Existing comment:
Davy Crockett, 1786-1836:
Unlike his solitary predecessor Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett created the image of the frontiersman as a jocular, color "type" who lived tall tales, whisky, and cutting a caper. Crockett was a bad farmer and kicked around the Southeast, serving in the military and minor governmental offices. On a whim, he ran for Congress from Tennessee, serving two terms (1827-31, 1833-35). To capitalize on his political fame, he authored an autobiography containing a motto, "Be always sure you're right -- then go ahead," that had been the credo of the frontiersman, in reality and myth, to the present day. After Congress, Crockett created a road show in which he presented himself to civilized eastern audiences as the wild and woolly backwoodsman, "half man, half alligator." Still restless, however, Crockett joined the fight for Texas independence and was killed at the Alamo.
Chester Harding, 1834 |