Where freedom was fightin' another foe...

 I was in junior high when Walt Disney;s “Davy Crockett” came out.  I loved the show, bought a coonskin cap, and admired Crockett.  The last episode was so sad.  There he was, on the wall of the Alamo, battling those Mexicans for freedom.

Except he wasn’t.  A new book entitled “Forget the Alamo” published by Penguin Press tells the whole story in detail, noting that Mexico was a destination for escaping slaves, since that country had outlawed slavery.  The Anglo settlers in Texas had a hard time raising cotton without their slaves, and they wanted to bring them in.  Hence, the war against Mexico.

I understand that societies like to hang on to their heroic founding myths, but the Alamo “battle for freedom” goes too far.

Too bad Mexico didn’t build a wall.

As for Crockett, he wasn’t such a bad guy.  He gave a great speech during the Jackson administration in defense of Indian rights, and probably really did think he was doing a good thing/

And just in case you wonder what the full verse says, here it is:

He heard of Houston an' Austin so/  to the Texas plains he just had to go/  where freedom was fightin' another foe,/  an' they needed him at the Alamo./  Davy, Davy Crockett, the man who don't know fear.