Davy Crockett, born David Crockett on August 17, 1786 in Greene County, then in the State of Franklin, and died on Mars 6, 1836 at the siege of Fort Alamo, Mexico, is an American soldier, trapper and politician. Elected several times as a representative of the State of Tennessee in the United States Congress, he became a popular hero in the history of the United States.
Biography
Origins and family life

David Crockett's birthplace is not known with certainty, and several possible birthplaces are sometimes cited1:

    in Greene County, on the banks of the Nolichucky River, in the State of Tennessee;
    at Limestone Cove, Washington County, North Carolina;
    in Franklin, Tennessee;
    in Hawkins County, Tennessee.

The Crocketts are originally from Ireland, descendants of Monsieur Antoine De(s)aussure de Croquetagne, a Huguenot captain in the guard of Louis XIV, and whose name was anglicized2. However, according to Gilles Havard and other historians, this ancestry is more of a legend invented by American authors around 1920, because we find no trace of this family in any document or source in France3. In addition, the root of the name Croquetagne does not correspond to any element known either in French or in Occitan and either as a common name or as a proper name (anthroponym or patronymic). On the other hand, the surnames Croquet and Croquette are well attested in France, but not in the south, they are surnames from the North.

David Crockett is the fifth child of nine, and did not receive a sophisticated education4. He is the son of John Crockett who ran a tavern and was a local notable4.

Widower of Mary Finley, nicknamed Polly (1788-1815), who gave birth to three children, he remarried in 1816 to Elizabeth Patton, with whom he also had three children. He was a Freemason5.
Political career

On September 24, 1813, he served in the Second Regiment of Tennessee Volunteer Mounted Riflemen for 91 days and participated with friendly Indian tribes in the Creek War of 1813, during which the Creeks were manipulated by real estate speculators, in the in the wake of the Anglo-American War of 1812, under the orders of future President Andrew Jackson6. He became a justice of the peace in 1817 before joining the militia the following year with the rank of colonel. He was then appointed to serve in the Tennessee legislature in 1821 and 1823, where he defended the courseurs de bois and early settlers against speculators.

From 1827 to 1835, he was elected several times to represent Tennessee in Congress7. He sits in the Capitol in his trapper's clothes and supports the pioneers of Tennessee who live on land distributed after the War of Independence to soldiers who often then resold them to speculators. These pioneers thought they could occupy these lands, which they believed were abandoned by the military, but then found themselves asked for rent by speculators, for amounts that they could hardly honor, because most of them lived from hunting and fishing. and subsistence agriculture.

A close friend of many Native Americans, with whom he shared life on the wild frontier, Davy Crockett opposed Democratic President JACKSON , even though he was a member of the Democratic Party, on the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which aimed to open new territories to colonization. His opposition to JACKSON did not prevent him from being re-elected in 1827 as a Democrat, but was the cause of his failure in the 1830 election. Crockett, however, was re-elected in 1833, at a time when the Democratic Party was deeply divided over the issue of abolitionism and the treatment of Indians. The majority of the party's elected representatives were won over by planters and land speculators from the 1840s, leading to numerous departures.

In 1834, he published an autobiography A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett8. In 1835, he was again defeated in the election and left for Texas6.
The Texas Revolution

Shortly after this electoral defeat, he became involved in the Texan revolution in Mexico. On January 14, 1836, he took an oath with 65 men to help the provisional government of Texas, under the leadership of Samuel Houston. Each man is promised a reward of 4,605 ​​acres (19 km2) of land.

Texas was then disputed by the 70,000 American settlers (from the United States) who settled there, including French people from Mulhouse in Castroville, and Mexican citizens.

He took part in the defense of the Alamo (February 23 - Mars 6, 1836) and was entrusted with guarding the southern palisade. Legend has it that he disappeared while making an exit; the diary of José Enrique de la Peña claims that he was taken prisoner by Mexican general Manuel Fernández Castrillón (es) and that he was summarily executed with a dozen men on the orders of the commander

From the 1830s to the Civil War, the Almanacs featured Davy Crockett in humorous and grotesque tales10. It symbolizes the all-powerful pioneer who overcomes wild animals and Native Americans10. His image is transformed into that of an ambassador of manifest destiny that he never was, the parliamentarian Crockett opposing the leader of his party and the deportation of Native Americans10.

At the end of the 19th century, Davy Crockett was the hero of a play11 performed at least 2,000 times in the United States and the United Kingdom10.

Since 1909, numerous motion pictures and television series have chronicled the life of Davy Crockett, including a five-part Walt Disney Company serial in 1954. Crockett was played, among others, by John Wayne in the first film he directed, Alamo, in 1960. It has become the symbol of the American West6.

In 1956, Disneyland offered a small museum about the character in the section of the park called Frontierland. Life-size wax figures of Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsen, the actors playing the heroes of the series produced by Walt Disney Pictures, were presented in an Alamo setting. The museum quickly closed, but the wax mannequins were moved to nearby Tom Sawyer Island and were on view for several decades.

There is a statue of Davy Crockett in Tennessee. American history textbooks mention his life and his adventure. Theodore Roosevelt founded the Boone and Crockett Club in the late 19th century.
In the arts
Books

    Reuben Potter, The Alamo Falls, 1860
    William P. Zuber, The Alamo Survivor, 1873
    Tom Hill's Davy Crockett series. 14 titles published by Hachette, Bibliothèque rose. (1958-1972)
    Davy Crockett series by Fred Himley, (ie Louis Morvan). 8 titles published by Hachette, Bibliothèque rose. (1974-1980.)

1)- Davy Crockett and the Grand Sachem Pink Library, 1974. Illustrations by François Batet.

2)- Davy Crockett and the Mexican Bandits Pink Library, 1975. Illustrations by François Batet.

3)- Davy Crockett and the Pink Library Imposter, 1976. Illustrations by François Batet.

4)- Davy Crockett and Black Hawk Pink Library, 1976. Illustrations by François Batet.

5)- Davy Crockett and the English spy Pink Library, 1977. Illustrations by François Batet.

6)- The triumph of Davy Crockett Pink Library, 1978. Illustrations by François Batet.

7)- Davy Crockett and the five arrows Library