King Of The Wild Frontier

The long-perpetuated myth of Davy Crockett’s attire and exploits was reinforced in the mid-20th century with a “Wonderful World of Disney” TV series and a pop song.

In a personal introduction to “David Crockett,” historian Michael Wallis writes about being swept up in that Crockett craze. There’s even a photo of 9-year-old Michael in a coonskin cap with his father feeding his son “Crockett Cobbler.”

In the book’s preface Wallis tells readers of his approach in the biography of the frontiersman: “This book is for those people interested in learning the truth – or at least as much as can be uncovered – about the historical and fictional Crockett, and how the two often became one.”

Wallis said Crockett never called himself Davy. It was always David. And his preferred head covering wasn’t a coonskin cap, but a floppy hunter’s hat.

Wallis thinks Crockett may have been America’s first celebrity hero, in part because in Crockett’s lifetime he was responsible for much of the mythology about himself.

“So much of the commotion about him, the press he got, the media attention, the public clamor he helped create particularly in his political life – in the (Tennessee) state Legislature and in Congress. So he did have a healthy ego,” Wallis said in a phone interview from Memphis.

Crockett, born in 1786, was a well-known hunter, popular politician and a soldier. He fought under Andrew Jackson and he died at the Alamo.

Wallis said his approach to Crockett followed the pattern in his bios of Billy the Kid and Pretty Boy Floyd.

“All three of them were characters with these dual personalities,” he said. “Not that they set up to create dual lives but that’s the way the chips fell for them … Crockett more than Henry McCarty (Billy the Kid) or Charles Arthur Floyd.”

A second book Wallis will discuss is the voluminous “The Wild West 365.” At the very top of each left-hand page there are entries, one for each day of the year, about events in or about the West between 1830 and 1930.

For example, for the date of Jan. 18 it says, “1867 Frontier bandit Tiburcio Vásquez enters the California State Prison at San Quentin. He will remain there until June 4, 1869.”

Below that tidbit is a paragraph unrelated to Vásquez. It’s about Mexican dictator Antonio López de Santa Anna, known to Mexicans as the “Napoleon of the West” and to Anglo Texans as the “Butcher of the Alamo.” A biographical sketch contains a quote attributed to him: “If I were God, I would wish to be more.” There’s a color portrait of him on the facing page.

In all, there are 365 vignettes of historical events as well as of men and women who were heroes and scoundrels; some lawmen had also been outlaws. Note: Crockett’s first name here is Davy.

“It was tough because we had so much material. It was a good problem to have,” Wallis said.

Michael Wallis discusses, signs “David Crockett” and “The Wild West 365″ at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 15, at Bookworks, 4022 Rio Grande NW.