David Crockett_ The Lion of the West - Michael Wallis [96]
TWENTY-SEVEN
“THE VICTORY IS OURS”
CROCKETT FINALLY REACHED the Obion River and made his way to his home in Gibson County in the late spring of 1826. It had been almost nine months since he had seen his wife or spoken with his children. True to form, as soon as he got back he turned right around and left again—this time for another crack at the bears. They had come out of hibernation, and Crockett wanted to add to his tally. He was out another month and took down 47 more, bringing the total to 105 bears killed over the seven-month-long season.1
“It is in the bear hunt that he is most himself,”2 wrote Richard Slotkin in Regeneration through Violence, the first of his trilogy on the mythology of the American West. “In the bear hunt the forces opposing him, keeping him from his desires, become tangible. They can be met in direct, open combat and vanquished…. The source of Crockett’s satisfaction with politics lies in his association of vote-getting and hunting…. They are quantifiable indicators of the degree of his prowess, symbols of great deeds of skill.”
It is doubtful if Elizabeth Crockett ever figured out just what kept her wayward husband always on the move and away from home. She and the children played no real role in Crockett’s world. In fact, his wives and offspring were not prominently featured in his autobiography. Instead they almost became “conquests of a hunt, as do bearskins, votes, and a powerful reputation in the community.”3 Elizabeth had to know that neither she nor the land could ever hold her husband. For that reason, she was far from pleased when he announced that he was going to try another run for Congress, for these were not times when all wives accompanied their political husbands to Washington.
On September 16, 1826, it became official—Crockett once again offered himself as a candidate for a seat in the U.S. Congress. “I have again been induced to submit my pretensions to a generous, high minded and magnanimous people,”4 Crockett wrote to voters on that date. “I am opposed to the Administration of this man from the Yankee states, called John Q. Adams; I am opposed to the conduct of the Kentucky orator, H. Clay [Henry Clay]; I am greatly opposed to our present Representative’s vote on the Tariff.” In closing, Crockett made one more promise. “I will not set [sic] silently, and permit the interest of my District to be neglected, while I have got a tongue to speak and a head to direct it…. I am the rich-man’s safe-guard, and poor man’s friend.”
Crockett opened his campaign in the spring of 1827. He realized that running against an incumbent opponent was always difficult, but he felt he could best Colonel Adam Rankin Alexander, despite having lost to him in the previous election. This time, Crockett had the much-needed backing of a solid financial benefactor. Crockett put his trust in Major Marcus Winchester; Memphis, on the western edge of the sprawling Ninth Congressional District, was the second largest congressional district in the nation, with more than 22,000 voters.5 Since their first encounter, following the riverboat accident, Crockett and Winchester had become even better acquainted, and Winchester was impressed with Crockett’s grit and style. He lent the campaign $250, endorsed Crockett, and talked him up to friends and associates throughout the region.6
“We frequently met at different places,” Crockett wrote of Winchester, “and as he thought I needed, he would occasionally hand me a little more cash; so I was able to buy a little of ‘the creature,’ to put my friends in a good humour, as well as the other gentlemen.”7
Besides Crockett and Alexander, a third candidate entered the race—the politically ambitious William Arnold. He was a veteran of the War of 1812 and a prominent attorney from Jackson who had been elected major general of the Tennessee Militia in 1826.8 Crockett, however, remained undaunted, even though he faced two high-profile