orig. David Crockett
born Aug. 17, 1786, eastern Tennessee, U.S.
died March 6, 1836, San Antonio, Texas
U.S. frontiersman and politician.
He made a name for himself in the Creek War (181315). In 1821 he was elected to the Tennessee legislature, winning popularity through campaign speeches filled with yarns and homespun metaphors. He won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1827, 1829, and 1833. During his first congressional term, Crockett broke with Andrew Jackson and the new Democratic Party over Crockett's desire for preferential treatment of squatters occupying land in western Tennessee. The Whigs early courted and publicized Crockett in the hope of creating a popular "coonskin" politician to offset Jackson. In 1834 Crockett was conducted on a triumphal speech-making tour of Whig strongholds in the East. From the many stories about him in books and newspapers, there grew the legend of an eccentric but shrewd "b'ar hunter" and Indian fighter. In 1835 he went to Texas to join the war against Mexico and was killed at the Alamo .