"I AM ON THE EVE OF STARTING TO THE TEXAS..." - Crockett was defeated for reelection to a fourth term in Congress in 1835. At the age of 49, he found himself hardly better off financially than when he first went to Congress. Resolved to make a new start, he departed Memphis on November 1st, but not before delivering a rousing farewell speech. "My friends," he declared, "I suppose you are all aware that I was recently a candidate for Congress. I told the voters that if they would elect me I would serve them to the best of my ability; but if they did not, they might go to hell, and I would go to Texas. I am on my way now!"
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Songs played for this recording were not only played in the Alamo, but were played on Davy Crockett's actual Fiddle.
Davy Crockett may have died at the Alamo, but his legend and music have been brought back to life by historian and musician K.R. Wood. Truly an historic recording!
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Crockett traveled west, crossing the Red River into Texas at Lost Prairie. At Clarksville, he joined his old friend Captain William Becknell, founder of the Santa Fe Trail,for a buffalo hunt. Crockett's party then traveled southeast along Trammel's Trace to Nacogdoches where the Colonel swore an oath of allegiance to the new Texas government. He was enthusiastic about new opportunities in a "bran fire" new country. He wrote his daughter from San Augustine that Texas was "the garden spot of the world." He urged her not to worry-"I am in hopes of making a fortune yet for myself and family, bad as my prospects has [sic] been. Do not be uneasy about me. I am among friends."
Crockett and four companions followed the Old San Antonio Road southwestward to what is now Crockett, Texas, before turning south on the Brazos River to Washington-on-the-Brazos. There they joined Captain William Harrison's company of volunteers for the final ride west to San Antonio de Bexar. Crockett rode into the town on February 3,1836, where he was welcomed by Colonel Jim Bowie, commander of the Alamo. Crockett was given command of the most vulnerable spot in the fort-the wooden palisade between the church and the south wall. After an initial attack on February 25, Colonel William Barret Travis wrote to General Sam Houston that "The honorable David Crockett was seen at all points, animating the men to do their duty." The Alamo fell to Mexican President Santa Anna's forces on the morning of March 6,1836. All the defenders died. From the ashes of the Alamo funeral pyre rose a new Crockett legend of even more towering proportions.
