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"David Crockett: The Lion of the West" by Michael Wallis (W.W. Norton; ISBN 9780393067583, $27.95)

Many people know Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier; "born on a mountaintop in Tennessee, killed a bear when he was only three.” A simple homespun frontiersman dressed in buckskin clothing and wearing a coonskin cap, he lived an adventure-filled life, hunting, telling stories, fighting Indians as he pushed further and further west, dying a hero’s death at the Alamo in 1836.     

Davy Crockett is an American hero wrapped in legend and myth. The play, The Lion of the West, or a Trip to Washington, a farce featuring Colonel Nimrod Wildfire, a thinly disguised Colonel Crockett, opened in New York City in 1831. This play, most performed production in America until an 1852 staging of "Uncle Tom’s Cabin,"  was followed in 1833 by "The Life and Adventures of Colonel David Crockett of West Tennessee."  Crockett then wrote his autobiography, "A Narrative of the Life of David, Crockett, of the State of Tennessee."  More recently, of course, is the Disney-created Davy Crockett of the 1950s.   

Fewer people know David Crockett, also known as Colonel Crockett.  A war veteran, a skilled hunter, justice of the peace, a member of the Tennessee legislature, a member of the United States Congress and a public celebrity, he also owned slaves; failed at several business and farming endeavors; was in debt most years, and was targeted by political enemies, including President Andrew Jackson.       

Nothing is more difficult  to write about than an American hero, a mythical figure who symbolized three beliefs--the drive to the west; the worth of the ordinary people and the coming Age of the Common Man--that were emerging in the young United States. Making the task more difficult is writing, at the same time, about the historic figure.      

Wallis carefully and patiently separates the man from the myth; at the same time, he recognizes the power of the myth in American culture. His style, sometimes brisk and sometimes meandering, reflects two things; his travels through Crockett country in Tennessee, Texas and other places and, secondly, the depth of his research and thought as he read personal narratives, maps, letters and, of course, Crockett’s autobiography.   

Wallis considers the latter “a fairly reliable source,” much information in it can be supported by other accounts. A best-seller when published, it provides Wallis’ work with colorful episodes of Crockett’s youthful years, his bear hunts; his war experiences; his campaign methods which usually included tobacco and whiskey as vote-getting incentives; and his use of jokes, anecdotes, sayings and local idioms in his political career.    

In 1835 Crockett put on his hunting clothes, grabbed his rifle and got on his horse. Defeated in the election of 1835, separated from his wife and dreading the election ofMartin Van Buren to follow Andrew Jackson as president, he was ready to go hunting, go exploring and acquiring some land.  Like many men, he went to Texas and joined the volunteer army poised for conflict with the army of Mexico lead by General Santa Ana.  

Accounts of the battle of the Alamo and the death of Crockett on March 6, 1836, are many and varied. Wallis considers the strongest source for the event, a memoir of Jose Enrique de la Pena, a Mexican army officer present at the battle. Translated in 1975, the 680 page diary supports the version that Crockett was one of the seven survivors captured and executed.   

Described in 1827 as “... about 6 feet high, weighed two hundred pounds, had no surplus flesh, broad shouldered, stood erect, was a man of great physical strength, of fine appearance, his cheeks mantled with a rosy hue, eyes vivacious and in form, had no superior.” Davy/David Crockett is not easily captured in words, but Wallis succeeds in his portrayal of a simple, yet complex, man. After reading this book, you might think that you would like to sit down and drink a few horns of whiskey with David Crockett.   

Review by Joyce Suellentrop

David Crockett: The Lion of the West (Hardcover)

By Michael Wallis

$27.95

ISBN-13: 9780393067583
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: W. W. Norton & Company, 5/2011

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