
 the remainder from the field of action, and they fled 
 in utter dismay. The fight took place among the 
 high grass in the open prairie. He ordered his men 
 to dismount from their horses and scatter ; to take 
 deliberate aim before they fired, but as soon as they 
 had discharged their rifles to fall flat on the ground, 
 and crawl away from the spot, and reload their 
 pieces. By this scheme, they not only escaped the 
 fire of the Indians, but by suddenly discharging 
 their guns from another quarter, they created th«i 
 impression that their party was a numerous one; 
 and the Indians, finding that they were fighting 
 against an mvisible enemy, after losing about thirty 
 of their men, took to flight, believing themselves 
 lucky in having escaped with no greater loss. But 
 one of the colonel's party was slightly wounded, 
 and that was owing to his remaining to reload his 
 rifle without having first shifted his position. 
 
 Santa Anna, it is said, roars like an angry lion at 
 the disgraceful defeat that his brother-in-law, Gen- 
 
880 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 eral Cos, lately met with at this place. It is rumorecl 
 that he has recruited a large force, and commenced 
 his march to San Luis de Potosi, and he is deter- 
 mined to carry on a war of extermination. He is 
 liberal in applying his epithets to our countrymen 
 in Texas, and denounces them as a set of perfidious 
 wretches, whom the compassion of the generous 
 Mexicans had permitted to take refuge in their 
 country ; and who, like the serpent in the fable, no 
 sooner warmed themselves, than they stung their 
 benefactors. This is a good joke. By what title 
 does Mexico lay claim to all the territory which 
 belonged to Spain in North America ? Each prov» 
 ince or state of New Spain contended separately 
 or jointly, just as it happened, for their independ- 
 ence, as we did, and were not united under a general 
 government representing the whole of the Spanish 
 possessions, which was only done afterward by mu. 
 tual agreement or federation. Let it be remembered 
 that the Spanish authorities were first expelled from 
 Texas by the American settlers, who, from the treaoh- 
 •ary of their Mexican associates, were unable to retain 
 »t ; but the second time they were more successful. 
 They certainly had as good a right to the soil thus 
 conquered by them, as the inhabitants ( f other prov- 
 inces who succeeded against Spain. The Mexicans 
 talk of the ingrntitudo of the Americans ; the truth 
 is, that the ingratitudo has been on the other side. 
 What was the yrar of Texas, in 1813, when the revolu- 
 tionary spark was almost extinguished in Mexico ? 
 What was the expedition of Mina, and his thr«« 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 881 
 
 hundred American Spartans, who perished heroically 
 in the very heart of Mexico, in the vain attempt to 
 resuscitate and keep alive the spark of independence 
 vrhich has at this time kindled such an ungrateful 
 blaze ? If a just estimate could be made of the lives 
 and the treasures contributed by American enter- 
 prise in that cause, it would appear incredible. How 
 did the Mexicans obtain their independence at last ? 
 Was it by their own virtue and courage ? No, it 
 was by the treachery of one of the king's generals, 
 who established himself by successful treason, and 
 they have been in constant commotion ever since, 
 which proves they are unfit to govern themselves, 
 much less a free and enlightened people at a distance 
 of twelve hundred miles from them. 
 
 The Mexican government, by its colonization 
 laws, invited and induced the Anglo-American 
 population of Texas to colonize its wilderness, under 
 the pledged faith of a written constitution, that 
 they should continue to enjoy that constitutional 
 liberty and republican government to which they 
 had been habituated in the land of their birth, the 
 United States of America. In this expectation 
 they have been cruelly disappointed, as the Mexican 
 nation has acquiesced in the late changes made in 
 the government by Santa Anna, who, having over- 
 turned the constitution of his country, now offers 
 the settlers the cruel alternative, either to abandon 
 their homes acquired by so many privations, or sub- 
 mit to the most intolerable of all tyranny, the com- 
 bined despotism of the sword and the priescnood. 
 
382 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 But Santa Anna charges the Americans with in« 
 gratitude ! This is something like Satan reviling 
 sin. I have gathered some particulars of the life of 
 this moral personage from a gentleman at present 
 in the Alamo, and who is intimately acquainted 
 with him, which I will copy into my book exactly 
 as he wrote it. 
 
 Santa Anna is about forty-two years of age, and 
 was born in the city of Vera Cruz. His father was 
 a Spaniard, of old Spain, of respectable standing, 
 though poor ; his mother was a Mexican. He re- 
 ceived a common education, and at the age of 
 thirteen or fourteen was taken into the military 
 family of the then Intendant of Vera Cruz, General 
 Davila, who took a great fancy to him and brought 
 him up. He remained with General Davila until 
 about the year 1820. While with Davila he was 
 made a major, and when installed he took the 
 honors very coolly, and on some of his friends con- 
 gratulating him, he said, " If you were to make me 
 a god, I should desire to be something greater." 
 This trait, developed at so early a period of his life, 
 indicated the existence of that vaulting ambition 
 which has ever since characterized his life. 
 
 After serving the Spanish royal cause until 1821, 
 he left Vera Cruz, turned against his old master and 
 benefactor, and placed himself at the head of some 
 irregular troops which he raised on the sea-coast 
 near Vera Cruz, and which are called Jarochos in 
 their language, and which were denominated by him 
 his Cossacks, as they were all mounted and armed 
 
LIFE OP DAVID CROCKETT. S83 
 
 with spears. With this rude cavalry he besieged 
 Vera Cruz, drove Davila into the castle of San Juau 
 d'Ulloa, and after having been repulsed again 
 entered at a subsequent period, and got entire 
 possession of the city, expelling therefrom the old 
 Spanish troops, and reducing the power of the 
 mother country in Mexico to the walls of the castle. 
 
 Subsequent to this, Davila is said to have obtained 
 an interview with Santa Anna, and told him he was 
 destined to act a prominent part in the history of 
 his country. " And now," says he, " I will give yoa 
 some advice : always go with the strongest party." 
 He always acted up to this motto until he raised 
 the grito (or cry), in other words, took up the 
 cudgels for the friars and church. He then over- 
 turned the federal government, and established a 
 central despotism, of which the priests and the 
 military were the two privileged orders. His life 
 has been, from the first, of the most romantic kind, 
 constantly in revolutions, constantly victorious. 
 
 His manners are extremely affable ; he is full of 
 anecdote and humor, and makes himself exceedingly 
 fascinating and agreeable to all who come into his 
 company ; he is about five feet ten, rather spare, 
 has a moderately high forehead, with black hair, 
 short black whiskers, without mustaches, and an 
 eye large, black, and expressive of a lurking devil 
 in his look ; he is a man of genteel and dignified 
 deportment, but of a disposition perfectly heartless. 
 He married a Spanish lady of property, a native of 
 Alvarado, and through that marriage obtained the 
 
884 lilFB OF DAVID qROCKETT. 
 
 first part of his estate, called Manga de Clavo, mx 
 leagues from "Vera Cruz. He has three fine chit 
 dren, yet quite young. 
 
 The following striking anecdote of Santa Anna 
 illustrates his peculiar quickness and management : 
 During the revolution of 1829, while he was shut up 
 ia Oaxaca, and surrounded by the government 
 troops, and reduced to the utmost straits for the 
 want of money and provisions ; naving a very smaU 
 force, there had been, in consequence of the siege 
 and firing every day through the streets, no mass 
 for several weeks. He had no money, and hit npon 
 the following expedient to get it : he took possession 
 of one of the convents, got hold of the wardrobe of 
 the friars, dressed his officers and some of his 
 soldiers in it, and early in the morning had the bells 
 rung for the mass. The people, delighted at having 
 again an opportunity of adoring the Supreme Being, 
 flocked to the church where he was ; and after the 
 house was pretty well filled, his friars showed their 
 side arms and bayonets from beneath the cowls, and 
 closed the doors upon the assembled multitude. 
 
 At this unexpected denouement there was a 
 tremendous shrieking, when one of his officers as- 
 cended the pulpit, and told the people that he 
 wanted ten thousand dollars, and must have it. He 
 finally succeeded in getting about thirty-six hun- 
 dred dollars, when he dismissed the congregation. 
 
 As a sample of Santa Anna's pious whims we re- 
 late the following : 
 
 In the same campaign of Oaxaca, Santa Anna and 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 385 
 
 his officers were there besieged by Rincon, who 
 commanded the government troops, Santa Anna 
 was in a convent surrounded by a small breastwork. 
 Some of the officers one night to amuse themselves, 
 took the wooden saints out of the church and placed 
 them as sentries, dressed in uniforms, on the breast- 
 work. Kincon, alarmed on the morning at this ap- 
 parent boldness, began to fire away at the wooden 
 images, supposing them to be flesh and blood, and 
 it was not until some of the officers who were not 
 in the secret had implored Santa Anna to prevent 
 this desecration that the firing ceased. 
 
 Many similar facts are related of him. He is, in 
 fact, all things to all men ; and yet, after his treach- 
 ery to Davila, he has the impudence to talk about 
 ingratitude. He never was out of Mexico. If I 
 only live to tree him, and take him prisoner, I sdiall 
 ask for no more glory in this life. 
 »5 
 
386 I-I^E OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXV. 
 
 Thimblerig on a spree — The mule train — News of Santa Anna 
 — The ragged hunter — Unsuccessful attack on Tampico — 
 Fate of the assailants — Approach of the Mexicans under 
 Santa Anna — Siege of the Alamo commenced — Raising the 
 Texas flag — Colonel Travis sends to Colonel Fanning for re- 
 inforcements — Reinforcements arrive— Thimblerig wounded 
 — His revenge on the Mexicans — Colonel Bowie — The bee- 
 hunter cannonading — Provisions brought in — General 
 Sesma's movements — Sharp shooting— Declaration of In- 
 dependence — A sortie from the Alamo — End of Colonel 
 Crockett's MS. 
 
 I wEiTE this on the nineteenth of February, 1836, 
 at San Antonio. "We are all in high spirits, though 
 we are rather short of provisions, for men who hava 
 appetites that could digest anything but oppression ; 
 but no matter, we have a prospect of soon getting 
 our bellies full of fighting, and that is victuals and 
 drink to a true patriot any day. We had a little 
 sort of convivial party last evening : just about a 
 dozen of us set to work, most patriotically, to see 
 whether we could not get rid of that curse of the land, 
 whisky, and we made considerable progress ; but 
 my poor friend, Thimblerig, got sewed up just about 
 as tight as the eyelet-hole in a lady's corset, and a 
 little tighter too, I reckon ; for when he went to bed 
 he called for a bootjack, which was brought to him. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CEOCKETT. 387 
 
 and he bent down on his hands and knees, and very 
 gravely pulled off his hat with it, for the damed 
 critter was so thoroughly swiped that he didn't 
 know his head from his heels. But tnis wasn't all 
 the foUy he committed, he pulled off his coat and 
 laid it on the bed, and then hung himself over the 
 back of a chair ; and I wish I may be shot if he 
 didn't go to sleep in that position, thinking every- 
 thing had been done according to Gunter's late 
 scale. Seeing the poor fellow completely used up, I 
 carried him to bed, though he did belong to the 
 Temperance society ; and he knew nothing about 
 what had occurred until I told him the next morn- 
 ing. The bee-hunter didn't join us in this blow-out. 
 Indeed, he will seldom drink more than just enough 
 to prevent his being called a total abstinence man- 
 But then he is the most jovial fellow for a water 
 drinker I ever did see. 
 
 This morning I saw a caravan of about fifty mules 
 passing by Bexar, and bound for Santa Fe. They 
 were loaded with different articles to such a degree 
 that it was astonishing how they could travel at all, 
 and they were nearly worn out by their labors. They 
 were without bridle or halter, and yet proceeded 
 with perfect regularity in a single line, and the 
 owners of the caravan rode their mustangs with 
 their enormous spurs, weighing at least a pound a- 
 piece, with rowels an inch and a half in length, and 
 lever bits of the harshest description, able to break 
 the jaws of their animals under very gentle pressure, 
 The men were dressed in the costume of Mexicans. 
 
388 LIFE OP DAVTD CROCKETT. 
 
 Colonel Travis sent out a guard to see that they 
 were not laden with munitions of war for the enemy. 
 I went out with the party. The poor mules were 
 bending under a burden of more than three hundred 
 pounds, without including the panniers, which were 
 bound so tight as almost to stop the breath of thei 
 poor animal. Each of the sorrowful line came up^ 
 spontaneously, in turn to have his girth unbound 
 and his load removed. They seemed scarcely able 
 to keep upon their feet, and as they successively ob- 
 tained relief, one after another heaved a long deep 
 sigh, which it was painful to hear, because it proved 
 that the poor brutes had been worked beyond their 
 strength. "What a world of misery man inflicts 
 upon the rest of creation in his brief passage through 
 life! 
 
 Finding that the caravan contained nothing in- 
 tended for the enemy, we assisted the owners to re- 
 place the heavy burdens on the backs of the patient 
 but dejected mules, and allowed them to pursue 
 their weary and lonely way. For full two hours 
 we could see them slowly winding along the narrow 
 path, a faint line that ran like a thread through the 
 extended prairie ; and finally they were whittled 
 down to the little end of nothing in the distance, 
 and were blotted out from the horizon. 
 
 The caravan had no sooner disappeared than one 
 of the hunters, who had been absent several days, 
 came in. He was one of those gentlemen who don't 
 pride themselves much upon their costume, and re- 
 foinded me of a covey who came into a tavern in 
 
UFB OF DAVID CROCKETT. 389 
 
 New York when I was last in that city. He was 
 dressed in five jackets, all of which failed to conceal 
 his raggedness, and as he bolted in, he exclaimed, 
 
 " Worse than I look, by . Bat no matter, 
 
 I've let myself for fourteen dollars a month, and 
 find my own prog and lodging." 
 
 " To do what ? " demanded the barkeeper. 
 
 " To stand at the corner for a paper-mill sign^- 
 * cash for rags ' — that's all. I'm about to enter upon 
 the stationary business, you see." He tossed off his 
 grog, and bustled out to begin his day's work. 
 
 JBat to return to the hunter. He stated that he 
 had met some Indians on the banks of the Rio Frio^ 
 who informed him that Santa Anna, with a larg? 
 force, had already crossed the Neuces, and might be 
 expected to arrive before San Antonio in a few days. 
 We immediately set about preparing to give him a 
 warm reception, for we are aU well aware, if our 
 little band is overwhelmed by numbers, there is lit- 
 tle mercy to be expected from the cowardly Mexi- 
 cans — it is war to the knife. 
 
 I jocosely asked the ragged hunter, who was a 
 (Smart, active young feUow, of the steamboat and 
 ailigator breed, whether he was a rhinoceros or a 
 hyena, as he was so eager for a fight with the 
 invaders. " Neither the one, nor t'other, Colonel," 
 says he, " but a whole menagerie in myself. I'm 
 shaggy as a bear, wolfish about the head, active as 
 a cougar, and can grin like a hyena, until the bark 
 will curl off a gum log. There's a sprinkling of all 
 sorts in me, from the lion down to the skunk ; and 
 
390 LIFE OP DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 before the war is over you'll pronounce me an entire 
 zoological institute, or I miss a figure in my calcula. 
 tion. I promise to swallow Santa Anna without 
 gagging, if you will only skewer back his ears, and 
 grease his head a little." 
 
 He told me that he was one in the fatal expedi- 
 tion fitted out from New Orleans, in November last, 
 to join the contemplated attack upon Tampico by 
 Mehia and Peraza. They were, in all, about one 
 hundred and thirty men, who embarked as emigrants 
 to Texas ; and the terms agreed upon were, that it 
 was optional whether the party took up arms in de- 
 fense of Texas, or not, on landing. They were at 
 full liberty to act as they pleased. But the truth 
 was, Tampico was their destination, and an attack 
 on that city the covert design, which was not made 
 known before land was in sight. The emigrants 
 were landed, some fifty, who doubtless had a pre- 
 vious understanding, joined the standard of General 
 Mehia, and the following day a formidable fort sur- 
 rendered without an attack. 
 
 The whole party were now tendered arms and 
 ammunition, which even those who had been decoyed 
 accepted ; and, the line being formed, they com- 
 menced the attack upon the city. The hunter con- 
 tinued : " On the 15th of November our little army, 
 consisting of one hundred and fifty men, marched 
 into Tampico, garrisoned by two thousand Mexi- 
 cans, who were drawn up in battle array in the 
 public square of the city. We charged them at th8 
 point of the bayonet, and although they so greatly 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 391 
 
 outnumbered us, in two minutes we completely 
 Touted them ; and they fled, taking refuge on the 
 house-tops, from which they poured a destructive 
 fire upon our gallant little band. We fought them 
 until daylight, when we found our number decreased 
 to fifty or sixty broken down and disheartened men. 
 Without ammunition, and deserted by the ofBcers, 
 twenty-eight immediately surrendered. But a few 
 of us cut our way through, and fortunately escaped 
 to the mouth of the river, where we got on board a 
 vessel and sailed for Texas. 
 
 " The twenty-eight prisoners wished to be consid- 
 ered as prisoners of war; they made known the 
 manner in which they had been deceived, but they 
 were tried by a court-martial of Mexican soldiers, 
 and condemned to be shot on the 1-ith day of De- 
 cember, 1835, which sentence was carried into exe- 
 cution." 
 
 After receiving this account from my new friend, 
 the old pirate and the Indian hunter came up, and 
 they went off to liquor together, and I went to see 
 a wild Mexican hog, which one of the hunters had 
 brought in. These animals have become scarce, 
 which circumstance is not to be deplored, for their 
 flesh is of little value ; and there will still be hogs 
 enough left in Mexico, from all that I can learn, 
 even though these should be extirpated. 
 
 Febru<wy 22. The Mexicans, about sixteen hun- 
 dred strong, with their President Santa Anna at 
 their head, aided by Generals Almonte, Cos, Sesma, 
 and Castrillon, are within two leagues of Bexar* 
 
392 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 General Cos, it seems, has already forgot his parole 
 of honor, and is come back to retrieve the credit he 
 lost in this place in December last. If he is captured 
 a second time, I don't think he can have the impu- 
 dence to ask to go at large again without giving 
 better bail than on the former occasion. Some of 
 the scouts came in, and bring reports that Santa 
 Anna has been endeavoring to excite the Indians to 
 hostilities against the Texians, but so far without 
 effect. The Comanches, in particular, entertain such 
 hatred for the Mexicans, and at the same time hold 
 them in such contempt, that they would rather turn 
 their tomahawks against them, and drive them from 
 the land, than lend a helping hand. We are up and 
 doing, and as lively as Dutch cheese in the dog^ays. 
 The two hunters that I have already introduced to 
 the reader left the town this afternoon, for the pur- 
 pose of reconnoitering. 
 
 Februa/ry 23. Early this morning the enemy 
 came in sight, marching in regular order, and dis- 
 playing their strength to the greatest advantage, in 
 order to strike us with terror. But that was no go ; 
 they'll find that they have to do with men who will 
 never lay down their arms as long as they can stand 
 on their legs. We held a short council of war, and, 
 finding that we should be completely surrounded, 
 and overwhelmed by numbers, if we remained in the 
 town, we concluded to withdraw to the fortress of 
 Alamo, and defend it to the last extremity. We 
 accordingly filed off, in good order, having some 
 days before placed all the surplus provisions, arms, 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 393 
 
 and ammunition in the fortress. We have had a 
 large national flag made ; it is composed of thirteen 
 stripes, red and white, alternately, on a blue ground 
 with a large white star, of five points, in the center, 
 and between the points the letters Texas. As soon 
 as all our little band, about one hundred and fifty 
 in number, had entered and secured the fortress in 
 the best possible manner, we set about raising our 
 flag on the battlements : on which occasion there 
 was no one more active than my young friend, the 
 bee-hunter. He had been aU along sprightly, cheer- 
 ful, and spirited, but now, notwithstanding the con- 
 trol that he usually maintained over himself, it was 
 with difficulty that he kept his enthusiasm within 
 bounds. As soon as we commenced raising the flag 
 he burst forth, in a clear, fuU tone of voice, that 
 made the blood tingle in the veins of all who heard 
 him: — 
 
 " Up with your banner, Freedom, 
 Thy champions cling to thee ; 
 
 They'll follow where'er you lead 'em. 
 To death, or victory ; — 
 Up with your banner. Freedom. 
 
 Tyrants and slaves are rushing 
 
 To tread thee in the dust ; 
 Their blood will soon be gushing. 
 
 And stain our knives with rust ;• - 
 But not thy banner Freedom. 
 
 While stars and stripes are flying, 
 Our blood well freely shed ; 
 
 No groan will 'scape the dying, 
 Seeing thee o'er his head ;— 
 
 Up with your banner, Freedom." 
 
394 LD^ OP DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 This song was followed by three cheers from all 
 within the fortress, and the drams and trumpets 
 commenced playing. The enemy marched into 
 Bexar, and took possession of the town, a blood-red 
 flag flying at their head, to indicate that we need 
 not expect quarter if we should fall into their 
 clutches. In the afternoon a messenger was sent 
 from the enemy to Colonel Travis, demanding an 
 unconditional and absolute surrender of the garrison, 
 threatening to put every man to the sword in case 
 of refusal. The only answer he received was a 
 cannon shot, so the messenger left us with a flea in 
 his ear, and the Mexicans commenced firing grenades 
 at us, but without doing any mischief. At night 
 Colonel Travis sent an express to Colonel Fanning, 
 at Goliad, about three or four days' march from this 
 place, to let him know that we are besieged. The 
 ^Id pirate volunteered to go on this expedition, and 
 accordingly left the fort after nightfall. 
 
 February 24:. Very early this morning the enemy 
 commenced a new battery on the banks of the 
 river, about three hundred and fifty yards from the 
 fort, and by afternoon they amused themselves by 
 firing at us from that quarter. Our Indian scout 
 came in this evening, and with him a reinforcement 
 of thirty men from Gronzales, who are just in the 
 nick of time to reap a harvest of glory ; but there 
 is some prospect of sweating blood before we gather 
 it in. An accident happened to my friend Thimblerig 
 this afternoon. He was intent on his eternal game 
 of thimbles, in a somewhat exposed position, while 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 395 
 
 the enemy were bombarding us from the new re- 
 doubt. A three-ounce ball glanced from the parapet 
 and struck him on the breast, inflicting a painful, 
 but not dangerous wound. I extracted the ball, 
 which was of lead, and recommended to him to drill 
 a hole through it,^ and carry it for a watch seal. 
 " No," he replied, with energy, " may I be shot six 
 times if I do ; that would be making a bauble for 
 an idle boast. No, Colonel, lead is getting scarce, 
 and I'll lend it out at compound interest. Curse the 
 thimbles ! " he muttered, and went his way, and I 
 saw no more of him that evening. 
 
 F^yrmarf 25. The firing cotnmenced early this 
 morning, but the Mexicans are poor engineers, for we 
 haven't lost a single man, and our outworks have sus- 
 tained no injury. Our sharpshooters have brought 
 down a considerable number of stragglers at a long 
 shot. I got up before the peep of day, hearing an 
 occasional discharge of a rifle just over the place 
 where I was sleeping, and I was somewhat amazed 
 to see Thimblerig mounted alone on the battlement, 
 no one being on duty at the time but the sentries. 
 "What are you doing there?" says I. "Paying 
 my debts," says he, " interest and all." " And how- 
 do you make out ? " says I. " I've nearly got 
 through," says he ; " stop a moment, Colonel, and 
 I'll close the account." He clapped his rifle to his 
 shoulder, and blazed away, then jumped down from 
 his perch, and said, " That account's settled ; them 
 chaps will let me play out my game in quiet next 
 time." I looked over the wall, and saw four Mexi« 
 
LITE OF DAVIB CEOCKETT. 
 
 cans lying dead on the plain. I asked him to ex- 
 plain what he meant by paying his debts, and ha 
 told me that he had run the grape shot into four 
 rifle balls, and that he had taken an early stand to 
 have a chance of picking off stragglers. "Now, 
 Colonel, let's go take our bitters," said he ; — ^and so 
 we did. The enemy have been busy during the 
 night, and have thrown up two batteries on the 
 opposite side of the river. The battalion of Mata- 
 moras is posted there, and cavalry occupy the hills 
 to the east and on the road to Gonzales. They are 
 determined to surround us, and cut us off from 
 reinforcement, or the possibility of escape by a 
 sortie. Well, there's one thing they cannot prevent ; 
 we'U still go ahead, and sell our lives at a high price. 
 Fehruwry 26. Colonel Bowie has been taken sick 
 from over-exertion and exposure. He did not leave 
 his bed to-day until twelve o'clock. He is worth a 
 dozen common men in a situation like ours. The 
 bee-hunter keeps the whole garrison in good heart 
 with his songs and his jests, and his daring and 
 determined spirit. He is about the quickest on the 
 trigger, and the best rifle shot we have in the fort. 
 I have already seen him bring down eleven of the 
 enemy, and at such a distance that we all thought it 
 would be a waste of ammunition to attempt it. His 
 gun is first rate, quite equal to my Betsey, though 
 sihe has not quite as many trinkets about her. This 
 day a small party salKed out of the fort for wood and 
 water, and had a slight skirmish with three times 
 their number from the division under General Sesma. 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 397 
 
 The bee-hunter headed them, and beat the enemv 
 off, after killing three. On opening his Bible at 
 night, of which he always reads a portion before 
 going to rest, he found a musket ball in the middle 
 of it, " See here, Colonel," said he, " how they have 
 treated the valued present of my dear little Kate of 
 Nacogdoches." "It has saved your life," said I. 
 " True," replied he, more seriously than usual, " and 
 I am not the first sinner whose life has been saved 
 by this book." He prepared for bed, and before re- 
 tiring he prayed, and returned thanks for his pro- 
 vidential escape : and I heard the name of Catherine 
 mingled in his prayer. 
 
 February 27. The cannonading began early this 
 morning, and ten bombs were thrown into the fort, 
 but fortunately exploded without doing any mis- 
 chief, So far it has been a sort of tempest in a tea- 
 pot, not unlike a pitched battle in the Hall of Con- 
 gress, where the parties array their forces, make 
 fearful demonstrations on both sides, then fire away 
 with loud-sounding speeches, which contain about 
 as much meaning as the report of a howitzer charged 
 with a blank cartridge. Provisions are becoming 
 scarce, and the enemy are endeavoring to cut off 
 our water. If they attempt to stop our grog in 
 that manner, let them look out, for we shall become 
 too wrathy for our shirts to hold us. We are not 
 prepared to submit to an excise of that nature, and 
 they'll find it out. This discovery has created con- 
 siderable excitement in the fort. 
 
 Februwry 28. Last night our hunters brought in 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 some corn, and had a brush with a scout from the 
 enemy beyond gun-shot at the fort. They put the 
 scout to flight, and got in without injury. They 
 bring accounts that the settlers are flying in all 
 quarters, in dismay, leaving their possessions to the 
 mercy of the ruthless invader, who is literally en- 
 gaged in a war of extermination more brutal than 
 the untutored savage of the desert could be guilty 
 of. Slaughter is indiscriminate, sparing neither 
 sex, age, nor condition. Buildings have been burnt 
 down, farms laid waste, and Santa Anna appears 
 determined to verify his threat, and convert the 
 blooming paradise into a howling wilderness. For 
 JD^tone fair crack at that rascal, even at a hundred 
 yards' distance, I would bargain to break my Betsey, 
 and never pull trigger again. My name's not 
 Crockett if I wouldn't get glory enough to appease 
 my stomach for the remainder of my life. The 
 scouts report that a settler by the name of Johnson, 
 flying with his wife and three little children, when 
 they reached the Colorado, left his family on the 
 shore, and waded into the river to see whether it 
 would be safe to ford with his wagon. When about 
 the middle of the river he was seized by an alligator, 
 and after a struggle was dragged under the water, 
 and perished. The helpless woman and her babes 
 were discovered, gazing in agony on the spot, by 
 other fugitives, who happily passed that way, and 
 relieved them. Those who fight the battles experi- 
 ence but a small part of the privation, suffering, 
 and anguish that follow in the train of ruthless war. 
 
UFK OF DAVID CROCKETT. 399 
 
 The cannonading continaed at intervals throughout 
 the day, and all hands were kept up to their work. 
 The enemy, somewhat emboldened, draws nigher to 
 the fort. So much the better. There was a mov* 
 in General Sesma's division toward evening. 
 
 February 29. Before daybreak, we saw General 
 Sesma leave his camp with a large body of cavalry 
 and infantry, and move off in the direction of 
 Goliad. We think that he must have received news 
 of Colonel Fanning's coming to our relief. We are 
 all in high spirits at the prospect of being able to 
 give the rascals a fair shake on the plain. This 
 business of being shut up makes a man wolfish. I 
 had a little sport this morning before breakfast 
 The enemy had planted a piece of ordnance within 
 gun-shot of the fort during the night, and the first 
 thing in the morning they commenced a brisk can- 
 nonade, point blank, against the spot where T was 
 snoring. I turned out pretty smart and mounted 
 the rampart. The gun was charged again, a fellow 
 stepped forth to touch her off, but before he could 
 apply the match, I let him have it, and he keeled 
 over. A second stepped up, snatched the match 
 from the hand of the dying man, but Thimblerig, 
 who had followed me, handed me his rifle, and the 
 next instant the Mexican was stretched on the earth 
 beside the first. A third came up to the cannon, 
 my companion handed me another gun, and I fixed 
 him off in like manner. A fourth, then a fifth, 
 seized the match, who both met with the same fate, 
 and then the whole party gave it up as a bad job, 
 
400 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 and hurried off to the camp, leaving the cannon 
 ready charged where they had planted it. I came 
 down, took my bitters, and went to breakfast. 
 Thimblerig told me that the place from which I had 
 been firing was one of the snuggest stands in the 
 whole fort, for he never failed picking off two or 
 three stragglers before breakfast, when perched up 
 there. 
 
 And I recollect, now, having seen him there, ever 
 since he was wounded, the first thing in the mom. 
 ing, and the last at night, and at times, thought- 
 lessly playing at his eternal game. 
 
 March 1. The enemy's forces have been increas. 
 ing in numbers daily, notwithstanding they have 
 already lost about three hundred men in the sev- 
 eral assaults they have made upon us. I neglected 
 to mention in the proper place, that when the 
 enemy came in sight we had but three bushels of 
 corn in the garrison, but have since found eighty 
 bushels in a deserted house. Colonel Bowie's illness 
 still continues, but he manages to crawl from his 
 bed every day, that his comrades may see him. 
 His presence alone is a tower of strength. The 
 enemy becomes more daring as his numbers increase. 
 
 March 2. This day the delegates meet in general 
 convention at the town of Washington, to frame 
 our Declaration of Independence. That the sacred 
 instrument may never be trampled on by the chil- 
 dren of those who have freely shed their blood to 
 establish it, is the sincere wish of David Crockett. 
 Universal independence is an almighty idea, far too 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 401 
 
 extensive for some brains to comprehend. It is a 
 beaatiful seed that germinates rapidly, and brings 
 forth a large and vigorous tree, but like the deadly 
 Upas, we sometimes find the smaller plants wither 
 and die in its shades. Its blooming branches spread 
 far and wide, offering a perch of safety to all alike, 
 but even among its protecting branches we find the 
 eagle, the kite, and the owl preying upon the help- 
 less dove and sparrow. Beneath its shades myriads 
 congregate in goodly fellowship ; but the lamb and 
 the fawn find but frail security from the lion and 
 the jackal, though the tree of independence waves 
 over them. Some imagine independence to be a 
 natural charter, to exercise without restraint, and to 
 their fullest extent, all the energies, both physical 
 and mental, with which they have been endowed ; 
 and for their individual aggrandisement alone, with- 
 out regard to the rights of others, provided they ex- 
 tend to all the same privilege and freedom of action. 
 Such independence is the worst of tyranny. 
 
 March 3. "We have given over all hopes of re. 
 ceiving assistance from Goliad or Eef ugio. Colonel 
 Travis harangued the garrison, and concluded by 
 exhorting them, in case the enemy should carry the 
 fort to fight to the last gasp, and render their 
 victory even more serious to them than to us. This 
 was followed by three cheers. 
 
 Mcurch 4. Shells have been falling into the fort 
 
 like hail during the day, but without effect. About 
 
 dusk, in the evening, we observed a man running 
 
 toward the fort, pursued by about half a dozen of 
 
 26 
 
402 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 the Mexican cavalry. The bee-hunter immediately 
 knew him to be the old pirate who had gone to 
 Goliad, and, calling to the two hunters, he sallied 
 out of the fort to the relief of the old man, who was 
 hard pressed. I followed close after. Before we 
 reached the spot the Mexicans were close on the 
 heel of the old man, who stopped suddenly, turned 
 short upon his pursuers, discharged his rifle, and one 
 of the enemy fell from his horse. The chase was 
 renewed, but finding that he would be overtaken 
 and cut to pieces, he now turned again, and, to the 
 amazement of the enemy, became the assailant io his 
 turn. He clubbed his gun, and dashed among them 
 like a wounded tiger, and they fled like sparrows. 
 By this time we reached the spot, and, in the ardor of 
 the moment, fdllowed some distance before we saw 
 that our tetreat to the fort was cut off by an- 
 other detachment of cavalry. IS^othing was to be 
 done but to fight our way through. We were all 
 of the same mind. " Go ahead ! " cried I, and they 
 shouted,^* Go ahead^ Colonel! " We dashed among 
 them, and a blctody conflict ensued. They were 
 about twenty ! in number, and they stood their 
 ground. After the fight had continued about five 
 minutesj a detachinent was seen issuing from the 
 fort to. our Telief, and thfe Mexicans scampered off, 
 leaving eight of their comrades dead upon the field. 
 But we did not escape unscathed, for both the pirate 
 and the bee-hunter were mortally wounded, and I 
 received a saber cut across the forehead. The old 
 man died- without speaking, as soon as we entered 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 403 
 
 the fort. "We bore my young friend to his bed, 
 dressed his wounds, and I watched beside him. He 
 lay, without complaint or manifesting pain, until 
 about midnight, when he spoke, and 1 asked him if 
 he wanted anything. " Nothing," he replied, but 
 drew a sigh that seemed to rend his heart, as he 
 added, " Poor Kate of Nacogdoches ! " His eyes 
 were filled with tears, as he continued : " Her 
 words were prophetic, Colonel ; " and then he sang 
 in a low voice that resembled the sweet notes of his 
 own devoted Kate, 
 
 " But tootn cam' the saddle, all bluidy to see, 
 And hame cam' the steed, but hame never cam' he," 
 
 He spoke no more, and a few minutes after, died. 
 Poor Kate, who will tell this to thee ? 
 
 Mm-ch 5. Pop, pop, pop! Bom, bom, bom! 
 throughout the day. Ifo time for memorandums 
 now. Go ahead ! Liberty and independence forever I 
 
 [B#re eJMfc Coland Crockett's manuacript.^ 
 
101 LIFE OF DAVID CROCEEIT. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXVL 
 
 Assault on the Alamo directed by Santa Anna— Deeperata 
 fighting — Six Americans survive — Crockett one of the num- 
 ber — Death of Thimblerig — Castrillon takes the prisoners 
 to Santa Anna, who directs the massacre of the whole^ 
 Death of Colonel Crockett— Of Colonel Bowie— Of Colonel 
 Travis — Loss of the Mexicans at the Alamo — Battle of Go- 
 liad— Surrender of Colonel Fanning — Massacre of the Amer- 
 ican prisoners — Ravages of the Mexicans on their march to 
 San Jacinto — General Houston — Battle of San Jacinto— 
 Total defeat of the Mexicans and capture of Santa Anna — 
 Death of Colonel Fanning. 
 
 Thk hand is cold that wrote the foregoing pag^s, 
 and it devolves upon another to record the suose- 
 quent events. Before daybreak, on the 6th of 
 March, the Alamo was assaulted by the whole force 
 of the Mexican army, commanded by Santa Anna 
 in person. The battle was desperate until day- 
 light, when only six men belonging to the Texan 
 garrison were found alive. They were instantly 
 surrounded, and ordered by General Castrillon to 
 surrender, which they did, under a promise of his 
 protection, finding that resistance any longer would 
 be madness. Colonel Crockett was of the number. 
 He stood alone in an angle of the fort, the barrel of 
 his shattered rifle in bis right hand, in his left his 
 huge bowie-knife dripping blood. There was a 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT, 405 
 
 frightful gash across his forehead, while around 
 him there was a complete barrier of about twenty 
 Mexicans, lying pell-mell, dead, and dying. At his 
 feet lay the dead body of that well-known character, 
 designated in the Colonel's narrative by the as- 
 sumed name of Thimblerig, his knife driven to the 
 haft in the throat of a Mexican, and his left hand 
 clenched in his hair. Poor fellow, I knew him well, 
 at a time when he was possessed of many virtues, but 
 of late years the weeds had choked up the flowers ; 
 however, Colonel Crockett had succeeded in awak- 
 ening in his bosom a sense of better things, and the 
 poor fellow was grateful to the last, and stood 
 beside his friend throughout the desperate havoc. 
 
 General Castrillon was brave and not cruel, and 
 disposed to save the prisoners. He marched them 
 up to that part of the fort where stood Santa Anna 
 and his murderous crew. The steady, fear, 
 less step and undaunted tread of Colonel Crockett, 
 on this occasion, together with the bold demeanor 
 of the hardy veteran, had a powerful effect on all 
 present. Nothing daunted, he marched up boldly 
 in front of Santa Anna, and looked him sternly in 
 the face, while Castrillon addressed "his excet 
 lency," — " Sir, here are six prisoners I have taken 
 alive ; how shall I dispose of them ? " Santa Anna 
 looked at Castrillon fiercely, flew into a violent 
 rage, and replied, " Have I not told you before how 
 to dispose of them? Why do you bring them to 
 me ? " At the same time his brave officers plunged 
 their swords into the bosoms of their defenseless 
 
406 LIFE OP DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 prisoners. Colonel Crockett, seeing the act of 
 treachery, instantly sprang like a tiger at the ruffian 
 chief, but before he could reach him a dozen swords 
 were sheathed in his indomitable heart ; and he fell 
 and died without a groan, a frown on his brow, and 
 a smile of scorn and defiance on his lips. Castrillon 
 rushed from the scene, apparently horror-struckj 
 sought his quarters, and did not leave them for 
 several days, and hardly spoke to Santa Anna after. 
 
 The conduct of Colonel Bowie was characteristic 
 to the last. When the fort was carried he was sick 
 in bed. He had also one of the murderous butcher 
 knives which bears his name. Lying in bed, he dis 
 charged his pistols and gun, and with each discharge 
 brought down an enemy. So intimidated were the 
 Mexicans by this act of desperate and cool bravery, 
 that they dared not approach him, but shot him from 
 the door ; and as the cowards approached his bed, 
 over the dead bodies of their companions, the dying 
 Bowie, nerving himself for a last blow, plunged his 
 knife into the heart of his nearest foe at the same 
 instant that he expired. 
 
 The gallant Colonel Travis fought as if deter- 
 mined to verify his prediction, that he would make 
 a victory more serious than a defeat to the enemy. 
 He fell from the rampart, mortally wounded, into 
 the fort; and his musket fell forward among the 
 foe, who were scaling the wall. After a few minutes 
 he recovered sufficiently to sit up, when the Mexican 
 officer who led that party attempted to cut his head 
 off with a saber. The dying hero, with a. death 
 
LITE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 407 
 
 grasp, drew his sword and plunged it into the body 
 of his antagonist, and both together sank into the 
 arms of death. General Cos, who had commanded 
 this fortress while in the possession of the Mexicans, 
 and from whom it was captured, on entering the 
 fort after the battle, ordered the servant of Colonel 
 Travis to point out the body of his master ; he did 
 so, when Cos drew his sword, waved it triumphantly 
 over the corpse, and then mangled the face and 
 limbs with the malignant feelings of a Comanche 
 savage. One woman, Mrs. Dickinson, and a negro 
 of Colonel Travis, were the only persons whose lives 
 were spared. The bodies of the slain were then 
 thrown into a mass in the center of the Alamo, and 
 burned. The loss of the Mexicans in storming the 
 place was not less than eight hundred killed and 
 mortally wounded, making their losses since the first 
 assault more than fifteen hundred. This immense 
 slaughter, by so small a number, can only be ac- 
 counted for by the fact of the Texians having five 
 or six guns to each man in the fort. Immediately 
 after the capture Santa Anna sent Mrs. Dickinson 
 and the servant to General Houston, accompanied 
 by a Mexican with a flag, offering the Texians peace 
 and general amnesty, if they would lay down their 
 arms, and submit to his government. General 
 Houston's reply was, " True, sir, you have succeeded 
 in killing some of our brave men, but the Texians 
 are not yet conquered." He sent him a copy of the 
 Declaration of Independence recently agreed on at 
 New Washington. 
 
408 IJFE OF DAVID OBOCKETT. 
 
 After tl:^ capture of San Antonio, Santa Anna 
 had made a feint on Gonzales, where General 
 Houston was with a very inferior force, which in- 
 duced the latter to fall back on the Colorado, under 
 the belief that the whole Mexican army was march, 
 ing to attack him. A similar feint was also made 
 by the Mexican General on Bastrop, a town on the 
 Colorado, northeast of San Antonio. Gonzales lies 
 east of that place. Having, in both instances, 
 effected his object, Santa Anna concentrated his 
 forces, and marched directly for La Bahia, or Goliad, 
 which is situated about ninety miles southeast of 
 San Antonio, on the Colorado, The fort at Goliad 
 is of great strength, and was defended by Colonel 
 Fanning with a small force of volunteers. About 
 the middle of March, orders were received from 
 General Houston directing the blowing up and 
 evacuation of the fort, and that Colonel Fanning 
 should concentrate with him on the Colorado. On 
 the 18th of March, the Mexicans were discovered, 
 in considerable force, in the neighborhood of Goliad, 
 and through the day there was some skirmishing 
 with the advance parties. On the 19th the fort was 
 set on fire, and its wooden defenses destroyed ; but 
 the wall was left entire, and Colonel Fanning took 
 up his line of march. His force, at that time, was 
 reduced to two hundred and sixty, rank and file. 
 With this force and several field pieces he set out 
 to cross an open country, and endeavor to effect a 
 junction with General Houston. On the evening of 
 the first day of their march, the enemy made their 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 409 
 
 appearance in the rear, about three miles distant. 
 Colonel Fanning halted, and opened his artillery on 
 them, instead of hastening forward to avail himself 
 of the shelter of wood, some distance ahead. The 
 enemy manifesting a disposition to cut him off from 
 the woods, he again put his forces in motion, but it 
 was now too late. He not only lost the shelter of 
 the timber, which would have ensured his safety 
 against the enemy's horse, but the assistance of his 
 advanced guard, which was cut off from him by this 
 maneuver of the enemy. The absence of the 
 advanced guard reduced his forces to two hundred 
 and thirty-three, rank and file, to which the enemy 
 opposed five hundred cavalry, and two hundred in- 
 fantry. The action commenced about five o'clock, 
 and continued until nearly dark. The enemy was 
 repulsed with great loss in every charge, and never 
 was able to penetrate nearer to Fanning's force 
 than sixty-five or one hundred yards ; and finally 
 about dark, drew off his forces to a secure distance, 
 leaving only a few to succor the wounded, who were 
 not molested. Fanning's loss was five killed and 
 twelve wounded, two mortally. The enemy acknowl- 
 edged the loss of one hundred and ninety -two killed, 
 and a large number wounded. So soon as the 
 Mexicans withdrew. Fanning commenced throwing 
 up intrenchments, at which his men were employed 
 during the whole night. 
 
 About sunrise on the 20th, the enemy again 
 advanced on Fanning, and fired their cannon four 
 times oyer him ; a large reinforcement of Mexicans 
 
410 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 was plainly to be seen, three miles distant. At thi 
 moment a white flag, attended by a small party, 
 was seen advancing from the enemy, which was met 
 by a similar one from Fanning, under Major Wal- 
 lace. The enemy demanded the surrender of Fan- 
 ning and his forces, and promised in the most sacred 
 manner, that they should retain all their private 
 property — that they might return, by the first 
 opportunity, as prisoners of war to the United 
 States, or remain until they were regularly ex- 
 changed ; and that they should be treated in the 
 Oiost humane manner while retained in confinement. 
 With these specious promises he was induced to 
 trust to the honor of the butchers of the Alamo, 
 and accept of the terms of capitulation. 
 
 As soon as the necessary arrangements eould be 
 made the prisoners were marched, under a strong 
 guard, to Goliad, and huddled together, officera and 
 men, into a church within the fort at Goliad. The 
 enemy having succeeded in capturing other small 
 parties, the number of prisoners amounted to four 
 hundred, and were all crowded together in the 
 church, and compelled to sit or lie constantly. The 
 only accommodation afforded was a few benches for 
 the officers. They were retained in this situation 
 for three days, and during this period received only 
 a small ration of raw beef, not exceeding half a 
 pound each. On the fourth day they were marched 
 out into the open air, and limits prescribed them, 
 over which they were not to pass. For four days 
 longer they were kept in this situation, during 
 
LIFE OF DAVID OROCKBTT. 4jl 
 
 which they were allowed only two rations siwilay 
 to the first ; and, but for the pecan nuts purchased 
 from the Mexican soldiers, and a small quantity of 
 jerked beef procured in the same manner, they must 
 have suffered immensely. On the eighth day re- 
 presentations were made to the prisoners, that it 
 would be necessary to remove them out of the fort, 
 as they were about to drive in beeves to slaughter, 
 in order to prepare rations for their removal to 
 Matagorda, where they were to take shipping for 
 New Orleans. They were accordingly marched out, 
 in parties of one hundred each, and, in single file, 
 were led along a high brush fence ; when, at the 
 distance of two hundred yards, they were ordered 
 to face about, and the cocking of the guns gave the 
 first intimation of the fate that awaited them. At 
 the first fire nearly all fell mortally wounded. A 
 few escaped by falling at the flash, and as soon as 
 the fire ceased, they leaped up, and sprung over the 
 fence, and succeeded in reaching the woods, where 
 they eluded their pursuers. The Mexicans proceeded 
 to despatch with their bayonets any who showed 
 signs of life after the firing, and they then stripped 
 and burnt the bodies. The authorities of Texas 
 bestowed solemn obsequies upon their mutilated 
 and blackened limbs, on the 4th of June, after their 
 murderers had sank unto death on the plains of San 
 Jacinto, under the appalling words, "Kemember 
 La Bahia ! " 
 
 But this succession of barbarities, so far from in- 
 timidating, served to rouse the energies of the op- 
 
412 f-IFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 pressed. The vainglorious Spaniard, elated with 
 success, without adverting to the fact that he had 
 never been victorious, without having at least from 
 five to ten of his mercenaries opposed to one of his 
 foes, now ventured to cross the Colorado, believing 
 that victory was perched upon his standard, and 
 would not leave it until Texas should be subdued. 
 
 His track was marked by death and desolation. 
 Fire, famine, and the sword were in his train, and 
 neither sex nor age was received as a plea for mercy. 
 The hoary head of the grandsire, the flaxen curls of 
 the babe, and the disheveled tresses o^ the affrighted 
 mother, were alike stained with gore. Farmhouses 
 were consumed by fire, the crops destroyed in the 
 ground ; and the settlers fled in dismay, feeling that 
 the worst of scourges had been let loose upon them. 
 The plains were strewed with thousands of the un- 
 buried slaughtered ; and the air was fetid with cor- 
 ruption and decay. The merciless tyrant saw all 
 this, and his heart expanded with joy, as he moved 
 on, like Attila, and beheld the terror and wretched- 
 ness of those he came to annihilate, rather than to 
 scourge into subjection. But his was a temporary 
 triumph. He crossed the Colorado full of hope of 
 carrying his demoniac intentions into execution, but 
 shame, confusion and defeat awaited his coming. 
 
 About the 18th of April the tyrant with one divi* 
 sion of his troops, marched in the direction of 
 Lynch's ferry, on the San Jacinto, burning Harris- 
 burg as he passed down. The Texian forces under 
 General Houston, were ordered to be in readiness 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 413 
 
 and on the morning of the 19th they took up their 
 line of march in pursuit of him, and found him en- 
 camped on the banks of the San Jacinto. About 
 nine o'clock on the morning of the 21st the Mexicans 
 were reinforced by five hundred choice troops, un- 
 der command of General Cos, increasing their effect- 
 ive force to upwards of fifteen hundred men, while 
 the aggregate force of the Texians, for the field, 
 numbered seven hundred and eighty-three. General 
 Houston ordered the bridge on the only road com- 
 municating with the Brazos, distant from the en. 
 campment, to be destroyed, thus cutting off all 
 possibility of escape. The Texian army were or- 
 dered to parade their respective commands, which 
 they did with alacrity and spirit, and were anxious 
 for the conflict ; the disparity in numbers only 
 seemed to increase their enthusiasm and confidence. 
 Houston, having the enemy thus snugly hemmed in, 
 and his little army draVvn up in order of battle, 
 addressed them, in person, briefly, and concluded by 
 saying, " Fellow-soldiers, there is the enemy before 
 you ; do you wish to fight ? " " We do ! " was the 
 universal response. "Well, then," he continued, 
 " remember it is for liberty or death ! Remember 
 the Alamo ! Remember Goliad ! " The soldiers 
 shouted, " We shall remember ! " " Then go 
 ahead ! " From General Houston's official account 
 it appears that the war-cry was, " Remember the 
 Alamo." The attack was furious, and lasted about 
 eighteen minutes from the time of close action until 
 the Texians were in possession of the enemy's camp, 
 
414 LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 
 
 Our riflemen, not having the advantage of bayoneta, 
 used their pieces as clubs, breaking many of them at 
 the breech. The rout commenced at half-past four 
 o'clock, and continued until twilight. In the battle 
 our loss was two killed and twenty-three wounded, 
 six of whom mortally. The enemy's loss was six 
 hundred and thirty killed, and seven hundred and 
 thirty were taken prisoners, among whom were 
 Generals Santa Anna and Gos, who were captured 
 a day or two after the battle. About six hundred 
 muskets and three hundred sabers were collected ; 
 several hundred mules and horses were taken, and 
 near twelve hundred dollars in specie. 
 
 We learn, from other sources, that General Cos, 
 when taken, was pale and greatly agitated; but 
 Almonte displayed, as he had, during the flght, 
 great coolness and courage. Santa Anna fled among 
 the earliest who retreated. His horse bogged down 
 in the prairie, near the Brassos timber ; he then 
 made for the timber on foot. His pursuers, in the 
 eagerness of the chase, dashed into the same bog, 
 and continlied the pursuit on foot, following the 
 trail of the fugitive, which was very plain on ac* 
 count of the recent rains, until they reached the 
 timber, where it was lost. The pursuers then spread 
 themselves and searched the Woods for a long time 
 in vain, when it occurred to Arnold Hunter that 
 the chase might, like a hardprfeseed bear, have 
 taken a tree. The tree-tops were then examined, 
 when, lo ! the game was discovered snugly ensconced 
 in the forks of a large live oiJct The captors di^ 
 
LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT. 415 
 
 not know who the prisoner was until they reached 
 the camp, when the Mexican soldiers exclaimed, 
 "El General, El General Santa Anna!" When 
 conducted to General Houston, he offered to evacuate 
 Texas, and acknowledge its independence, on con- 
 dition that his life and liberty should be granted to 
 him, and a saie escort to Mexico. 
 
 The enemy passed La Bahia and Bexar, blowing 
 up the Alamo ; spiking and throwing the cannon in 
 the river, in his retreat. The Comanche Indians 
 commenced depredating in the rear of the Mexican 
 army, as they advanced from Bexar upon the settle- 
 ments. AH their horses and mules, of which they 
 had many, as well as much baggage, were taken by 
 the Indians. At every step they met with trouble, 
 and are hurrying with all possible despatch toward 
 the interior. 
 
 The fate of poor Fanning, who was not killed in 
 the indiscriminate massacre of his troops, has since 
 been ascertained. He was condemned to be shot. 
 When he found that was determined on, and was 
 ordered out for execution, he handed his watch to 
 an officer as compensation to have him buried, de- 
 liberately tied a handkerchief over his eyes, begged 
 them not to shoot him in the head, bared his breast, 
 and requested to be shot there. He was shot in the 
 head, and never buried 1 
 
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