Military Myths and Legends: The Mysterious Death of Davy Crockett

Among the towering figures of legendary Americans, few loom larger than that of David Crockett. His exploits as a militia scout during the Creek War, an Army forager during the War of 1812, a U.S. Representative, and, of course, a frontiersman are legendary and led to his nickname "King of the Wild Frontier." 

Crockett made his living in a number of varied, often surprising ways, but much of his renown comes from his day hunting bears in the wilds of Tennessee. He would sell their furs, meat, and oil, which were in high demand at the time. The tales he told of his time in the wilderness became the foundation of "The Lion of the West," an 1831 play about his exploits. Although it didn't mention him by name, Americans knew it was about him. He would later clarify the myths and legends of his life by publishing his 1834 autobiography.

Davy Crockett was certainly a legend in his own time, famous for defending the rights of the poor, his opposition to Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal policies, and his exploits on America's frontier. But what's not exactly known about Crockett is just how he died, an odd end for such a well-known history. 

Crockett's opposition to Andrew Jackson and Jackson's hand-picked successor, Martin Van Buren, led him to move to Texas after losing his bid for reelection to Congress in 1831. He headed west in 1835, a supporter of the ongoing revolutionary war Texas was fighting against Mexico. He arrived with 65 other men in January 1836, pledging his loyalty to the Texas provisional government and enrolling as a volunteer with the Army for six months. On February 6, 1836, he and five others rode for San Antonio de Bexar. 

Crockett and his men arrived on February 8, finding the Texan Army holed up in the Alamo Mission, having just expelled the Mexican Army a few months prior. They were undermanned and low on supplies, requesting both from the Texian government but receiving neither. Meanwhile, Mexico's President, Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, was gathering an army. By February 23, the advance elements of Santa Anna's forces arrived and laid siege to the Alamo.

The siege lasted until March 6, when Santa Anna ordered his 2,000-man force to advance for an early morning assault of the makeshift fortress. The intense, brutal fight lasted just 90 minutes, with Mexican soldiers pouring over the Alamo's walls. Some 257 Texian defenders were killed, but they inflicted more than 400 casualties, with estimates as high as 600. Crockett certainly died at the Alamo, but how he died is the real mystery. 

For the longest time, Davy Crockett's legend had it that the frontiersman died in a heroic last stand, his body found in the barracks of the Alamo, surrounded by 16 Mexican bodies. This legend is corroborated by a former Black slave who served in Santa Anna's Army as a cook. Many accepted this end as fact, but in 1955, another account surfaced that shed a different light on Crockett's fate.

Lt. Jose Enrique de la Peña was an officer of the Toluca Battalion, a unit that arrived on the 12th day of the siege to reinforce Santa Anna's Army. De la Peña acted as a runner for Col. Francisco Duque during the battle and not only survived but was left unscathed. He would eventually publish a diary of his wartime exploits, and in that diary was an account of what he says were Davy Crockett's last moments. 

"Some seven men had survived the general massacre and, guided by general Castrillon, who sponsored them, were presented to Santa Anna," De La Peña wrote. "Among them was one of great stature, well formed and of regular features, in whose countenance there was imprinted the sentiment of adversity, but in which was noted certain resignation and nobility that commended him. He was the naturalist David Crocket [sic], very well known in North America for his strange adventures."

Santa Anna, despite protestations from one of his senior officers, ordered the survivors shot, Crockett along with them. Ever since the diary was discovered, disputing historians have looked at many methods to prove or disprove its accuracy, even scientifically testing the kind of ink and paper used to write it. The diary is the chief source of the theory of his capture, while survivor accounts support his heroic last stand.