David Crockett. The Alamo
John Wayne wanted to play Sam Houston in his 1960 epic The Alamo, but other investors in the film insisted that he take a starring role. Wayne also directed the film, and believed that starring as well would take away from both his performance and his direction. Needing the money from the investors (he put in about $1.5 million of his own money) he acquiesced and selected the role of Colonel David Crockett of Tennessee, a part which had been made famous by Fess Parker for Disney just a few years earlier. Wayne’s Crockett was at times true to the original, but at others wandered from actual history, as did other parts of the film.
Crockett did lead a party of volunteers to Texas, arriving in early 1836 at San Antonio de Bexar, though they believed the fighting between the Texians (as they were called) and the Mexicans to be over. Throughout his life the real David Crockett (he hated to be called Davy) enjoyed pulling a cork and telling a tale, attributes which Wayne portrays. Whether Crockett was forced to trick his men into staying in Texas and joining the fighting is unknown, since all of his party were killed in the Alamo. Crockett also knew fellow Tennessean Sam Houston, but he did not visit the general prior to his arrival at the Alamo.
During the actual siege of the Alamo the Texians made several sorties outside of the fort, prior to the arrival of the full Mexican Army. These were to clear brush and several outbuildings which would have afforded cover for Mexican sharpshooters, and most were conducted on foot. There was insufficient food and water within the slipshod fort for the Texians (and Tejanos) to maintain a large number of horses, though there were some for the use of messengers. In the final assault on March 6 there were not three attacks, with the first two repelled. There was instead a three pronged assault which overwhelmed the defenders as there was simply not enough men to man the length of the walls and barricades.
The heroic death of Wayne’s Crockett was false for two reasons. There were no Mexican lancers used in the assault, they were stationed on the plain outside specifically to run down any men attempting to flee the attack. Nor was the powder magazine within the Alamo destroyed during the battle. That Crockett did die inside the fort was confirmed by Susannah Dickinson, the wife of one of the defenders, and a slave known as Joe who belonged to William Travis. Both claimed to have seen his body within the confines of the fort, near the chapel. Historians believe that several Texians attempted to escape the fort and fight out of the encirclement, only to be cut down by the lancers, but it isn’t likely Crockett was one of them.
Another former American slave who was a cook for the Mexican Army also claimed to have seen Crockett’s body, although how he would have recognized Crockett is unknown. What is known is that according to eyewitnesses Crockett died during the battle, despite claims he surrendered and was executed. Wayne’s portrayal of Crockett in The Alamo is for the most part historically accurate, including his expressed surprise at the lush greenery of parts of Texas, and how the area was well watered, the people welcoming and friendly. The portrayals of Travis (a slave owner who abandoned his wife) and Bowie (a smuggler, slave dealer, and fence) were far less accurate.