246 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[April 36, 1883. 



DAVY CROCKETT'S RIFLE. 

 r rVECROIttJH the courtesy of Ool. Bob H. Crockett, of 

 I- DeWitt, A.rk.,webave enjoyed the rare pleasure of hnnd- 

 lillg the historic arm once used hy his graudfa&er, the 

 famous pioneor, bear-killer, statesman unci patriot. Davy 

 Crockett, The riih was presented by the young Whigs of 

 Philadelphia, Crockett then being on u four through the 

 North. The maker was Constable, of Ilolyland, N. Y„ 

 who put it up in the highest style of the art. The lines of 

 the sun are well shown in the drawing which we have had 

 1 I and publish herewith. The pistol grip is h beauty; 

 We. have never seen one its superior, nor did we ever hold 

 am other rifle that "earn,- up' 90 Prell as this grand old arm 

 of Davy Crockett's, it shoots as well now as over. 



The mountings ure of coin silver, finely engraved, with 

 itatlons of deer, bear, alligator mid raccoon, Be- 

 neath the stock, just in front of the trigger guard, is, or 

 was— all but the oulliue having been worn away by constant 

 uSttge— the Goddess of Liberty, with the words '•Const but ion 

 ami Laws." Upon the top of the octagonal barrel is the 

 inscription in letters of gold sunk into the barrel: 



I ■ ■ .■ Mia Of P/iilii'/djihi/i to I hi- l/.'ii. 

 Uamii Orockett, «f Trim, 



The bore takes thirty-two balls to the pound. The gun 

 <-.< beei in constant use «inee'flrst the original owner car- 

 red il back to Tennessee, and innumerable deer, bears, 

 turkeys and other game have fallen at its discharges We 

 trust that the present owner may live many a year to use 

 the heirloom. 



Holding the rifle in our hands aud "drawing a bead" on 

 the sparrows perched on Ibe wires across the street, our 

 thoughts went back to the "Autobiography," that classic 

 among the books in the American boys' library. We have 

 all read it, years ago when we used to play 

 "I spy the wolf;" or if some missed it. more's tbe pity. 

 From Crockett's own account of his life we have taken out 

 ii few paragraphs to serve as settings for the title. They are 

 not so Satisfactory as we could wish— extracts rarely are— 

 but they may invite some of our friends to a perusal of the 

 which event justice will be done to the hero. 



Dai id Crockett was born in 178IJ in what is now Eastern 

 Tennessee, the country at that time being infested with 

 Indians. Beyond two incidents— the hovering of a canoe 

 with his brothers upon the brink of a fall in the river, and 

 his uncle's shooting a man in the wootls by mistake for a 

 deer— he tells us little of his childhood, which appears to 

 have been brief aud very quickly merged into early man- 

 hood. They were giants iu those* days," and east in heroic 

 mold. What with subduing the wilderness, fighting In- 

 dians, and keeping the larder supplied with bear meat, the 

 Tennessee Settler bad a man's work before him, and tbe 

 children could waste but brief time in tbe frivolities of 

 youth. When twelve years of age our hero began to make 

 up his acquaintance with bard times, and plenty of them— 

 an acquaintance which grew more intimate all "through his 

 life, to its tragic clo>e in the Alamo. One winter Crockett 

 madl B foot journey Of four hundred miles into Virginia; 

 the following year be ran away from home; at fifteen he 

 returned and worked a year to '"lift" some of his father's 

 del its, at sixteen- not knowing thcfirsl letter of the alphabet 

 —he fell desperately in love, seriously contemplated matri- 

 mony, and was jilted. Ilis lack of education, he thought, 

 was one cause for bis tailure iu the love suit, and he 

 tletorJnined to remedy tbe defect, 



"I thought I would try to go to school some; and as the 

 Quaker had a married son, who was living about a mile and 

 a half from him, ami keeping a school, I proposed to him 

 that. 1 would go to school four days in the week, and work 

 for him the other two, to pay my board and schooling. He 

 agreed I might eomeonthose'terms; aud soar.it I went] learn- 

 ing and woiking backward and forward, until 1 had been 

 with him nigh on to six months, In this time I learned to 

 read a Utile in my primer, to write my own name, and to 

 cipher some in the three first rules in figures. And this was 

 all the schooling I ever had in my life up to this day. I 

 should have continued longer, if it "hadn't been that I con- 

 cluded I couldn't do any longer without a wife; and sol 

 cut out to hunt me one."* 



His life was now an odd mingling of hard work, hunting 

 and love-making. 



"1 had by this time got to fie mighty fond of tbe rifle, and 

 had bought a capital oiie. I most generally carried her with 

 me wherever I went, and though I bad go") back to the old 

 Quaker's to live, who was a very particular man, would 

 sometimes slip out and attend the "shooting matches, where 

 they shot for beef. I always tried, though, to keep it, a 

 secret from him. 



"Just now I heard of a shooting match in the neighbor- 

 hood, right between where I lived and my girl's house, and 

 I determined to kill two birds with one stone— to go to tbe 

 shooting match first and then I o sec her. 1 therefore made 

 the Quaker believe I was going to hunt for deer, as they 

 Were plenty about in those parts; but, instead of hunting 

 them. 1 went straight on to the .shooting match, where I 

 joined iu with a partner, autl we put in several shots for the 

 beef. 1 was mighty lueky, and when the match was over 1 

 had won the whole beef, "This was on Saturday, and ray 

 success had put me in the finest humor in the world. So 1 

 sold my part of the beef for live dollars in the real grit, for 

 I believe (hat was before banknotes was invented; al least, 1 

 had never heard of any. 1 now started on to ask for my 

 wife, for, though the next Thursday was our wedding day, 

 I bad never said a word to her 'parents about it. I had 

 always dreaded the undertaking so bad that I had put the 

 evil hour oil' as long as possible, and, indeed, I calculated 

 they kuowed me so Well the wouldn't raise any objection to 

 having me for their son-in-law. I had a great deal better 

 opinion of myself, I found, than other people hail of me; 

 but I moved on with a tight heart, and my five dollars jing- 

 ling in my pocket, thinking all the time there were but few 

 greater men in the word than myself." 



lie had won his beef, but his ilow of humor was quenched 

 when he came to tbe house and found that his intended 

 bride had jilted him for another fellow. "Down-spirited" 

 over the unhappy termination of this second suit, Crockett. 

 was hunting one day in the forest, brooding like the melan- 

 choly Jacques, when coming to a cabin where dwelt a 

 Hutch widow and her "ugly" daughter, he was comforted 

 willi the balm of the ever-soothing old adage; "there was as 

 good fish in the sea as had ever been caught out of it," and 

 through the kindly offices of the same friendly match-maker, 

 he-was introduced to a pert young Hish miss, of whom he 

 says, "I must confess 1 was plaguy Well pleased with her 

 from the word go." But here again turned up the trouble- 

 some aud ubiquitous rival, "so attentive to her that 1 could 

 hardly get to slip in a word edgeways. I began to think I 



was barking up the wrong tree again: but I was determined 

 to stand up to my rack, fodder of no fodder." 



Then transpired a bit of woodland romance which is well 

 worthy to be written in cantos of Spenserian verse: 



"Il was about two weeks after this that I was sent for to 

 engage in a wolf hunt, where a great number of men were 

 to meet, with their dogs aud guns, and where the best sort 

 of sport was expected. I went as large as life, but 1 bad to 

 hunt in strange woods, and in a part of the country which 

 was very thinly inhabited. While I was out it clouded up, 

 and I began to get seared; aud iu a little while I was so 

 much so. (bat 1 didn't know which way home was. nor any- 

 thing about if. I set out the way I thought it was. but'it 

 turned out with me, as it .always does with a lost man, I was 

 wrong, aud took exactly the "contrary direction from tbe 

 right one. And for the'information of young hunters, 1 will 

 just say, in this place, that whenever a fellow eels bad lost, 

 the way home is just the. way he don't think it" is. This rule 

 will hit nine limes out of ten. T went ahead, though, about 

 six orseven miles, when 1 found night was coming on fast; 

 but al this distressing time! saw a little women streaking it 

 along through the woods like all wrath, and so I cut on too, 

 for I was determined 1 wouldn't lose sight of her that night 

 any more. I run on till she saw me, and she stopped; for 

 she WAS as glad to see me as I was to see her, as she was lost 

 as well as me. When I came up to lea. who should she be 

 but my little girl, that I had been paying my respects to. 

 She had been out huuting her father's" horses, ami had 

 missed her way, and had no knowledge where she was, or 

 how far it was to any house, or what way would take us 

 there. She had been traveling all day,' and wns mighty 

 tired; and 1 would have taken her up, aud touted her, 

 if it hadn't been that! wanted her just where I could see 

 her all the tune, for I thought she looked sweeter than 

 sugar; and by this time I loved her almost well enough to 

 eat her. 



"At last I came to a path, that 1 know'd must go some- 

 where, and so we followed it, fill we came to a house, al 

 about dark. Here we staid all night. I set up all night 

 courting; and in the inomiug we parted. She went to her 

 home, from which we were distant about seven miles, and I 

 to mine, which was ten miles off." 



Such devotion could not fail of its reward, aud Crockett 

 settled down to domestic life on a farm. But, as the years 

 went by, he wearied at length of the unproductive toil and set 

 out for a country where bears and deerw r ere more abundant. 

 "The Duck and" Elk river country [in Tennessee] was just 

 beginning to settle, and 1 determined to try that. 1 bad now 

 oue old horse, and a couple of two-year-old colts. They 

 were both broke to the halter, and my father-in-law proposed 

 that, if I went, he woidd go with me, and take one* horse to 

 help me move. Soweafl fixed up, and 1 packed my two 

 colts with as many of my things as they could bear; and 

 away we went across the mountains. We got on well enough, 

 itn<\ arrived safely in Lincoln county, on the head of the 

 Mulberry fork of Elk River. I found this a very rich 

 country, aud so new that game of different sorts was very 

 plenty. It was here that I began to distinguish myself as a 

 hunter, and to lay the foundation for all my future greatness; 

 fait mighty little did 1 know of what sort; it was going to 

 be. Of deer and smaller game I killed abundance; but the 

 bear had been much hunted in those parts before, and were 

 not so plenty as I could have wished." 



In 1818 Crockett volunteered in the Creek War, feeling 

 "wolfish all over." But his services as a hunter appear to 

 have been more useful than as a warrior; for the troops 

 were often in more danger of starvation than of being 

 scalped, and Crockett's rifle was busy in providing "meat" 

 for them. 



"As the army marched, I limited every day, and would 

 kill every hawk, bird and squirrel thai I could find. Others 

 did the same; and it was a rule with us, that when we 

 stopped at night, the hunters would throw all they killed in 

 a pile, and then we would make a general division among 

 all the men. Oue evening I came in, having killed nothing 

 that day. I had a very sick man in my mess, and I wauled 

 something for him to eat, even if 1 starved myself. So I 

 went to the fire of a Captain Cowen, who commanded my 

 company after the piomotion of Major Russell, and in- 

 formed him that I was on the hunt of something for a sick 

 man to eat. f knowed the captain was as bad off as the rest 

 of us, but I found him boiling a turkey's gizzard. He said 

 he had divided the turkey out among the sick, that Major 

 Smiley had killed it, and that nothing else had been killed 

 that day. I immediately went to Smiley's fire, where 1 

 found liim boiling another gizzard. T told him that it yvas 

 tin- first turkey 1 had ever seen have two gizzards. But so 

 it was, I got nothing for my sick man. And now, seeing 

 that every fellow must shift for himself, I determined that 

 in tbe morning I would come up missing ; so I took my mess 

 and cut out to go ahead of the army. We know'd that 

 nothing more could happen to us if we went than if 

 we stayed, for it looked like it was to be starvation any 

 way; we therefore determined to go on the old saying root 

 hog or die. We passed two camps, tt which our 'men that 

 had gone on before us, had killed Indians. At one they 

 had killed nine and at the other three. About daylight we 

 came to a small river, which I thought was the Seaniby; 

 but we continued on for three days, killing little or nothing 

 to eat, till, at last, we all began to get nearly ready to give 

 up the ghost, and lie dow r n and die; for w 7 e had no prospeet 

 of provision, and we knew we couldn't go much further 

 without it. 



"We came to a large prairie, that was about, six miles 

 across it, and iu this I saw a trail which I knowed was 

 made by bear, deer, and turkeys. We went on through it 

 till we came to a large creek, and the low grounds were all 

 set over with wild rye, looking as green as a w r keat field. 

 We here made a hidt, unsaddled our horses, aud turned 

 them loose to graze. 



"One of my companions, a Mr. Yanzant, and myself, 

 then went upthe low grounds to hunt. We had gone some 

 distance, finding nothing, wheu, at last, I found a squirrel, 

 which I shot, but he got into a hole iu the tree. The game 

 was small, but necessity is not very particular, so 1 thought 

 I must have him, and I climbed that tree thirty feet high, 

 without a limb, and pulled him out of his hole. Ishouldn't 

 relate such small matters, only to show what lengths a 

 hungry man will go to, to get something to eat. I soon 

 lulled two other squirrels, and tired at & Jarge hawk. At 

 this a large gang of turkeys rose from the canebreak, aud 

 Hew across the creek to where my friend was, who bad just 

 before crossed it. He soon fired on a large gobbler, and I 

 heard it fall. By this lime my gun was loaded again, aud 

 I saw oue sitting on my side of the creek, which, had flew 

 over when he fired; so"l blazed away, and down 1 brought 



him. I gathered liim up, and a fine turkey lie was. T now 

 began lo think we had struck a breeze of "luck, and almost 

 (Orgot our past sufferings, in the prospect of once more 

 haying something to eat, I raised the shout, aud my com- 

 rade cione to me, and we went, on to our camp with the 

 game we bad killed. While we were gone, two of our mess 

 had been out, and each of them bad found a bee-tree. We 

 turned into cooking some of our game, but we had neither 

 salt nor bread. Just at this moment, on looking down the 

 creek, we saw our men, who had gone on before us for pro- 

 visions, coming to us. Tbev came up, and measured out to 

 each man a cupful of flour. With this, we thickened our 

 soup, when our turkey was cooked, and our friends took 

 dinner with us, aud then went on. 



"Wc now took <air tomahawks, and went out and cut 

 our bee trees, out of which we got a fine chance of honev: 

 though wc had been starving so long that we lea led to eat 

 much at a time, till, like the Irish by hanging, we got used 

 to it again. We rested thai, night without, moving our camp; 

 and the next morning myself and Vair/.anl again turned out 

 to hunt, We had not gone far, before I wounded a fine 

 buck badly; and while pursuing him. 1 was walking on a 

 large tree that had fallen down, when from the top of it a 

 large bear broke out and ran off. I had no dogs, and [ was 

 sorry enough for it; for of all the huuting I ever did. I have 

 always delighted most in bear huuting. " Soon after this I 

 killed a large buck; and we had just gotten him to camp 

 when our rjoor starved army came up. They told us that 

 to lessseu their sufferings as much as possible, Captain Will- 

 iam Bussed bad had his horse led up to be shot for them to 

 eat, just at the moment that they saw our men returning, 

 who had carried on the Hour. 



"We were now about fourteen miles from Fort Decatur, 

 and we gave away all our meat, and honey, and went on with 

 the rest of the army. When we got there, they could give 

 us only one ration of meat, but not a mouthful of bread. I 

 immediately got a canoe, and taking my gun. crossed over 

 the river and went to the Big Warriors' town. 1 bad a large 

 hat, and I offered an Indian a silver dollar for my bat full of 

 corn. He told me that his torn was all •shusntea-,' which in 

 English means, it was all gone. But he showed me where 

 an Indian lived, who. he said, had corn. I went to him and 

 made the same offer to him. He could talk a little broken 

 English, aud said to me, 'You got any powder? You got 

 bullet?' 1 told him I had. He then said, 'Me swap my 

 corn for powder aud bullet.' I took out about ten bullets, 

 and showed him; and he proposed to give me a hat lull of 

 corn for them. 1 took hiru up mighty quick. 1 (hen 

 Offered to give him ten charges of powder for another ha f. 

 full of corn. To this he agreed very willingly. So I took 

 off my hunting shirt, and tied up my corn; and though it 

 had cost me very little of my powder and lead, yet I wouldn't 

 have taken fifty silver dollars for it. 1 returned to the 

 camp, and the next morning we started for the Hickory 

 Ground, which was thirty miles off. It was here that General 

 Jackson met the Indians," and made peace with the body of 

 the. nation." 



In 1831 our hero "gave his name" as a candidate for the 

 State Legislature. lie knew nothing of "the Government," 

 and so was utterly powerless to hold bis own iu debate with 

 his glib competitors; but his molber-wil and skill with the 

 rifle carried him triumphantly through. "1 went first into 

 Ileckman county, to see what" 1 could do among the people- 

 as a candidate. "Here they fold tne that they wanted to move 

 their town nearer to the center of the county, and I must 

 come out in favor of it. There's no devil if 1 'knowed what 

 this meant, or how the town was lobe moved; aud so 1 kept 

 dark, going on the identical same plan that I nosy find is called 

 'non-committal.' About this time there was a great squir- 

 rel hunt ou Duck River, which was among my people. 

 They were to hunt two days; then to meet and 'count "tbe 

 scalps, and have a big barbecue, and what might be called a 

 tip-top country frolic. The dinner, and a general treat, was 

 all to be paid for by the party having taken the fewest. 

 BCalps. 1 joined one side, taking the place of one of (he 

 hunters, and got a gun ready for the hunt. I killed a great 

 many squirrels, and wheu we counted scalps, my i si i . . m 

 victorious" — and later, when they counted the election bid- 

 lots he was still ahead, and took his seat. 



In 1837 Crockett was elected to Congress, In this can 

 vass he played the famous 'coon-skin trick, which he relates 

 as follows: 



"Well, I started off to the Cross Roads, dressed in my 

 hunting' shirt, and niv rifle on my shoulder, Many of our 

 constituents had assembled there to get a taste of the 

 quality of the Candidates at orating. Jolt Snelliug, a gander- 

 shanked Yankee, who had been caught somewhere about 

 Plymouth Bay, and been shipped to the West with a cargo 

 Of- codfish and rum, erected a large shanty, and set up shop 

 for the occasion. A large posse of the voters had assembled 

 before 1 arrived, aud my opponent had already made con- 

 siderable headway with* his speechifying and his treating, 

 when they spied nieaboui a rifle shot from Hie camp, saun 

 taring along as if 1 was not a party iu business. 'There 

 comes Crockett,' cried one. 'Let us hear the ( olone], 1 cried 

 another, and so I mounted the stump that had been cut 

 down for the occasion, and began to bushwhack in the 

 most approved style. 



"1 had not been up long before there was such an uproar 

 in the crowd that I could not hear my own voice, and some 

 of my constituents let me know, thai they could not listen 

 lo me ou such a dry subject as tbe welfare of the nation, 

 until they had something to drink, and that 1 must treat 

 'em. Accordingly 1 jumped down from tbe rostrum, ami 

 led the way to 'the shantee, followed by my constituents, 

 shouting, "Huzza for Crockett,' and 'Crockett forever.' 



"When we entered the shantee. Job was busy dealing Out 

 his rum in a style thai showed that lie was making a good 

 day's, work of it, and I called for a quart of the bet. out the 

 crooked oritur returned no other answer than by point ilc 

 a board over the bar, ou which he had chalked in large 

 letters, 'Pay to-dav aud trust to-morrow.' NOW that idea 

 brought me all up standing; it was sort of cornering in 

 which there was no back out. for ready money in the West 

 in those time- ..... I ie 3h; -i filing iu "all natur', and it was 

 most partieularh $hj with me on that occasion. 



"The voters seeing my predicament) fell off to the other 



side, and I was left deserted and alone, as Ibe Government. 

 Will be. when he no longer has any offices to bestow. 1 saw. 

 plain as day, that the title of popular opinion was against. 

 me. and that, unless I sot some sum speedily, Lshouli lose 

 my election as sure as there are snakes iu Yirginny— aud it 

 must be done soon, or even turned brandy woulda'l 

 me. So I walked away from the shantee, but in another 

 guess sort from the way 1 entered it, for on this occasion I 



