David Crockett_ The Lion of the West - Michael Wallis [162]
19 The word nimrod, which means hunter, was taken from Nimrod, the name of the mighty hunter and king, and Noah’s great-grandson in the Old Testament.
20 William I. Paulding, Literary Life of James K. Paulding (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1867), 218–19. William I. Paulding was the son of James Kirke Paulding.
21 Ibid.
22 Adams Sentinel, Gettysburg, PA, December 17, 1828.
23 Jiji, Sourcebook, 27.
24 Jay Winik, April 1865: The Month That Saved America (New York: HarperCollins, 2001), 233.
25 Hauck, Davy Crockett: A Handbook, 47.
THIRTY-ONE • BEAR-BIT LION
1 Jiji, Sourcebook, 11. Quoting Morning Courier & New York Enquirer, November 24, 1831.
2 Ibid. Shackford, David Crockett: The Man and the Legend, 256.
3 Hutton, Introduction, Narrative, xix.
4 Information provided by Department of the Navy, Naval Historical Center, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C. President Martin Van Buren appointed James K. Paulding the eleventh secretary of the navy. He served from July 1, 1838, to March of 1841. Among other governmental positions he held were those of secretary to the Board of Navy Commissioners from 1815 to 1823 and naval agent from 1824 to 1838.
5 Levy, American Legend, 184.
6 The etymology of the old adage “bit by the bear” is uncertain, but the phrase possibly served as one of the sources for a classic line uttered by actor Sam Elliott in the 1998 dark comedy film The Big Lebowski, produced by Ethan and Joel Coen. In his role as “The Stranger,” Elliot said: “A fella wiser than myself once said, ‘Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes, the bar, well, he eats you.’”
7 Shackford, David Crockett: The Man and the Legend, 262. The Southern Literary Messenger was published in Richmond, VA, from 1834 until 1864. Publisher Thomas Willis White hired Edgar Allan Poe in 1835 as a staff writer and critic. Poe, who usually did not use his middle name during this period, lasted only a month before he was fired for excessive drinking. He was soon rehired and for a time served as the editor of the journal. Poe published thirty-seven reviews of American and foreign books and periodicals while working for the Messenger. He left in 1837 but continued to contribute articles and reviews until his death in 1849.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid., 262–63.
10 Ibid., 263.
11 Matthew St. Clair Clarke (probable author), Sketches and Eccentricities of Colonel David Crockett of West Tennessee (New York: J. & J. Harper, 1833). Reprint of Life and Adventures of Colonel David Crockett of West Tennessee (Cincinnati, 1833), 20.
12 Ibid., 164.
13 James T. Pearce, “Folk Tales of the Southern Poor-White, 1820–1860,” Journal of American Folklore 63, no. 250 (October–December 1950), 398.
14 The New England Magazine 5, no. 6 (1833), 513–14. The magazine was launched in Boston in 1831 and ceased publication in 1835. American Monthly Magazine was its successor.
15 Shackford, David Crockett: The Man and the Legend, 139–41.
16 Crockett, Narrative, 210.
17 Ibid.
18 H. Niles, Niles’ Weekly Register, Baltimore, MD, September 7, 1833. Archivists contend that this publication was an early precursor to modern news magazines.
19 Shackford, David Crockett: The Man and the Legend, 144.
THIRTY-TWO • GO AHEAD
1 Hauck, Davy Crockett: A Handbook, 70–71.
2 Shackford, David Crockett: The Man and the Legend, 147.
3 Levy, American Legend, 192.
4 Ibid. Thomas Chilton was born in 1798 near Lancaster, KY, a son of Reverend Thomas John Chilton and Margaret Bledsoe. One week before his seventeenth birthday, he married and started study for ordination as a Baptist minister. At the same time, he studied for the bar, and he eventually established a legal practice before entering politics. In 1835, Chilton had tired of politics and resumed the practice of law as well as his Baptist ministry. During a revival meeting in Alabama, he converted to Christianity his maternal cousin, Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor, who went on to become an ordained Baptist minister and in 1845 cofounded Baylor University in Texas. Chilton pastored churches in Alabama and