I continued at home now, working my farm for two years, as the war
finally closed soon after I quit the service. The battle at New Orleans
had already been fought, and treaties were made with the Indians which
put a stop to their hostilities.
But in this time, I met with the hardest trial which ever falls to the
lot of man. Death, that cruel leveller of all distinctions,--to whom the
prayers and tears of husbands, and of even helpless infancy, are
addressed in vain,--entered my humble cottage, and tore from my children
an affectionate good mother, and from me a tender and loving wife.
It is a scene long gone by, and one which it would be supposed I had
almost forgotten; yet when I turn my memory back on it, it seems as but
the work of yesterday. It was the doing of the Almighty, whose ways are
always right, though we sometimes think they fall heavily on us; and as
painful as is even yet the remembrance of her sufferings, and the loss
sustained by my little children and myself, yet I have no wish to lift
up the voice of complaint. I was left with three children; the two
oldest were sons, the youngest a daughter, and, at that time, a mere
infant. It appeared to me, at that moment, that my situation was the
worst in the world. I couldn't bear the thought of scattering my
children, and so I got my youngest brother, who was also married, and
his family to live with me. They took as good care of my children as
they well could, but yet it wasn't all like the care of a mother. And
though their company was to me in every respect like that of a brother
and sister, yet it fell far short of being like that of a wife. So I
came to the conclusion it wouldn't do, but that I must have another
wife.
There lived in the neighbourhood, a widow lady whose husband had been
killed in the war. She had two children, a son and daughter, and both
quite small, like my own. I began to think, that as we were both in the
same situation, it might be that we could do something for each other;
and I therefore began to hint a little around the matter, as we were
once and a while together. She was a good industrious woman, and owned a
snug little farm, and lived quite comfortable. I soon began to pay my
respects to her in real good earnest; but I was as sly about it as a fox
when he is going to rob a hen-roost. I found that my company wasn't at
all disagreeable to her; and I thought I could treat her children with
so much friendship as to make her a good stepmother to mine, and in this
I wan't mistaken, as we soon bargained, and got married, and then went
ahead. In a great deal of peace we raised our first crop of children,
and they are all married and doing well. But we had a second crop
together; and I shall notice them as I go along, as my wife and myself
both had a hand in them, and they therefore belong to the history of my
second marriage.
The next fall after this marriage, three of my neighbours and myself
determined to explore a new country. Their names were Robinson, Frazier,
and Rich. We set out for the Creek country, crossing the Tennessee
river; and after having made a day's travel, we stop'd at the house of
one of my old acquaintances, who had settled there after the war.
Resting here a day, Frazier turned out to hunt, being a great hunter;
but he got badly bit by a very poisonous snake, and so we left him and
went on. We passed through a large rich valley, called Jones's valley,
where several other families had settled, and continued our course till
we came near to the place where Tuscaloosa now stands. Here we camped,
as there were no inhabitants, and hobbled out our horses for the night.
About two hours before day, we heard the bells on our horses going back
the way we had come, as they had started to leave us. As soon as it was
daylight, I started in pursuit of them on foot, and carrying my rifle,
which was a very heavy one. I went ahead the whole day, wading creeks
and swamps, and climbing mountains; but I couldn't overtake our horses,
though I could hear of them at every house they passed. I at last found
I couldn't catch up with them, and so I gave up the hunt, and turned
back to the last house I had passed, and staid there till morning. From
the best calculation we could make, I had walked over fifty miles that
day; and the next morning I was so sore, and fatigued, that I felt like
I couldn't walk any more. But I was anxious to get back to where I had
left my company, and so I started and went on, but mighty slowly, till
after the middle of the day. I now began to feel mighty sick, and had a
dreadful head-ache. My rifle was so heavy, and I felt so weak, that I
lay down by the side of the trace, in a perfect wilderness too, to see
if I wouldn't get better. In a short time some Indians came along. They
had some ripe melons, and wanted me to eat some, but I was so sick I
couldn't. They then signed to me, that I would die, and be buried; a
thing I was confoundedly afraid of myself. But I asked them how near it
was to any house? By their signs, again, they made me understand it was
a mile and a half. I got up to go; but when I rose, I reeled about like
a cow with the blind staggers, or a fellow who had taken too many
"horns." One of the Indians proposed to go with me, and carry my gun. I
gave him half a dollar, and accepted his offer. We got to the house, by
which time I was pretty far gone, but was kindly received, and got on to
a bed. The woman did all she could for me with her warm teas, but I
still continued bad enough, with a high fever, and generally out of my
senses. The next day two of my neighbours were passing the road, and
heard of my situation, and came to where I was. They were going nearly
the route I had intended to go, to look at the country; and so they took
me first on one of their horses, and then on the other, till they got me
back to where I had left my company. I expected I would get better, and
be able to go on with them, but, instead of this, I got worse and worse;
and when we got there, I wan't able to sit up at all. I thought now the
jig was mighty nigh up with me, but I determined to keep a stiff upper
lip. They carried me to a house, and each of my comrades bought him a
horse, and they all set out together, leaving me behind. I knew but
little that was going on for about two weeks; but the family treated me
with every possible kindness in their power, and I shall always feel
thankful to them. The man's name was Jesse Jones. At the end of two
weeks I began to mend without the help of a doctor, or of any doctor's
means. In this time, however, as they told me, I was speechless for five
days, and they had no thought that I would ever speak again,--in
Congress or any where else. And so the woman, who had a bottle of
Batesman's draps, thought if they killed me, I would only die any how,
and so she would try it with me. She gave me the whole bottle, which
throwed me into a sweat that continued on me all night; when at last I
seemed to make up, and spoke, and asked her for a drink of water. This
almost alarmed her, for she was looking every minute for me to die. She
gave me the water, and, from that time, I began slowly to mend, and so
kept on till I was able at last to walk about a little. I might easily
have been mistaken for one of the Kitchen Cabinet, I looked so much
like a ghost. I have been particular in giving a history of this
sickness, not because I believe it will interest any body much now, nor,
indeed, do I _certainly_ know that it ever will. But if I should be
forced to take the "white house," then it will be good history; and
every one will look on it as important. And I can't, for my life, help
laughing now, to think, that when all my folks get around me, wanting
good fat offices, how so many of them will say, "What a good thing it
was that that kind woman had the bottle of draps, that saved PRESIDENT
CROCKETT'S life,--the second greatest and best"!!!!! Good, says I, my
noble fellow! You take the post office; or the navy; or the war office;
or may-be the treasury. But if I give him the treasury, there's no devil
if I don't make him agree first to fetch back them deposites. And if
it's even the post office, I'll make him promise to keep his money
'counts without any figuring, as that throws the whole concern heels
over head in debt, in little or no time.
But when I got so I could travel a little, I got a waggoner who was
passing along to hawl me to where he lived, which was about twenty miles
from my house. I still mended as we went along, and when we got to his
stopping place, I hired one of his horses, and went on home. I was so
pale, and so much reduced, that my face looked like it had been half
soled with brown paper.
When I got there, it was to the utter astonishment of my wife; for she
supposed I was dead. My neighbours who had started with me had returned
and took my horse home, which they had found with their's; and they
reported that they had seen men who had helped to bury me; and who saw
me draw my last breath. I know'd this was a whapper of a lie, as soon as
I heard it. My wife had hired a man, and sent him out to see what had
become of my money and other things; but I had missed the man as I went
in, and he didn't return until some time after I got home, as he went
all the way to where I lay sick, before he heard that I was still in the
land of the living and a-kicking.
The place on which I lived was sickly, and I was determined to leave it.
I therefore set out the next fall to look at the country which had been
purchased of the Chickasaw tribe of Indians. I went on to a place called
Shoal Creek, about eighty miles from where I lived, and here again I got
sick. I took the ague and fever, which I supposed was brought on me by
camping out. I remained here for some time, as I was unable to go
farther; and in that time, I became so well pleased with the country
about there, that I resolved to settle in it. It was just only a little
distance in the purchase, and no order had been established there; but I
thought I could get along without order as well as any body else. And so
I moved and settled myself down on the head of Shoal Creek. We remained
here some two or three years, without any law at all; and so many bad
characters began to flock in upon us, that we found it necessary to set
up a sort of temporary government of our own. I don't mean that we made
any president, and called him the "government," but we met and made what
we called a corporation; and I reckon we called _it_ wrong, for it
wa'n't a bank, and hadn't any deposites; and now they call the bank a
corporation. But be this as it may, we lived in the back-woods, and
didn't profess to know much, and no doubt used many wrong words. But we
met, and appointed magistrates and constables to keep order. We didn't
fix any laws for them, tho'; for we supposed they would know law enough,
whoever they might be; and so we left it to themselves to fix the laws.
I was appointed one of the magistrates; and when a man owed a debt, and
wouldn't pay it, I and my constable ordered our warrant, and then he
would take the man, and bring him before me for trial. I would give
judgment against him, and then an order of an execution would easily
scare the debt out of him. If any one was charged with marking his
neighbour's hogs, or with stealing any thing, which happened pretty
often in those days,--I would have him taken, and if there was tolerable
grounds for the charge, I would have him well whip'd and cleared. We
kept this up till our Legislature added us to the white settlements in
Giles county; and appointed magistrates by law, to organize matters in
the parts where I lived. They appointed nearly every man a magistrate
who had belonged to our corporation. I was then, of course, made a
squire according to law; though now the honour rested more heavily on me
than before. For, at first, whenever I told my constable, says I--"Catch
that fellow, and bring him up for trial"--away he went, and the fellow
must come, dead or alive; for we considered this a good warrant, though
it was only in verbal writings. But after I was appointed by the
assembly, they told me, my warrants must be in real writing, and signed;
and that I must keep a book, and write my proceedings in it. This was a
hard business on me, for I could just barely write my own name; but to
do this, and write the warrants too, was at least a huckleberry over my
persimmon. I had a pretty well informed constable, however; and he aided
me very much in this business. Indeed I had so much confidence in him,
that I told him, when we should happen to be out anywhere, and see that
a warrant was necessary, and would have a good effect, he need'nt take
the trouble to come all the way to me to get one, but he could just fill
out one; and then on the trial I could correct the whole business if he
had committed any error. In this way I got on pretty well, till by care
and attention I improved my handwriting in such manner as to be able to
prepare my warrants, and keep my record book, without much difficulty.
My judgments were never appealed from, and if they had been they would
have stuck like wax, as I gave my decisions on the principles of common
justice and honesty between man and man, and relied on natural born
sense, and not on law, learning to guide me; for I had never read a page
in a law book in all my life.