Davy Crockett

Davy Crockett by Roger Pocock (1955)

Roger Pocock's Davy Crockett opens with the aging frontiersman on his Tennessee farm, fifty years of hunting and Indian warfare behind him, embittered by the corruption he witnessed as a congressman in Washington and newly fired with purpose by news of the war for freedom in the West. He takes his gun from above the fireplace and sets out to fight the Mexicans. Travelling south by steamer down the Mississippi, Crockett encounters a card sharp called Thimblerig who has been fleecing passengers. Rather than condemning him, Crockett reforms the man, who attaches himself to Davy with the loyalty of a stray dog. The two ride into Texas and fall in with a bee hunter, a young man of fine appearance who leads them to his home. The bee hunter chooses to join the party, though the parting from his sweetheart Kate is painful. He tries to cheer her with a verse of song as he rides away, and she answers with the darker lines of the same ballad, her voice broken with sobbing, the words a foreboding that the rider will never return home. The company grows on the road. There are buffalo hunts, a knife-and-teeth fight with a cougar, and a diplomatic encounter with an Indian tribe whose permission is needed for passage. A pirate from the crew of the infamous Lafitte and a young Indian warrior join the band, which eventually fights through a Mexican patrol and rides into the Alamo, a Texan fortress at San Antonio. The fort, recently wrested from seventeen hundred Mexicans by only two hundred and sixteen Americans after a hundred and twenty hours of fighting, is now held by one hundred and fifty white men under Colonel Travis. Colonel Bowie, whose broken blade used as a dagger gave the bowie knife its name, is also among the defenders, and Crockett's party is warmly received. On the twenty-third of February 1836 the Mexican president Santa Anna arrives with seventeen hundred troops and lays siege to the fort. Travis sends the pirate riding hard to Goliad to seek relief. The bombardment begins on the twenty-fourth, and thirty cowboys break through the enemy lines to reinforce the garrison. Crockett keeps a private diary through these days, and its entries record the tightening desperation of the siege. He describes settlers fleeing, farms burned, slaughter without mercy. He also records quieter moments of dark humour, such as the morning he picked off five successive Mexican artillerymen before coming down for breakfast, borrowing a fresh rifle from Thimblerig for each shot. By the third of March the diary notes that all hope is given up. On the fourth a man is spotted running toward the fort pursued by Mexican cavalry. The bee hunter recognises him as an old hunter sent earlier to Goliad and rushes out with Crockett and others to save him. The old man turns on his pursuers with savage courage before the rescuers reach him, but a second detachment of cavalry cuts off their retreat to the fort. They fight through, Crockett calling go ahead and the men echoing him, until a sortie from the garrison drives the Mexicans off. Eight Mexican dead are left on the field, but the cost is heavy. The pirate and the bee hunter are mortally wounded, and Crockett himself takes a sabre cut across the forehead. The old hunter dies without speaking as soon as he is carried inside. The bee hunter is laid in his bed, calm and without complaint, until past midnight, when he murmurs only the name of Kate and softly sings the dark verse she had answered him with at their parting. He dies shortly after. The fifth of March diary entry is brief and urgent, the sound of gunfire filling every line, ending with the words liberty and independence forever. Before dawn on the sixth a final Mexican assault carries the Alamo. By sunrise six defenders remain alive. Crockett is found with his back to a wall, his rifle broken, his knife bloody, and before him lies Thimblerig dead, his dagger buried in a Mexican's throat and his dying grip locked in the dead man's hair. The six prisoners are brought before Santa Anna, who dismisses them with a word. When his staff officers fall on them with swords, Crockett lunges for Santa Anna's throat and is killed by a dozen blades. The fall of the Alamo and the massacre at Goliad drive the Texans to fury. Their leader Sam Houston, a man whose life had swung between heroism and ruin, between a white upbringing and years lived as an Indian, between the governor's chair and a drunkard's degradation, waits for reinforcements despite his men's rage. When he moves it is to San Jacinto, where eight hundred Texans scatter sixteen hundred Mexicans and capture Santa Anna. Houston is proclaimed president of the Lone Star republic, which becomes the largest state in the American constellation.

By Roger Pocock · First published 1955 · Genre: Historical Fiction, Adventure, War Fiction · 1,896 words

First lines

A. D. 1836

Far off on his farm in Tennessee, old Davy Crockett heard of the war for freedom. Fifty years of hunting, trapping and Indian warfare had not quenched his thirst for adventure, or dulled his love of fun; but the man had been sent to Washington as a member of congress, and came home horrified by the corruption of political life. He was angry and in his wrath took his gun from over the fireplace. He must kill something, so he went for those Mexicans in the West.

Similar titles

Genres

Tags

American frontier · biography · historical fiction · 19th century · wilderness · adventure · pioneer · Tennessee · Alamo · legend · folklore · Western

What this Textopian page supports

Davy Crockett is listed on Textopian as a historical account by Roger Pocock, dated 1955 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

Good citation fit

More by Roger Pocock