David (Davy) Crockett, was born 17 August 1786 in a small cabin on the banks of the Nolichucky River, near Limestone, Tennessee. Crockett was the fifth of nine children and the fifth son born to John and Rebecca Hawkins Crockett.

Crockett was perhaps best known in Tennessee as a noted hunter. He killed 105 bears between 1822 and 1823.

It was not until he was eighteen before he learned to read and write (as clever as me that I learned to wave my arm bye when I was twenty).

He married Polly Finlay (in 1806) and started a family of several children.

He was commander of a battalion in the Creek Indian War in 1813-1814. He was a member of the Tennessee legislature in 1821-1822 and again in 1823-1824, and of the twentieth Congress of the United States in the years 1827-1829, in the twenty-first Congress, 1829-1831 and again, in the twenty-third Congress, 1833-1835. To be a representative in the Tennessee legislature and then serve honorably as a member of Congress of the United States, was quite a feat for one with less than six months schooling. His motto was, "Be always sure you are right, then go ahead."

From Tennessee he went to Texas to aid the Texans in their struggle for independence in 1836.

While on his way to 'El Alamo' he said:

“You may all go to hell and I will go to Texas”

Crockett and a few of his fellow Tennesseans were among the 189 defenders that sacrificed their lives at The Battle of 'El Alamo' in the interest on Texas independence.

They say that he was assassinated there in that battle which ended on March 6, 1836 and that his body along with those others that were killed were destroyed in a funeral pyre at the Alamo.

There is controversy over how he was killed and by whom. Most speculation is that Crockett tried to kill General Santa Anna, and he was killed upon attacking him, but others state he was captured and then killed.

But the question remains: did Davy Crockett die fighting, or was he captured and then executed at the Alamo?