and "naval officer" for ARMY officer
Has the case for the Relief of Susan Decatur been ruled out as the naval officers widow?
It does appear to fit the description. Although, I can't find a recorded speech by Crockett, there is a great one given by a Mr. Chilton on pages 3818 - 3821.
22 minutes to find that. What took so long? :-)LOL! I was goofing off FReeping elsewhere, and did not see his challenge right away...
As for Susan Decatur, I am open to that possibility as well, but it does not fit the timeline as well. We KNOW that he opposed the allocation of money to General Brown's widow at an earlier date, so his "conversion" must have taken place at an earlier date than the Decatur vote. (He was ALREADY "converted" by that time.)
MY current working hypothesis is as follows. Many of these points are tentative, and still open for debate, IMHO.
Ellis wrote this account almost FIFTY years after Crockett died, and may have forgotten many details,Here is my best CURRENT explanation of the facts that we have discovered to date:
MANY authors at that time "embellished" the biographies of famous men,
Crockett himself promoted many "tall tales" about his exploits,
Crockett was poorly educated, and did not leave very complete written records,
No OTHER written records fully document much of what may have happened.
Crockett may have arrived in Washington EARLY for his first term, which began in March 1827, so that he could have been present on the day of the [DOCUMENTED] fire in Alexandria in January of 1827.This ROUGH DRAFT of events as they ACTUALLY occurred still has some gaping holes in it, but would be consistent with a TRUTHFUL account of Crockett's actions being "modified for television," as it were - to make a more compelling tale to provide moral education for the kiddies.
He may have SUPPORTED his collegues in Congress in their [DOCUMENTED] vote to allocate money for the sufferers of this fire, even though he was not yet able to VOTE at that time.
Crockett may have met with SOMEONE on a trip back to Tennessee, shortly after that vote, and have expressed his SUPPORT for spending the money to that person. Whoever it was could have convinced Crockett that his support for non-Constitutional expenditures would cost him his FUTURE vote, even if Crockett was unable to actually vote on the Alexandria fire bill.
This "Horatio Bunce" could have been the commander of his old unit, Samuel Bunch, who would be expected to know the name of one of the men in his command, even if Crockett did not immediately recognize Bunch. OR, "Horatio" could have been a relative of Samuel.
Whoever it was could have helped Crockett to experience his "conversion" to Constitutional spending discipline prior to his [DOCUMENTED] opposition to the bill for the relief for General Brown's widow, and his [DOCUMENTED] offer to pay from his own private funds.
Or not. ;)
Still working...
Has the case for the Relief of Susan Decatur been ruled out as the naval officers widow?The plot THICKENS...It does appear to fit the description. Although, I can't find a recorded speech by Crockett, there is a great one given by a Mr. Chilton on pages 3818 - 3821.
Perhaps I spoke too soon! I just this e-mail answer from Dr. Paul Hutton , Professor of History at the University of New Mexico, and Executive Director of their Western History Association:(FWIW, I used my REAL NAME, address and phone number in my e-mail to Dr. Hutton - NOT RonDog)Dear RonDog:I have not read the article,
But Crockett did indeed give a speech against the pension
(which was, by the way, for the widow of Stephen Decatur).Paul Hutton
> RonDog wrote:
>
> Hi, Dr. Hutton - Perhaps you (or some of your graduate students) can
> help us.
>
> Some of the members of the conservative news forum
> www.FreeRepublic.com are currently attempting to establish the FACTS
> behind the classic "Not Yours to Give" article which has been widely
> circulated over the Internet, in a discussion thread at:
> http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/614198/posts?page=125#125
>
> Our general consensus to date is that David Crockett DID in fact vote
> against allocating federal funds for the widow of a popular military
> officer, and MAY have had a political mentor similar to the man
> identified in the article as "Horatio Bunce," although he was almost
> certainly NOT in Congress when they voted to provide aid to the
> sufferers of the tragic fire in the District of Columbia.
>
> You seem to be very well-informed about Colonel Crockett. What is
> YOUR opinion about "Not Yours to Give?"
>
> Thank you,
>
> RonDog
It looks like we are BACK to the drawingboard! (Or, not?)Note that I did not mention WHICH widow that we thought Col. Crockett had voted against: Brown OR Decatur.