A history-themed mural a block off the square in downtown Crockett gives you a big hint about the namesakes of this town (Crockett) and county (Houston), in case you wondered where the names came from. They were NOT chosen at random!!
The mural puts four Texas heroes together. From left to right they are: Gen. Sam Houston (hero of San Jacinto), Jim Bowie (Commander of Texian forces at the Alamo), Stepehen F. Austin ("the father of Texas") and Davy Crockett (legendary frontiersman and Alamo hero). They stare out from the mural. Each man is identified with a banner with his last name underneath his head.
To us, this looks like a derivative Mount Rushmore-inspired mural of Texas heroes. As native Texans convinced of our exceptionalism we HATE THAT!!! We understand the symbolism of the message, but don't appreciate the copying of Gutzon Borglum's work, which was about creating a tourist attraction in South Dakota, and who didn't hesitate to desecrate the Dakota Sioux's sacred Black Hills lands to do it.
Back to the mural in Crockett TX: The faces of the Texas heroes are grey, as if they have been carved from stone -- the same color of the stone faces of the Presidents at Mount Rushmore. The heroes wear very grave, serious expressions, like the Presidents at Mount Rushmore. The Texas heroes have the same arrangement and scale as the Presidents at Mount Rushmore: They are not lined up perfectly, and the direction of each heroe's gaze matches with the respective President in the same position at Mount Rushmore. Finally, the details around the faces suggest rugged mountains of the kind they have in South Dakota, but which do not exist in Texas.
Another similarity to Mount Rushmore: like the Presidents on that mountain, all four of these Texas heroes never actually met. Unlike the Presidents on Mount Rushmore, these four Texas heroes lived at the same time.
Each Texas hero had some degree of fame or prominence in 1835-36, so his name would be known to all the others. But knowing what we do about these men's travels (and travails) in the run-up to the Revolution (and beyond), it's clear that there was never a time when all four were together. It is also clear that Stephen F. Austin would never have met Davy Crockett, and that Davy Crockett would never have met Sam Houston. Jim Bowie and Crockett fought and died together at the Alamo, so clearly they were acquainted.
How do we know this? Records show that Davy Crockett did not arrrive in Texas until Dec 1835. At that time, Sam Houston was in Washington-on-the-Brazos creating a provisional Republic.
Crockett got to San Antonio in February of 1836. At that time, Houston was still in Nacogdoches. By the time Houston left Nacogdoches to take command of the Texian Army at Gonzales TX (70 miles east of San Antonio) in March of 1836, Crockett was dead. See this link for more on Sam Houston: (
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By 20 Feb 1836 the siege of the Alamo was on, but Houston was not yet in command of the Texian Army. Col. Jim Bowie was in command of the garrison of Texians holding the Alamo, and Crockett was with him, pinned down inside the Alamo. Also in the Alamo -- William Barrett Travis, who assumed command from Bowie when Bowie fell desperately and debilitatingly ill.
San Antonio had been contested for months, first in the Dec 1835 Siege of Bexar (where Ben Milam gained fame with his famous question, 'who will follow old Ben Milam to San Antonio?') and then the Battle of the Alamo in March of 1836.
The Alamo is a sacred shrine in Texas. All Texans feel a surge of our outsized Texas pride when we read William Travis's famous letter from the Alamo of 24 Feb 1836. Smuggled out of the Alamo and addressed to the citizens of Texas and the world, Travis described the direness of his situation, begged for reinforcements, and acknowledged that additional forces might not come in time. It is a dramatic document, filled with urgency and Texas patriotism. Travis ended his letter with a brave promise:
"If this cause is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country ----- VICTORY of DEATH!!"
Read his whole letter here: (
visit link) Learn more about Travis here: (
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The Alamo fell on 6 March 1836. Col. Jim Bowie was killed by Mexcan-Army soldiers who eventually overran the Alamo. He was stabbed woth bayonets in the bed he had lain on since being overcome by (what was probably) pneumonia.
Travis was shot in the head in battle at the northwest corner of the Alamo early on that fateful day as the Mexican and texian forces fought for control of the Alamo.
Some say that Crockett died fighting at the Long Barracks area of the Alamo. The Long Barracks was a horrific scene of the bloodiest hand-to hand fighting. The mythic image and depiction of Crockett fighting to the death in the Long Barracks by swinging his empty rifle at Mexican soldiers comes from the few non-combatant witnesses who were at thr Alamo during the battle.
However, in the 1970s a Mexican Army soldier's diary surfaced that cast dought on this depiction of Crockett's last moments. The diary states that Crockett was captured and executed by Santa Anna the next day, and that he went to his death with unwavering calmness and dignity.
Whichever account is true, both the diary and the Alamo survivors agree that Crockett died bravely. See this link for more on Davy Crockett: (
visit link)
Stephen F. Austin spent most of the Texas Revolution in the United States, serving as one of two provisional Republic of Texas Commissioners to the United States. Austin was in New Orleans when the Alamo fell. He rushed back to Texas after he learned of Houston's victory at San Jacinto to throw his hat into the ring for President of Texas. He lost in a landslide to Sam Houston. He caught a cold and died in Dec 1836. See this link for more on Stephen F. Austin: (
visit link)
If the Blasterz had been consulted, we'd have put Houston, Austin, TRAVIS, Bowie, and Crockett on the mural -- but nonetheless we can appreciate the artistic talent and vision of the mural (even if we don't love the homage to Mt. Rushmore). It is certainly more than the Blasterz could have accomplished themselves with their near-nonexistent mural-painting talents.
The mural and the small historic town named for Davy Crockett are well worth a visit and an explore.