Davy Crockett is known throughout the world as one of the greatest hunters, marksmen, and Indian fighters who ever lived. Throughout Davy's life, he was a very famous celebrity in the United States. Even after his death, everyone talked about Davy Crockett and his heroic deeds, whether it was his fighting Indians, his bear hunting, his marksmanship, his seat in Congress, his rural humor , his telling stories or his heroic actions. at the Alamo, people couldn't get enough of him. Everyone knew him and his deeds, and we still hear about him today. There are many books written about his life; biographies, his autobiography, other factual books, children's picture books, and storybooks. However, books are not the only way we hear about Davy, there are many films about him and there was even a TV show made about his adventures many years ago. Davy Crockett is one of the most beloved American frontiersmen of all time, but not everyone knows his entire story. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Davy Crockett was born on August 17, 1786, in a cabin in Greene County, in the backwoods of Tennessee. He was the fifth of nine children born to Rebecca and John Crockett. Rebecca's maiden name was Hawkins, and she and her family moved to the United States from Ireland many years before she met John Crockett. John Crockett had fought in the Revolutionary War. When Davy was a child, John was just a poor farmer, and Rebecca worked around the house and sewed cloth and things like that. Soon after Davy's birth the family moved to the Nolachucky River Valley. When they were growing up, the Crocketts never stayed in one place for a long period of time. It seemed that the family could not thrive in the same place for long. In short order, in 1790, the family moved to Greenville, Tennessee, about ten miles up the Nolachucky River valley. Without remaining there long, they all moved to the mouth of Cove Creek when Davy was seven years old. John Crockett and a partner b! he built a mill there, but it was swept away during a flood. The Crocketts eventually made their way to Jefferson County where John opened a tavern on the road from Abingdon to Knoxville in 1795. The tavern was primarily for teamsters who stopped to spend the night on their journey through Jefferson County. At the tavern Davy did various jobs to help his father. One night in 1798, when Davy was twelve years old, a Dutchman named Jacob Silers came to spend a few nights at the tavern. John Crockett was short of money, so he decided to hire Davy in Silers. Davy was to help Silers drive a herd of cattle to Rockbridge County, Virginia. Davy had never been away from home in his life, so he left with a heavy heart. Jacob Silers was good to Davy, though he was a man of few words. Silers always carried his gun with him. Silers taught Davy how to hunt, shoot, and care for a rifle. Davy had a good teacher and for the rest of his life those skills would come in handy. After Davy and Jacob arrived at their destination, Silers was supposed to give Davy five dollars and Davy would return home. After reaching their destination, Silers asked Davy if he would like to stay with him a little longer, and Davy agreed. Davy grew to love the old man and continued to stay with Jacob Silers and help him. Davy was starting to get sev! he was very homesick, but he didn't want to disappoint Silers by telling him he had to go. One day, when Davy was bringing back the animals he hadfired, he met a carter. The carter recognized him from one of his stays at the Crockets tavern. Davy and the teamster began talking, and the teamster offered to take Davy back to John Crocket's tavern as he passed by. Davy agreed to meet the teamster seven miles down the road the next night. So the next night, about two in the morning, Davy quietly got out of bed and packed his belongings. Davy walked seven miles in knee-deep snow, in the darkness, to meet the teamster. Davy rode in the wagon for a few days, but he felt that the wagon was going very slowly and he began to get impatient. Davy decided he could get there faster by walking, so he thanked the teamster and set off home on foot. He walked for many miles and days, and became hungry and weak. Luckily for Davy, he met a man on a horse. The knight saw Davys' misfortune! good condition, and told Davy he could ride for a while with his extra horse. Davy gratefully accepted his offer and rode on horseback for many miles, but then the time came for the man to take a different path. By then Davy had rested, so he continued on his way. He walked only fifteen more miles and was finally home in 1799. Not long after returning home, Davy had to go to school. There was a bully at school named Angus McGruffy. He was two years older than Davy. Every day Angus picked on the children and stole their lunches. One day Angus told Davy that it was his turn to take a nice reward from him, as he did with all the new arrivals at school to make sure they knew who was boss. Angus told Davy to meet him on the top of a wooded hill the next day so they could fight where the school teacher, Mr. (Ben) Kitchen, would not see them. So the next day Davy met the bully on the spot. The other children at the school gathered to watch them fight. They were all sure that Angus would win, because no one had ever won against Angus before. Davy and Angus started fighting and it was a very close fight until the end, when Davy was on top of a badly beaten Angus and was threatening to smash his skull in with a stone, so Angus shouted at his uncle and Davy got into a fight. When Davy was coming home from the sch! At home, after arguing with his older brothers, he made them promise not to tell their father what had happened, and they accepted. That night Davy thought about what had happened and came to the conclusion that if he went back to school the next day, Mr. Kitchen would have whipped Davy even worse than he had beaten Angus. So he decided not to go to school the next day. So the next day he left for school together with his brothers and sisters, but halfway he ran into the woods to spend the day. There in the woods he thought about the incident again and decided to skip the next few days until Angus and Mr. Kitchen had forgotten about it. When it came time for the school children to go home, he would join his brothers on the walk home, so his parents wouldn't suspect a thing. But after about a week, Mr Kitchen got in touch with Davy's father to ask him why Davy hadn't been to school for so long. Together, Davy's teacher and father realized that Davy had been skipping school. The next day John Crockett asked Davy why he hadn't gone to school. Davy tried to explain that if he went back, the teacher would beat him, but John Crockett had no sympathy and told Davy that if he didn't go to school, he would beat him twice as hard as the teacher would. But Davy still refused to go to school, so John Crockett chased him toschool with a stick, but Davy ran into the woods before he got to the school and hid in a tree. Now, Davy couldn't go home, for fear of being beaten. So he began to wander, not knowing where to go. One day he met a cattle rancher named Jeff Cheek. Davy asked him if he could help him, Jeff said he already had enough help, but Davy convinced Jeff to hire him. After Davy worked for Jeff for a while, Jeff paid Davy. Davy was about to return home, but changed his mind, however, Davy ran out of money. Davy continued working. He worked for teamsters and farmers. The following spring he worked as a plowman. There he earned twenty-five cents a day. After that job, he met a teamster and went with him to Baltimore. Davy gave the carter all his money, seven dollars, to hold back for a while. There in Baltimore, for the first time in his life, Davy saw ships sailing the ocean. Davy was awed and climbed aboard. On it he met the captain and signed up for a voyage to London and back. They were supposed to do the casting that same night. Davy returned from the carter to! and asked for his seven dollars and his things back. The carter refused to give him both his money and his belongings. He said that whoever Davy's parents were would not be happy with him for letting their son go to sea without their consent, so the carter would not allow Davy to have his things or go to sea. Davy ran away from the carter. He managed to recover his belongings, but left penniless. Soon he met another teamster along the way. His name was Henry Meyers. Davy told his story to the carter. Henry said he would go to the previous carter and take Davy's money back from him, if necessary, by force. Meyers and Davy found the other teamster. Meyers threatened to harm the other teamster if he did not return Davy's money. The carter claimed not to have Davy's money, nor his own money. The man seemed so pitiful to Meyers and Davy that they left him alone. Meyers and Davy traveled together for several days. During stops at taverns, Davy told more wa! doomed about how he lost all his money to the bad carter. The teamsters felt very sorry for Davy and gave him the change. In all he raised three dollars. Davy separated from Meyers at the Montgomery Courthouse in Virginia. There he worked as a farmer for a month and ended up with five dollars. Then he worked for a hatter, and did various other jobs to earn money. Finally he decided to return home. So he got a canoe and continued canoeing until he returned home a few weeks later. After two and a half years of questioning, Davy returned home in 1802. He went to his family's tavern and had dinner there. No one recognized him, because he had changed drastically and was a new man. But finally, when the meal was almost finished, his sister recognized him. He and his family talked and all was forgiven. John Crockett made good use of his son's return. Davy was hired by Abraham Wilson and then by John Kennedy, to whom his father owed money. Davy didn't like working for Wilson, but he liked working for Kennedy. Davy's work repaid his father's debts to these men. After Davy finished working and after all debts were paid, he decided to return to John Kennedy and work for him. Davy earned some money from Kennedy and with that money he bought some clothes, a horse and a rifle. Kennedy's son had a small school. There Davy learned to read and write a little and do simple arithmetic. Shortly thereafter, in 1804 Davy courted a girl named Maggie Elder. Maggie and Davy were supposed to get married, but before thatIf that happened, she left him, but he quickly recovered and after thinking about it, decided that he didn't like Maggie very much anyway. Davy often participated in shooting matches and always won. After the games it was always a party. At one of the parties, an old Irish woman approached him and told him that she had a girlfriend for him. He introduced Davy to his daughter, Polly. Polly's real name was Marry Finely, but she went by Polly for short. She was sixteen and Davy was eighteen when they met. He lived about fifteen miles from Davy. Davy and Polly fell in love and married on 16 August 1806, one day before Davy's twentieth birthday. The new couple rented a small farm with a cabin. Davy farmed there and Polly did the housework. Together Davy and Polly had three children together, John Wesley in 1807, William in 1809 and then Margaret later. Davy and family lived in the mountains of eastern Tennessee for many years. Then the family moved to Lincoln County, near the Alabama border. In 1810 Davy and his new family moved to the head of Mulberry Fork on the Elk River in Lincoln County, Tennessee. In 1813 they moved again to the Rattlesnake Spring branch of Beans Creek, Tennessee. They have a farm there, and Davy called it Kentuck. In September 1813 Davy began his military career. He enlisted in the militia as a scout under Major Gibson at Winchester, Tennessee, to avenge an Indian attack on Fort Mims, Alabama. The Creeks were angry that they had given up their land to white settlers. On November 3, under the command of General Andrew Jackson, he participated in the vengeful massacre of the Indian town of Tallussahatchee. Hundreds of Creek Indians and settlers were brutally killed, and the Creek Indian War is often referred to as Big Bloody. General Andrew Jackson appointed Davy as scoutmaster. Davy provided most of the soldiers' meat and entertained them with stories at night. In 1814 the war ended. During the course of the war, Davy developed a strong dislike for Andrew Jackson and a great respect for the Indians. Davy returned home soon after the war. When Davy returned home, Polly was well for a time, but later fell ill and died in the spring of 1815, shortly after Margaret's birth. After Polly's death, Davy had difficulty caring for his three children, because he had no experience caring for children. Some of the nearby women helped Davy from time to time. Then Davy met a widow whose husband died during the Creek War. Her name was Elizabeth Patton. She was a robust, intelligent and practical woman. He had a son and daughter of his own. Davy needed someone to take care of his children, so he and Elizabeth married. A few months after the wedding, Davy and Elizabeth headed west. They were accompanied by three of his neighbors. One night they all camped near the Old City of the Black Warriors, near where Davy fought in the Big Bloody. During the night the horses broke loose and ran away. In the morning Davy went to follow them on foot. It was getting dark and he still hadn't found them and was starting to get seriously ill, so he spent the night in one of the settlers' houses in the area. In the morning he felt no better, but set out to meet his companions again. Before he reached them, he became too weak to continue. Two friendly Indians found him lying on the side of the trail and helped him get to the nearest house, which was the home of Jesse Jones, one of the first settlers of the West. Davy stayed with Jesse for a week. After recovering, he returned to his home in Tennessee. A year later Davy went to explore new lands. He traveled eighty miles, then fell ill with malaria. He decided he might as well settle there at Shoal Creek. Shoal Creek was where Davy got his start.