David Crockett: His Life and AdventuresAbbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
History
David Crockett: His Life and Adventures
Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
Crockett, Davy, 1786-1836
When he informed his wife of his intention, her womanly heart was
appalled at the thought of being left alone and unprotected in the vast
wilderness. She was at a distance of hundreds of miles from all her
connections. She had no neighbors near. Her children were too young to
be of any service to her. If the dreadful Indians should attack them,
she had no one to look to for protection. If anything should happen to
him in battle so that he should not return, they must all perish of
starvation. These obvious considerations she urged with many tears.
"It was mighty hard," writes Crockett, "to go against such arguments as
these. But my countrymen had been murdered, and I knew that the next
thing would be that the Indians would be scalping the women and
children all about there, if we didn't put a stop to it. I reasoned the
case with her as well as I could, and told her that if every man would
wait till his wife got willing for him to go to war, there would be no
fighting done until we all should be killed in our own houses; that as
I was as able to go as any man in the world, and that I believed it was
a duty I owed to my country. Whether she was satisfied with this
reasoning or not she did not tell me, but seeing I was bent on it, all
she did was to cry a little, and turn about to her work."
David Crockett hastened to Winchester. There was a large gathering
there from all the hamlets and cabins for many miles around. The
excitement was intense. The nation of Creek Indians was a very powerful
one, and in intelligence and military skill far in advance of most of
the Indian tribes. Mr. Crockett was one of the first to volunteer to
form a company to serve for sixty days, under Captain Jones, who
subsequently was a member of Congress from Tennessee. In a week the
whole company was organized, and commenced its march to join others for
the invasion of the Creek country. It was thought that by carrying the
war directly into the Indian towns, their warriors might be detained at
home to protect their wives and children, and could thus be prevented
from carrying desolation into the settlements of the whites.
In the mean time David Crockett revisited his humble home, where his
good but anxious and afflicted wife fitted him out as well as she could
for the campaign. David was not a man of sentiment and was never
disposed to contemplate the possibility of failure in any of his plans.
With a light heart he bade adieu to his wife and his children, and
mounting his horse, set out for his two months' absence to hunt up and
shoot the Indians. He took only the amount of clothing he wore, as he
wished to be entirely unencumbered when he should meet the sinewy and
athletic foe on the battle-field.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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