When I first moved back to West Tennessee, one of the first things at Discovery Park of America that sparked my curiosity was the statue of David Crockett. I began exploring what made this Tennessean so special that he deserved a statue. Out of that spark of curiosity came “The Accidental Fame and Lack of Fortune of West Tennessee’s David Crockett,” now available on Amazon. The book focuses on the Tennessee congressman’s journey from frontier to fame to international icon. Also included are stories of many of the colorful characters in Crockett’s life from Tennessee’s early history including James K. Polk, Sam Houston, Marcus Winchester and Andrew Jackson. Crockett and Jackson were bitter enemies, and Jackson contributed to Crockett’s eventual congressional defeat.
Why David and not Davy? The name Crockett used during his lifetime was David. “Davy Crockett” is most frequently seen as the moniker adopted by those who used his name and image after his death. Since this book is about the real guy and how his fame grew through the decades, I chose to use David. Also, wasn’t Davy Crockett from East Tennessee and not West Tennessee?
Crockett served in the Tennessee state legislature from 1821 to 1824, then as congressman representing West Tennessee counties in the United States House of Representatives from 1827 to 1831 and 1833 to 1835. He represented settlers making their homes in the counties of Carroll, Dyer, Fayette, Gibson, Hardeman, Hardin, Haywood, Henderson, Henry, Lawrence, Madison, McNairy, Obion, Perry, Shelby, Tipton, Wayne, and Weakley.
Since my interest lies in Tennessee history—which, by the way, played a crucial role in antebellum American history and westward expansion—readers will find I wrote from that perspective. I believe people will find the real story of Crockett fascinating and relevant no matter where they live.
Crockett was both literally and symbolically a “common man,” and that role grew more important as governing the country shifted away from the educated eastern elites to regular working-class Americans. He also blazed a trail representing an exciting, new type of American that thrilled early media and entertainment consumers. He made them excited about what could be found down the river or just over the next mountain, and that popularity resulted in a level of fame not yet experienced by anyone else at that time.
During his lifetime, Crockett, or characters he inspired, showed up in every channel of artistic expression available to creative minds in the early decades of the nineteenth century including books, plays, songs, paintings and woodcut illustrations. Newspaper reporters found that writing about him—and copying and reprinting what others had written—sold newspapers and magazines, so he was a frequent subject of both real and fake news.
This is not a chronological biography of the life of David Crockett. My purpose with this book is to explore the culture—both in the state and in the nation—that fueled Crockett’s unlikely rise from uneducated frontiersman to world-famous icon. As someone whose ancestors settled in the state at the birth of Tennessee, I also included quite a bit about what their world was like as they cleared forests and built communities out of the wilderness that had been Native American hunting land.
Today, I know exactly why that Tennessean deserves a statue at Discovery Park, and I hope you have as much fun reading about David Crockett as I had writing the book. You can buy it now on Amazon, follow on Facebook or discover more at therealdavidcrockett.com.
You can also explore David Crockett at Discovery Park, read about the celebration of David Crockett’s 235th birthday or return to my home page.