Davy Crockett Timeline

The Fort Mims massacre occurred near Mobile, Mississippi Territory, on August 30, 1813, and became a rallying cry for the Creek War, which was waged concurrently with the War of 1812.

Image source: Fort Mims massacre

Crockett served as a militia volunteer during the Creek War until December 24, 1813.

After the Treaty of Fort Jackson in August 1814, Crockett re-enlisted as third sergeant for a six-month term with the Tennessee Mounted Gunmen under Captain John Cowan. Still on reserve status until March 1815, he hired a young man to fulfill the remainder of his service.

In 1817, Crockett moved the family to new acreage in Lawrence County, where he first entered public office as a commissioner helping to configure the new county's boundaries.

On March 27, 1818, he was elected lieutenant colonel of the Fifty-seventh Regiment of Tennessee Militia, defeating candidate Daniel Matthews for the position.

In 1821, he resigned as commissioner and successfully ran for a seat in the Tennessee General Assembly, representing Lawrence and Hickman counties. He supported gubernatorial candidate William Carroll over Andrew Jackson's endorsed Edward Ward, and less than two weeks after his election, a flood of the Tennessee River destroyed his businesses.

He was appointed to the Committee of Propositions and Grievances on September 17, 1821, serving through the first session that ended November 17, and through the special session ending on August 24, 1822.

In 1823, Crockett defeated Andrew Jackson's nephew-in-law William Edward Butler for a General Assembly seat representing five counties. He served in sessions from September through November 1823 and September through November 1824, championing impoverished farmers' rights. During Jackson's 1823 Senate election, he backed Jackson's opponent John Williams.

On October 25, 1824, Crockett notified his constituents of his intention to run in the 1825 election for a seat in the U.S. Congress. After a chance meeting in 1826 gained him encouragement from Memphis mayor Marcus Brutus Winchester, a letter published in the Jackson Gazette on September 15, 1826 announced his challenge to Rankin.

In 1827, Crockett was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Militia veteran William Arnold also entered the race, and Crockett easily defeated both opponents for the 1827–1829 term.

Image source: United States House of Representatives

Crockett was re-elected for the 1829–1831 session, once again defeating Adam Rankin Alexander.

Crockett opposed Jackson's 1830 Indian Removal Act and was the only member of the Tennessee delegation to vote against it. In February 1830 he also introduced a resolution to abolish West Point, and proposed an amendment to the land bill on January 29, 1830 that was defeated on May 3.

Image source: Indian Removal Act

His vote against Indian removal was not popular with his own district, and he was defeated in the 1831 election by William Fitzgerald.

Cherokee chief John Ross sent him a letter on January 13, 1831, expressing thanks for Crockett's vote against Indian removal.

Crockett ran against Fitzgerald again in the 1833 election and was returned to Congress, serving until 1835. That year he joined the Whig Party, having been a National Republican (Anti-Jacksonian). On January 2, 1834, he introduced the land title resolution H.R. 19.

Published by E. L. Carey and A. Hart in 1834 as A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, Written by Himself, and he went east to promote the book.

Image source: Davy Crockett

Walt Disney adapted Crockett's stories into a television miniseries titled Davy Crockett, which aired in 1954 and 1955 on Walt Disney's Disneyland, making him one of the best-known American folk heroes.

Image source: Davy Crockett (miniseries)

Columbia Features syndicated a comic strip, Davy Crockett, Frontiersman, from June 20, 1955, until 1959. Stories were by France Herron, with artwork ghosted in early 1956 by Jack Kirby.

Crockett appears in at least two short alternate history works: 'Chickasaw Slave' by Judith Moffett in Alternate Presidents (1992), where Crockett is the seventh President of the United States; and 'Empire' by William Sanders in Alternate Generals II (2002), where Crockett fights for Emperor Napoleon I of Louisiana.

Image source: Alternate history

Crockett's stories were used by the French animation Studios Animage for a 1994 animated series titled Davy Crockett.

Some questions about the validity of de la Peña's diary were answered when archivist David Gracy published a detailed analysis of the manuscript in 2001, including lab results. Joseph Musso had also questioned its validity, noting interest rose around the time of the Disney mini-series.

Image source: Santa Anna, Texas

A 2009 episode of MythBusters tested whether Crockett could split a bullet in half on the blade of an ax 40 yards (37 m) away, and concluded that it would indeed be possible to do so.

Crockett was defeated for re-election in the August 1835 election by Adam Huntsman. By December 1834 he had written about moving to Texas if Van Buren was elected president. His departure was delayed by a court appearance, but he finally left his home near Rutherford with three other men on November 1, 1835, arriving in Little Rock on November 12.

Crockett arrived in Nacogdoches, Texas, in early January 1836, and soon took part in the Texas Revolution.

Image source: Nacogdoches, Texas

Crockett took part in the siege of the Alamo in early 1836. According to survivor Susannah Dickinson, Travis sent out three men shortly after dark on March 3. The defenders perished when Mexican forces stormed the fortress on March 6.

Image source: Battle of the Alamo

David Crockett died at the Alamo on the morning of March 6, 1836, at the age of 49. A contrary theory arose from the memoirs of Mexican officer José Enrique de la Peña, discovered and self-published by Jesús Sánchez Garza in 1955 and translated into English by Texas A&M University Press in 1975.

The ashes of the Alamo defenders were left undisturbed until February 1837, when Juan Seguin and his cavalry returned to Bexar to examine the remains.