Free David Crockett by Michael Wallis Page A

Books)
     

     
    Congressional credentials issued to David Crockett. (National Archives and Records Administration)
     

     
    Page 576 of a 1774 edition of Ovid’s Metamorphoses with Crockett’s 1832 signature. (Special Collections Library, University of Tennessee, Knoxville)
     

     
    Engraving by artist Asher B. Durand based on an 1834 watercolor portrait of Crockett on paper, painted by Anthony Lewis De Rose. (Print Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation)
     

     
    Lithograph depicting President Jackson seated on a collapsing chair, with the “Altar of Reform” toppling next to him, 1831. The scurrying rats are (left to right): Secretary of War John H. Eaton, Secretary of the Navy John Branch, Secretary of State Martin Van Buren, and Secretary of the Treasury Samuel D. Ingham. (Lithograph by Edward W. Clay)
     

     
    U.S. President James Knox Polk, a fellow Tennesseean and political adversary of Crockett. Daguerrotype by Mathew B. Brady, February 14, 1849. (Mathew B. Brady, photographer)
     

     
    Map of the Mexican state of Texas, 1835, compiled by Stephen F. Austin. (James P. Bryant Collection, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin)
     

     
    William Barret Travis, the ambitious and quick-tempered Alamo commander. (Courtesy of Texas State Library and Archives Commission)
     

     
    The site of David Crockett’s death on March 6, 1836. (Michael Wallis Collection)
     

     
    The only known oil-painting portrait of the notorious James Bowie, painted from life, circa 1820. Frontiersman, land speculator, and slave trader, Bowie died at the Alamo on March 6, 1836. (Alleged portrait of Bowie attributed to various artists, including William Edward West [1788–1857])
     

     
    Mexican military map of San Antonio de Bexar and the Alamo fortifications, compiled by Colonel Ygnacio de Labastida, March 1836. (Map Collection, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin)
     

     
    This rare image—an 1849 daguerrotype of the Alamo chapel by an unknown photographer—is the earliest known extant photograph taken in Texas. It is also the only known photograph of the Alamo taken before it was repaired and rebuilt by the U.S. Army in 1850. (Dolph and Janey Briscoe Collection, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin)
     

     
    Equestrian portrait of Antonio López de Santa Anna, president of Mexico, general in chief of the Army of Operations, and commander of Mexican forces at the siege of the Alamo. (Prints and Photographs Collection, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin)
     

     
    This fanciful wood engraving from 1836 is thought to be the first published illustration of Crockett’s death at the Alamo. It appeared in Davy Crockett’s Almanac of Wild Sports in the West . (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin)
     

     
    The Personal Narrative of Lt. Col. José de la Peña , which includes his detailed description of Crockett’s execution immediately following the fall of the Alamo. (José de la Peña Papers, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin)
     

     
    James Kirke Paulding, author of the 1831 play The Lion of the West , which featured a frontier character named Nimrod Wildfire who was loosely based on David Crockett. Paulding also served as secretary of the navy from 1838 to 1841. (Naval History and Heritage Command)
     

     
    Carte de visite of Frank Mayo in the title role of Davy Crockett; or, Be Sure You’re Right, Then Go Ahead by Frank Murdoch, 1872. Mayo, who coauthored the play, starred in the drama from 1872 until his death in 1896. (Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations)
     

     
    This famous clipper ship, named for Crockett, was constructed on the