The Real Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier
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Davy Crockett was born in 1786. He became a legend in his own time, which means that people told tall-tales about him while he was still alive. Some of the tales are true and some are not. For example, he never married a woman named Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind.


Here’s the true story of the man behind the legend.


Davy was born in a time when most of America was frontier. A frontier is a large area of untouched land without many human inhabitants. People who explored or went to live on the frontier were called frontiersmen.

 

Davy started school when he was 13, but he didn’t stay there for very long. There was a mean older boy in the school who was a bully. Davy didn’t like him, so he beat him up. Davy knew his father would be very angry with him. He was afraid of the punishment, so he ran away from home.


Davy spent more than two years traveling and working on the frontier. He learned how to shoot a gun and got so good that he began to win shooting contests.


Davy returned home when he was 15 and became a hunter. He loved hunting dangerous animals. People loved to tell stories about his hunting adventures with bears and mountain lions, they called him King of the Wild Frontier. These stories helped make Davy into a frontier hero.


Davy married Polly Finley when he was 20. They moved to a small cabin on a farm and had two sons.


Soon after, a war began between the white settlers and the Indians. The settlers took Indian lands and often cheated the Indians. The Indians were fed up with this treatment and a war started soon after. Davy joined the war against the Indians and became a well-known fighter.


Davy returned home after the war ended in 1814. A short time later, his wife became sick and died.


Soon after, Davy married a woman named Elizabeth Patton. They had four children together.


Davy ran for Congress in 1826. He got elected and served three terms. When he finished his service, Davy moved his family to Texas. There, he continued life as a frontiersman.

 

In those days, Texas belonged to Mexico. Settlers wanted to make Texas their own. They wanted to make it into a new country. They fought Mexico in a war called the Texas Revolution. The Revolution’s final battle became famous. It was called the Battle of the Alamo and Mexico won the battle. Many Texans died in the battle. Texans considered them to be heroes. Davy Crockett died in the battle. But he fought bravely. He was one of the last men standing.