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 Crockett wrote the above he was a member of Congress, and a very
earnest politician. He was much opposed to the measure of President
Jackson in removing the deposits from the United States Bank--a
movement which greatly agitated the whole country at that time. In
speaking of things of which he was not glad, he writes:
"I ain't glad, for example, that the Government moved the deposits; and
if my military glory should take such a turn as to make me President
after the General's time, I will move them back. Yes, I the Government,
will take the responsibility, and move them back again. If I don't I
wish I may be shot."
The hardships of war had blighted Crockett's enthusiasm for wild
adventures, and had very considerably sobered him. He remained at home
for two years, diligently at work upon his farm. The battle of New
Orleans was fought. The war with England closed, and peace was made
with the poor Indians, who, by British intrigue, had been goaded to the
disastrous fight. Death came to the cabin of Crockett; and his faithful
wife, the tender mother of his children, was taken from him. We cannot
refrain from quoting his own account of this event as it does much
honor to his heart.
"In this time I met with the hardest trial which ever falls to the lot
of man. Death, that cruel leveller of all distinctions, to whom the
prayers and tears of husbands, and even of helpless infancy, are
addressed in vain, entered my humble cottage, and tore from my children
an affectionate, good mother, and from me a tender and loving wife. It
is a scene long gone by, and one which it would be supposed I had
almost forgotten. Yet when I turn my memory back upon it, it seems but
as the work of yesterday.
"It was the doing of the Almighty, whose ways are always right, though
we sometimes think they fall heavily on us. And as painful as even yet
is the remembrance of her sufferings, and the loss sustained by my
little children and myself, yet I have no wish to lift up the voice of
complaint. I was left with three children. The two eldest were sons,
the youngest a daughter, and at that time a mere infant. It appeared to
me, at that moment, that my situation was the worst in the world.
"I couldn't bear the thought of scattering my children; and so I got my
youngest brother, who was also married, and his family, to live with
me. They took as good care of my children as they well could; but yet
it wasn't all like the care of a mother. And though their company was
to me, in every respect, like that of a brother and sister, yet it fell
far short of being like that of a wife. So I came to the conclusion
that it wouldn't do, but that I must have another wife."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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