William C. Sprague

Davy Crockett was perhaps best known in Tennessee as a noted hunter and for his unique style of backwoods oratory. In Texas, however, he will always be remembered as a heroic participant in the Battle of the Alamo.

Crockett was born 17 August 1786 in what is now northeastern Tennessee. It was not until he was eighteen before he learned to read and write. About that time, he married and started a family of several children.

Perhaps by default, he first became involved in politics as magistrate of his local community. By 1821, he was elected to the State Legislature, and was reelected to that position in 1823. From 1827 through 1833, Crockett served in the Congress of the United States. However, in his run for a fourth term in Congress, he was defeated by a narrow margin.

Disgusted by that time with politics, Crockett bid farewell to Tennessee and headed for Texas in the fall of 1835. There he was well received and seemed to enjoy his new environment, for on 9 January 1836 he wrote a daughter back in Tennessee: "I would rather be in my present situation than to be elected to a seat in Congress for life."