[CROCKETT, Davy (1786-1836)]. Columbian Centinel. Contains ...

[CROCKETT, Davy (1786-1836)]. Columbian Centinel. Contains false information that Crockett survived the Alamo. Boston: Homer & Palmer and Joseph T. Adams, 2 July 1836. No. 5451. 4pp., large folio (635 x 445 mm), spotting, some soiling and browning, few small tears, old fold. Contains extracted “facts” from a letter regarding the fall of the Alamo on 6 March 1836: “During the siege of the Alamo, the Mexicans planted a piece of ordinance with gunshot of the Fort, with the intention of commencing a brisk cannonade. Five men successfully stepped forth to fire the gun, and were each marked down by the unerring rifle of Crockett. The consequence was that the gun was abandoned.” Crockett’s final moments are shrouded in speculation, but many historians agree that Santa Anna’s men overwhelmed Crockett and his riflemen, forcing them inside the chapel where they then blew it open with cannons before pressing in upon the final six defenders which opposes the articles account of the events. The letter goes on to describe the final moments of Colonel James Bowie: “When the fort was carried he was sick in bed. He had also one of the murderous butcher knives which bears his name. Lying in bed he discharged his pistols and guns, and with each discharge brought down an enemy. So intimidated were the Mexicans by this act if desperate and cool bravery, that they dared not approach him, but shot him from the door - and as the cowards approached the bed over the dead bodies of their companions, the dying Bowie, nerving himself for a last blow, plunged his knife into the heart of his nearest foe at the same instant that he expired”.