David Crockett was born in a cabin along the Nolichucky River in what is now Tennessee. He would become a celebrated frontiersman, bear hunter, and U.S. congressman before dying at the Alamo in 1836, and his exaggerated frontier exploits made him one of early America's first folk-hero celebrities.
Crockett's early life read like tall tale even before the tall tales began accumulating around his name. Barely literate, he ran away from home as a teenager, worked as a hatter's apprentice, and killed his first bear (by some accounts) with almost casual frontier competence that later became legend. He served under Andrew Jackson in the Creek War before entering Tennessee politics, eventually winning a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Crockett cultivated—and profited from—his own mythology. He allowed almanacs and stage plays to exaggerate his exploits into superhuman feats, coining or popularizing frontier catchphrases while positioning himself as the plain-spoken voice of the backwoods against Eastern elites. His political career soured after he broke with Andrew Jackson over Indian removal policy, and after losing his House seat in 1835 he reportedly told constituents they could 'go to hell' while he went to Texas.
He died the following year defending the Alamo against Mexican forces, an event that cemented him as an American martyr-legend. The Davy Crockett of coonskin caps and Disney serials bears only passing resemblance to the actual congressman, but the mythmaking began in his own lifetime, with his blessing.