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The Real Likeness of David Crockett
1247 Davy Crockett Park Road, Limestone,
TN ,
USA
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Tennessee State
Historical Marker
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Even his contemporaries, close friends and relatives outside the artist's circle, were not always consistent in describing the famous frontiersman. However, almost all agree that he carried an impressive frame, stood erect, and was quite muscular. We also know that he preferred to wear his dark brown hair on the longer side, parted down the middle, and was a bit of a stranger to a comb. His face was surprisingly gentle, had a light complexion with rosy cheeks, a long nose, and an ?Irish? chin, complete with a noticeable cleft. His eyes always seemed to have a piercing quality with a light shade of blue or gray.
David Crockett's physical carriage made him look taller than he probably was. Standing about two or three inches higher than the five foot, eight inch Daniel Boone, his muscular physique was honed from so many backbreaking jobs and his masculinity was accentuated by good posture. This gave him the appearance of standing six feet tall to some whom described him from either at close distance or from afar. Perhaps it was Chester Harding, the same artist who painted the only true portrait of Daniel Boone ? 14 years earlier, who captured the best and most accurate likeness of David Crockett in 1834.
?Colonel Crockett is perhaps the most illiterate man that you ever met in Congress Hall. He is rough and uncouth, talks much and loudly, and is by far more in his proper place when hunting a bear in the canebrake, then he will be in the capital. Yet he is independent and fearless and has popularity at home that is unconquerable. He is the only man that I know in Tennessee that could openly oppose General Jackson in his district and be elected to Congress.?
- James Erwin, Relative to Secretary of State Henry Clay
Last updated: 2/14/2015 15:17:00 |
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