Why Did Davy Crockett Surrender 140 Years After the Alamo Fell?

It was a Sunday afternoon at my Grandma Lucille's house.  I was sitting in the recliner, reading the Wichita Falls newspaper when I found a story about one of my favorite historical figures - Davy Crockett.  Like most boys, especially Texans, I was fascinated by Crockett.  I remember driving Mrs. Armstrong crazy at the Gruver Public Library finding books about Crockett when I was in second grade.  Oddly enough, I don't remember ever seeing the Disney movies starring Fess Parker.  They were released before my time.  I did see the movie starring John Wayne as Crockett several times.  If only he had made it to the armory with the torch!
Most of my knowledge about the siege of the Alamo came from books.  I read everything I could find from the time I was able to read through now.  I even read Crockett's autobiography when I was in Jr. High.  So I knew about Davy Crockett.  He lived in a log cabin, first in Kentucky, and later in Tennessee.  He became famous as a hunter, explorer, and especially as a storyteller.  Even though he wasn't born Texan, he definitely mastered the art of the tall tale.  My favorite was his claim that he could stare at a raccoon until it would just give up and come out of a tree.  Once he mistook a knothole for a raccoon's eyes.  He stared at it for hours before realizing his mistake.  In fact, he stared at it for so long that the edges of the knothole were worn smooth.

I knew that he had been elected to Congress by Tennessee voters and was a follower of fellow Tennessean,  President Andrew Jackson.  Only recently did learn about his falling out with Jackson over Jackson's Indian Removal Act.  He left Tennessee for Texas after losing his bid for reelection.  He led a group of Tennessee volunteers to the Alamo, where they joined Texas revolutionaries in the defense of the old mission.  Of course, I knew that there were no Texan survivors of the siege at the Alamo.  And that they died fighting.  The story of the battle and the defender's fall came from history texts that referred to newspaper stories from the time of the battle and diaries of Mexican soldiers and the few civilian survivors of the Alamo.  All told the same story.  The defenders knew that Santa Anna had ordered that all the Texans be killed - "no quarter" would be given.  Numerous accounts told of seeing Crockett's body in the plaza surrounded by dead Mexican soldiers.

So, you can imagine how surprised and outraged I was to read the newspaper article saying that Crockett and a few other Texan soldiers surrendered and were executed by Santa Anna's officers.  Where did the newspaper get this information that contradicted all the other accounts of the battle?  Now, I was only about 12 years old and inclined not to believe the new account anyway.  But even a 12 year old was suspicious of a newly discovered diary of a Mexican officer who was not only at the Alamo, but almost every other major event of the Texas revolution.  Then I read that the "diary" had never been authenticated.  It was written on at least five different types of paper, some dating years after Texas' war for independence, all cut to the same size to fit into the bound diary.  Later I read that the officer, Jose Enrique de la Pena, was not mentioned in any other account of the battle of the Alamo or any other battle mentioned in his "diary."

Now 35 years after the translation of the diary and its publication under the title, With Santa Anna in Texas:  A Personal Narrative of the Revolution, this is the accepted version of the events at the Alamo.  Why would respected historians change the story based on a very questionable document that contradicts accounts written at the time of the battle?

I think there are a couple of possibilities.  The first is to further demonize Santa Anna.  He was incompetent, both as a military leader and as president of Mexico.  His cruelty was demonstrated in his orders to take no prisoners, not only at the Alamo, but at other battles such as Goliad.  Taking no prisoners in battle is cruel enough, but to execute survivors of a 13 day siege goes beyond cruel.  I'm not sure what purpose would be served by adding more evidence supporting Santa Anna's already wretched reputation.

So, how does the revised history change the view of Crockett?  Even while still alive, he was bigger than life.  He was the epitome of the American ideal of self-reliance and integrity.  He was elected to Congress because his story (both the real story and the tall tales) was already known by almost everyone in America.  As a congressman, he showed his true character.  His first speech mentioned in records of Congress concern an appeal for aid to farmers in Georgia that suffered through a long drought.  His response, "We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the public money."  He then donated his own money to help the farmers.  What would happen today if members of Congress followed Crockett's lead?

As I mentioned before, one of Crockett's biggest supporters was President Andrew Jackson, a fellow Tennessean.  As president, Jackson advocated some very questionable policies, especially those affecting American Indians.  One of the most controversial was the Indian Removal Act that would move the so-called civilized tribes from their land in Florida and Georgia to reservations further west.  Jackson expected Crockett's support, but Crockett refused to support his president in an action that he believed was wrong.  "I was also a supporter of this administration after it came into power, and until the Chief Magistrate changed the principles which he professed before his election. When he quitted those principles, I quit him. I am yet a Jackson man in principles, but not in name... I shall insist upon it that I am still a Jackson man, but General Jackson is not; he has become a Van Buren man."  His refusal to go against his principles cost him Jackson's support in his reelection campaign in Tennessee and he lost his bid.  His most famous quote came after his defeat, directed to Jackson and Jackson's followers in Congress, "You all may go to hell.  I am going to Texas."   

According to several accounts, Crockett and his Tennessee volunteers had numerous opportunities to escape during the siege of the Alamo.  He and a couple of the volunteers actually did leave one night and led a group of volunteers back into the compound.  So Crockett and the others had the chance to save their own lives, but committed their lives to their cause and actually followed through on their commitment.  I really liked Billy Bob Thornton's interpretation of Crockett.  He portrayed Crockett as being trapped by his reputation.  He says to Bowie, "I would like to drop over that wall and just disappear.  But those boys are watching me.  What would they do if I left?"  He led by example and felt responsible for his volunteers.  The last entry in his diary says it all.  "Pop, pop, pop! Bom, bom, bom! throughout the day. No time for memorandums now. Go ahead! Liberty and Independence forever." 5 March 1836.

I think it's obvious from his quotes and his actions why current politicians and leaders would try to diminish Crockett's image.  In fact one of the sites I looked at in my research was from Texas A&M university.  They said that Crockett was one of the country's first celebrities.  "Sort of an 1800's Paris Hilton."  Would any of our current leaders compare favorably to Crockett?  As I said in yesterday's post, only by knowing what others have done, will we know what we are capable of doing.

Grandpa Doode's Last Vacation, Sam Bass, and Swimming Pigs

When I was about 12, we took a family trip to Padre Island and Corpus Christi.  My mom, dad, two sisters, Grandpa Doode, Grandma Lucille, and me all piled into one vehicle and took the trip from north Texas down to the coast.  I'm not sure what vehicle we took, those were the pre-minivan days.  For that many of us, we must have taken Dad's old International Harvester Scout.  I do remember a trip that LeAnne and I fought over who got to ride in the cargo area of the Scout.  So that must've been the trip.  I can't imagine any other vehicle where the seven of us and our luggage would have been able to travel the 400+ miles.  The cramped conditions are probably what prompted Grandma to inform us that this would probably be Grandpa's "last vacation."  The statement and her certainty about it shocked all of us, including Grandpa! 

We drove through Austin and saw the Capitol building.  I was impressed because it looked just like the pictures in the textbooks.  If my memory is accurate, we drove through on a weekend, so there were no tours.  And I definitely remember that it was a very seedy looking neighborhood.  I expected to see Huggy Bear from Starsky and Hutch on the street corner.  That may have been the real reason we didn't park and take a tour.

It's been a week without a football story, so here's one.  The son of Huggy Bear plays running back for the Oakland Raiders, or at least he did.  I think he may have been released after this past season.  He played on the national champion USC team that beat Texas in the Rose Bowl.  Oh wait, the LONGHORNS won that game!  It must have been another year that he played.

From Austin, we went south to San Marcos and Aquarena Springs, a small amusement park built around the San Marcos river.  The river is spring-fed and was perfectly clear.  We took a glass bottom boat tour and heard about the giant catfish that used to live in the park.  He escaped during a spring with heavy rain and was next seen on the front page of the local newspaper, the victim/trophy of a local trotline fisherman.  Sometimes the grass isn't greener on the other side of the fence.  The real highlight of the park was Ralph, the swimming pig.  The audience sat in bleachers and watched Ralph dive and swim with his human friends.  The bleachers were at and below the level of the water and behind a plexiglass wall, so you could see Ralph's little pig legs paddling like mad when he hit the water!  Cathy and I lived in San Marcos in the early 1990's.  When we visited Aquarena Springs, there was no Ralph.  Since the park was being run by the University, Ralph was probably retired due to political correctness.  He has used his retirement years to learn computer skills.  He now has his own Facebook page.  I bet Grandma Lucille never dreamed she would see the day when a swimming pig had his own page on the internet!

A little further south in San Antonio, we visited the Alamo.  It's hard to imagine the scene of the battle right in the middle of downtown in one of the ten largest cities in the country.  The Alamo compound was a church, not a fort, so other than the famous arched church front, none of the site looks like you would imagine.  When the city was repairing the streets downtown in the 90's, they did a lot of archeological studies, looking for the Alamo's well and of course the required lost treasure that always goes with such legendary sites.  I learned that the site of the actual final battle at the Alamo was at Wendy's, a couple of blocks from the shrine.  Some myths should not be burst.  One of my most vivid memories is of the old Buckhorn Saloon down the street from the Alamo.  It is an old west type saloon filled with mounted big game trophies from all over the world and a huuuge collection of antlers.  

Our San Antonio visit was only a few years after the World's Fair was held in the city.  The HemisFair tower was a reasonably new attraction in the city that we had to experience.  An elevator ride to the top of the tower took us to the rotating platform where you could see the entire city and look down on the Alamo.  My youngest sister, Lori, stepped between the warning signs and dropped a bobby pin over the edge to watch it fall.  Mom lectured us all on the dangers of dropping something as small as a dime from such a height.  She could've dropped that hair pin on Grandma Lucille (she and Grandpa Doode didn't go to the top, Grandma doesn't like heights).

I don't remember much about Corpus Christi or Padre Island.  I have never been much of a beach person.  It's hot, humid, the sand never feels as good on your feet as you think it will, and it smells like dead fish.  So, no, I'm not impressed, although years later, I did like the Oregon coast with its redwood tree driftwood.  No redwoods in Texas,so the only thing I remember liking was the fried fish at the little shack on stilts right on the beach.  And I was probably more impressed with the shack on stilts than I was with the fish!


The part of the trip everyone remembers most was the drive between San Antonio and Corpus.  Lori was maybe three at the time, and she had had enough fun for the day.  She started a hundred mile tantrum and for such a little girl, she could wail. 
Finally we reached a point where even Grandma Lucille had run out of patience (I think Grandpa Doode had turned off his hearing aid).  Dad pulled over and Lori and Mom went for a "walk."  Mom's walks didn't involve much walking and definitely didn't leave you in a mood for sitting afterward, if you get my drift.  As an aside, never trust her when she asks if you want to go see the horses during a church service either.  Lori came back much subdued and we actually enjoyed a little peace at the end of the drive.  As we neared the end of the trip, Mom said, "well that whooping seemed to have done a little good."  Lori said, "yeah, but I might still need another one later."

 On the return trip, we went to Longhorn Caverns near Burnet.  It is not a large cavern, but it was a fun trip.  The guide told stories about the Comanches using the cavern as a hideout when the Texas Rangers were chasing them.  It was also a speakeasy during Prohibition, complete with dance floor and chandeliers hanging next to the stalactites.  The guide informed us that it was also a hideout used by the infamous murderer, stagecoach robber, and gunfighter, Sam Bass.  Grandma Lucille was embarrassed, but still needed to tell us that Bass was a distant relative to her side of the family.  She did not hesitate to tell us of the relation, probably because if she didn't Grandpa would.  And he would say it loud enough that someone else might hear.  Then she would really be embarrassed.  She would never understand the modern need of people to air their dirty laundry on national television.  

It seems like we did a lot on this trip.  It might also have been the trip that we spent a day with Grandma's sister and visited the space center in Houston.  Lilly worked for Texas Instruments and they had just come out with the portable calculator.  Portable for the 1970's, it was sized somewhere between a Blackberry and a netbook, only about twice as thick as either.  Lilly's husband showed us a trick with a riddle whose answer was ShellOil.  When you did the math on the calculator, the answer was 71077345.  Turn the calculator upside down and the red LED numbers spelled ShELLOiL.  Primitive nerd humor.  Being kids, LeAnne and I soon figured out that if you left off the S and the oil, you could spell hell on the calculator.  We probably spent an hour giggling over that, all the time watching to make sure Mom didn't catch us.  We were definitely the rebels!

Quite an eventful trip for Grandpa Doode's last vacation.  Well last if you don't count those trips to Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and South Dakota and stops in between.  Even Lori survived to take a couple of more vacations.