Davy Crockett and the Geopolitics of the Alamo
The Texans' sacrifice at the Alamo and their improbable victory at San Jacinto still define our world.
by Rod D. Martin
March 6, 2025
Today marks the 189th anniversary of the martyrdom of the heroes of the Alamo, who died to delay the dictator Santa Anna's army long enough so that Texian troops could rally and defend their homes. Singular among those heroes was Colonel and Congressman David S. Crockett, “King of the Wild Frontier.”
Born in 1786 in that part of North Carolina which was then the renegade “State of Franklin” but not yet the State of Tennessee, “Davy” Crockett was a legend even in his own time, and long before the Texas Revolution.
The son of John Crockett, one of the Overmountain Men unleashed by Joseph Martin to turn the tide of the Revolutionary War at Kings Mountain, the future legend in his teenage years repeatedly traveled on foot from eastern Tennessee to Virginia across the Appalachian mountains, developing skil…