David (Davy) Crockett (August 17, 1786 - March 6, 1836) was an American frontiersman, bear hunter, sharpshooter, soldier, legislator, and folk hero. Davy was born in a cabin near Limestone, Tennessee (in eastern Tennessee) and had little formal schooling; he was the fifth of nine children born to John and Rebecca Hawkins Crockett. In 1806, when he was 20 years old, Crockett married Polly Finlay; they had two sons. As a young man, Crockett was skilled at trapping bear and raccoon. He was later famous for wearing a coon-skin hat.
Crockett joined the US army in 1813 and he served under Andrew Jackson, fighting the Creek Indians in the southeastern US from 1813 to 1814. Andrew Jackson later became President of the USA.
Colonel Crockett went on to serve in the Tennessee legislature from 1821 to 1822 and from 1823 to 1824, and represented Tennessee in the U.S. Congress from 1827 to 1831 and from 1833 to 1835. In 1834, Crockett wrote his very popular autobiography, "A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, of the State of Tennessee."
When his political career ended in 1836 (after he lost his last election for Congress), Crockett took his family to Texas. Texas had recently declared its independence from Mexico. Crockett and almost 200 other Texan volunteers died on March 6, 1836, after unsuccessfully defending the Alamo (a mission in San Antonio, Texas) for 13 days against an army of Mexican soldiers.
