Today In Western History: The play “The Lion of the West” opens

 

The play The Lion of the West opens in New York City, today in 1831.    It was the first of many plays, books, and 

Davy Crockett, Indian fighter, politician, and hero of the Alamo
Davy Crockett, Indian fighter, politician, and hero of the Alamo

movies celebrating Davy Crockett.  It stars James Hackett as a parody of Davy, a character called Nimrod Wildfire.

Born in 1786 in Tennessee, Crockett grew up in a poor family that hired him out as a cattle drover at age 12. He eventually settled in middle Tennessee, where he became famous for his skill as a professional hunter. The Tennessee forests of  were still filled with game at that time, and Crockett once killed 105 bears in a single season.

Andrew Jackson, Indian fighter and President; responsible for the Trail of Tears
Andrew “Old Hickory” Jackson, Indian fighter and President; responsible for the Trail of Tears

After a stint fighting Indians with future president, Andrew Jackson, Crockett began a career in politics, eventually becoming a Tennessee state representative in 1821. As a state legislator, Crockett was a strong advocate for the rights of squatters who were claiming land on the frontier without legal permission. At the same time, the political fortunes of his old commander, Andrew Jackson, were on the rise. When Jackson became president in 1828, he pointed to Crockett as a symbol of the frontier values and spirit he believed should be adopted throughout the nation.

Politics alone, however, would not have ensured Crockett’s enduring status as an American hero. For that, only the 19th-century version of Hollywood would be adequate. In 1831, the play The Lion of the West opened at New York City’s Park Theater. Starring the popular actor James Hackett as a legendary frontiersman named Colonel Nimrod Wildfire, the play was a thinly disguised and highly exaggerated account of Crockett’s life.  Two years later, the play was followed by an equally larger-than-life biography, Sketches and Eccentricities of Colonel David Crockett of West Tennessee.

After Crockett died at the Alamo in 1836, along with fellow frontiersman James Bowie, William Barrett Travis and nearly two hundred other volunteers, his posthumous transformation from mortal man to mythic martyr was almost inevitable. A bogus 1836 autobiography portrayed him as an American Hercules and established many of the tall tales that would remain forever associated with his name.

Fess Parker, as Walt Disney's Davy Crockett
Fess Parker, as Walt Disney’s Davy Crockett

In the 20th century, Crockett’s fame waned for a time, but Walt Disney revived the legend. In 1954, Disney began producing a series of movies and television programs featuring the actor Fess Parker as Crockett. The series was a ratings blockbuster, and it led to the largest media-generated commercial craze up until that time. Children all across America clamored for coonskin caps, powder horns, books, and records so that they could be just like their idol, Davy Crockett.

 

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Today In Western History: Goliad Massacre

In a disastrous setback for the Texans resisting Santa Anna’s dictatorial regime, the Mexican army defeats and executes 417 Texas revolutionaries at Goliad today in 1836.

Long accustomed to enjoying considerable autonomy from their Mexican rulers, many Anglo Texan settlers reacted with alarm when Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna proclaimed himself dictator of Mexico

 

General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

in 1835. Santa Anna immediately imposed martial law and attempted to disarm the Texans. Yet, this move merely fed the flames of Texan resistance.

In November 1835, Texan leaders proclaimed their resistance to Santa Anna’s dictatorship, though they stopped short of calling for independence. The next month, the Texans managed to defeat 800 Mexican soldiers stationed in San Antonio. However, the rebel leaders remained deeply divided over what to do next, making them vulnerable to Santa Anna’s ruthless determination to suppress any further dissension.  While the Texas rebels dallied, Santa Anna moved decisively. In mid-February he led a massive Mexican army across the Rio Grande, and after a 13-day siege of the Alamo, crushed the rebels in San Antonio. Meanwhile, to the south, Santa Ann’s chief lieutenant, General Urrea, moved to destroy another faction of the rebel army attempting to defend the town of Goliad.

Disagreements among the Texans had led to a division of the rebel forces. James W. Fannin was left

 

James Walker Fannin - leader of the failed mission to support the defenders at the Alamo
James Walker Fannin – leader of the failed mission to support the defenders at the Alamo

with only slightly more than 300 Texans to protect Goliad, a position the rebels needed in order to maintain their supply routes to the Gulf Coast. As Urrea’s much larger 1400-man army approached, Fannin acted with indecision, wondering if he should go to the aid of the besieged men at the Alamo.

Belatedly, Fannin attempted to fall back from the approaching Mexican army, but his retreat order came too late. On March 19, Urrea surrounded the small column of rebel soldiers on an open prairie, where they were trapped without food, water, or cover. After repulsing one Mexican assault, Fannin realized there was no chance of escape. Rather than see his force annihilated, Fannin surrendered.

Apparently, some among the Texans who surrendered believed they would be treated as prisoners of war. Santa Anna, however, had clearly stated several months before that he considered the rebels to be traitors who would be given no quarter. In obedience to Santa Anna’s orders, on this day in 1836 Urrea ordered his men to open fire on Fannin and his soldiers, along with about 100 other captured Texans. More than 400 men were executed that day at Goliad.

Ironically, rather than serving to crush the Texas rebellion, the Goliad Massacre helped inspire and unify the Texans. Now determined to break completely from Mexico, the Texas revolutionaries began to yell “Remember Goliad!” along with the more famous battle cry, “Remember the Alamo!” Less than a month later, Texan forces under General Sam Houston dealt a stunning blow to Santa Anna’s army in

Sam Houston, Texas Governor and Hero of Texas’s War of Independence

the Battle of San Jacinto, and Texas won its independence.

 

 

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Today In Western History: The Alamo Becomes Legend

March 6 —

The Alamo  (as it looked at the battle)
The Alamo
(as it looked at the battle)

Today at 5pm, in 1836, a dreadful silence breaks out over a former mission and important but indefensible fort. The shelling is over, and the uneasy quiet is louder than the shelling that had preceded it.  On 6 March 1836, at the Battle of the Alamo, Santa Anna’s forces killed 189 Texan defenders and later executed more than 342 Texan prisoners including James Walker Fannin at the Goliad Massacre (27 March 1836) in a manner similar to the

James Walker Fannin - leader of the failed mission to support the defenders at the Alamo
James Walker Fannin – leader of the failed mission to support the defenders at the Alamo

executions he witnessed of Mexican rebels in the 1810s as a young soldier. The few survivors are quickly rounded up and executed by order of the commanding general, Antonio De Lopez Santa Anna.   It was his intention to

General Antonio Lopez de    Santa Anna
General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

prevent the men from re-grouping and coming after him, as well as to prevent them from becoming martyrs. The defeat at the Alamo however served its real purpose of buying time for General Sam Houston and his Texas forces.

Sam Houston
Sam Houston,
Texas Governor and Hero of Texas’s War of Independence

Houston and his soldiers defeated Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto on 21 April 1836, with the Texan army shouting “Remember Goliad, Remember the Alamo!” The day after the battle, on 22 April, a small band of Texan forces led by James Sylvester captured Santa Anna, dressed in a dragoon private’s uniform and hiding in a marsh.

                                                                                      

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Today In Western History: The Alamo Falls

Today at 5:00pm, in 1836, a dreadful silence breaks out over a former mission and important but indefensible, and undermanned fort as the shelling stops. The shelling is over, and the uneasy quiet is louder than the shelling that had preceded it.  The leader of the men in the makeshift fort, Col. William Barrett Travis  uses the time to separate

William Barrett Travis, Commander of the Alamo
William Barrett Travis,
Commander of the Alamo

the men from the boys as he takes his sword and draws a line in the sand.  Anyone who wishes to leave the fort may do so without question or shame, as those who stay behind are aware they are fighting to the death.   One hundred and eighty-seven men will cross the line to stand beside him.  Of these men, some are recognizable names to the world.  One is a former congressman from Tennessee, David Crockett, known to all as Davy Crockett.  Another man

Davy Crockett, Indian fighter, politician, and hero of the Alamo
Davy Crockett, Indian fighter, politician, and hero of the Alamo

is a citizen of the bayous, and a well-known fighter in his own right, known for the fancy piece of cutlery named in

Bowie knife 300px

 

James Bowie, Hero of the Alamo
James Bowie,
Hero of the Alamo

his honor.  He is James Bowie, known to all as the great knife-fighter, Jim Bowie.  The men at the Alamo know what they are dying for, it is their task to buy time for General Sam Houston to turn his undisciplined Texas forces into

Sam Houston
Sam Houston, Texas Governor and Hero of Texas’s War of Independence

a real army to defeat General Santa Anna.  Across the way, General Antonio De Lopez Santa Anna prepares for the

General Antonio Lopez de    Santa Anna
General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

coming battle.  The fort itself is not the real issue, the real reason for taking the fort is sending a message to the rebels about the uselessness of resistance to his will.  He will take the fort, and punish the traitors and rebels for their insolence and disrespect of his power.  He will not be defeated by this rabble.

                                                                                      

                                                                                      

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