Editing Davy Crockett (section)

==Texas Revolution==
[[File:Davy Crockett by John Gadsby Chapman.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Davy Crockett by [[John Gadsby Chapman]]]]
By December 1834, Crockett was writing to friends about moving to [[Texas]] if Jackson's chosen successor [[Martin Van Buren]] was elected president. The next year, he discussed with his friend [[Benjamin McCulloch]] raising a company of volunteers to take to Texas in the expectation that a revolution was imminent.{{sfn|Cobia|2003|pages=21–22}} His departure to Texas was delayed by a court appearance in the last week of October as co-executor of his deceased father-in-law's estate; he finally left his home near [[Rutherford, Tennessee|Rutherford]] in West Tennessee with three other men on November 1, 1835, to explore Texas.{{sfn|Derr|1983|pages=225–226}} His youngest child Matilda later wrote that she distinctly remembered the last time that she saw her father:

{{blockquote|He was dressed in his hunting suit, wearing a [[coonskin cap]], and carried a fine rifle presented to him by friends in Philadelphia.&nbsp;... He seemed very confident the morning he went away that he would soon have us all to join him in Texas.{{sfn|Cobia|2003|page=25}}}}

Crockett traveled with 30 well-armed men to [[Jackson, Tennessee]], where he gave a speech from the steps of the [[Madison County, Tennessee|Madison County]] courthouse, and they arrived in [[Little Rock, Arkansas]], on November 12, 1835. The local newspapers reported that hundreds of people swarmed into town to get a look at Crockett, and a group of leading citizens put on a dinner in his honor that night at the Jeffries Hotel. Crockett spoke "mainly to the subject of Texan independence", as well as Washington politics.{{sfn|Cobia|2003|pages=40–44}}

Crockett arrived in [[Nacogdoches, Texas]], in early January 1836. On January 14, he and 65 other men signed an oath before Judge John Forbes to the Provisional Government of Texas for six months: "I have taken the oath of government and have enrolled my name as a volunteer and will set out for the [[Rio Grande]] in a few days with the volunteers from the United States." Each man was promised about {{convert|4600|acre}} of land as payment. On February 6, he and five other men rode into [[San Antonio de Bexar]] and camped just outside the town.

[[File:FalloftheAlamo.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.3|''The Fall of the Alamo'' by [[Robert Jenkins Onderdonk]] depicts Davy Crockett swinging his rifle at Mexican troops who have breached the south gate of the mission.]]

Crockett arrived at the [[Alamo Mission in San Antonio]] on February 8.{{sfn|Hardin|1994|page=117}} A Mexican army arrived on February 23 led by General [[Antonio López de Santa Anna]], surprising the men garrisoned in the Alamo, and the Mexican soldiers immediately [[Siege of the Alamo|initiated a siege]].{{sfn|Edmondson|2000|page=299}}{{sfn|Todish|Todish|Spring|1998|page=40}} Santa Anna ordered his artillery to keep up a near-constant bombardment. The guns were moved closer to the Alamo each day, increasing their effectiveness. On February 25, 200–300 Mexican soldiers crossed the San Antonio River and took cover in abandoned shacks approximately {{convert|90|to|100|yd|m}} from the Alamo walls.{{sfn|Todish|Todish|Spring|1998|pages=42–43}}{{sfn|Tinkle|1985|page=118}} The soldiers intended to use the huts as cover to establish another artillery position, although many [[Texian]]s assumed that they actually were launching an assault on the fort.{{sfn|Tinkle|1985|page=119}} Several men volunteered to burn the huts.{{sfn|Lord|1961|page=109}} To provide cover, the Alamo cannons fired [[grapeshot]] at the Mexican soldiers, and Crockett and his men fired rifles, while other defenders reloaded extra weapons for them to use in maintaining a steady fire. The battle was over within 90 minutes,{{sfn|Tinkle|1985|page=119}} and the Mexican soldiers retreated.{{sfn|Nofi|1992|page=83}} There were limited stores of powder and shot inside the Alamo, and Alamo commander [[William Barret Travis]] ordered the artillery to stop returning fire on February 26 so as to conserve precious ammunition. Crockett and his men were encouraged to keep shooting, as they were unusually effective.{{sfn|Hardin|1994|page=132}}

[[File:Davy Crockett knife.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|A knife purportedly used by Davy Crockett during the [[Battle of the Alamo]]]]
As the siege progressed, Travis sent many messages asking for reinforcements. Several messengers were sent to [[James Fannin]] who commanded the group of Texian soldiers at [[Presidio La Bahia]] in [[Goliad, Texas]]. Fannin decided that it was too risky to reinforce the Alamo, although historian Thomas Ricks Lindley concludes that up to 50 of Fannin's men left his command to go to Bexar.{{sfn|Lindley|2003|page=137}} These men would have reached Cibolo Creek on the afternoon of March 3, {{convert|35|mi|km}} from the Alamo, where they joined another group of men who also planned to join the garrison.{{sfn|Lindley|2003|page=138}}

There was a skirmish between Mexican and Texian troops that same night outside the Alamo.{{sfn|Lindley|2003|page=143}} Historian [[Walter Lord]] speculates that the Texians were creating a diversion to allow their courier John Smith to evade Mexican pickets.{{sfn|Lindley|2003|page=143}} However, Alamo survivor [[Susannah Dickinson]] said in 1876 that Travis sent out three men shortly after dark on March 3, probably a response to the arrival of Mexican reinforcements. The three men—including Crockett—were sent to find Fannin.{{sfn|Lindley|2003|page=140}} Lindley states that Crockett and one of the other men found the force of Texians waiting along Cibolo Creek just before midnight; they had advanced to within {{convert|20|mi|km}} of the Alamo. Just before daylight on March 4, part of the Texian force managed to break through the Mexican lines and enter the Alamo. A second group was driven across the prairie by Mexican cavalry.{{sfn|Lindley|2003|page=142}}

The siege ended on March 6 when the Mexican army attacked just before dawn while the defenders were sleeping. The daily artillery bombardment had been suspended, perhaps a ploy to encourage the natural human reaction to a cessation of constant strain. But the garrison awakened and the final fight began. Most of the noncombatants gathered in the church [[sacristy]] for safety. According to Dickinson, Crockett paused briefly in the chapel to say a prayer before running to his post.{{sfn|Edmondson|2000|page=363}} The Mexican soldiers climbed up the north outer walls of the Alamo complex, and most of the Texians fell back to the barracks and the chapel, as previously planned.{{sfn|Todish|Todish|Spring|1998|page=53}} Crockett and his men, however, were too far from the barracks to take shelter{{sfn|Lord|1961|page=162}} and were the last remaining group to be in the open. They defended the low wall in front of the church, using their rifles as clubs and relying on knives, as the action was too furious to allow reloading. After a volley and a charge with [[bayonet]]s, Mexican soldiers pushed the few remaining defenders back toward the church.{{sfn|Edmondson|2000|page=368}}

[[File:San Antonio 067.JPG|thumb|right|A coffin in the [[Cathedral of San Fernando (San Antonio)|San Fernando Cathedral]] purports to hold the ashes of the Alamo defenders. However, historians believe it more probable that the ashes were buried near the Alamo.]]

The [[Battle of the Alamo]] lasted almost 90 minutes,{{sfn|Petite|1999|page=114}} and all of the defenders were killed. Santa Anna ordered his men to take their bodies to a nearby stand of trees, where they were stacked together and wood piled on top.{{sfn|Edmondson|2000|page=374}} That evening, they lit a fire and burned their bodies to ashes.{{sfn|Petite|1999|page=139}} The ashes were left undisturbed until February 1837, when Juan Seguin and his cavalry returned to Bexar to examine the remains. A local carpenter created a simple coffin, and ashes from the funeral pyres were placed inside. The names of Travis, Crockett, and [[James Bowie|Bowie]] were inscribed on the lid.{{sfn|Petite|1999|page=131}} The coffin is thought to have been buried in a peach tree grove, but the spot was not marked and can no longer be identified.{{sfn|Petite|1999|page=132}}