The most famous rifle of Texas! Recreating Colonel Crockett's rifle at the battle of the Alamo

Guns Magazine, Jan, 2004 by Bill Ball

Mystery surrounds the most famous rifle of Texas--the one Colonel David Crockett used in combat at the battle of the Alamo. The guns Crockett fired during the siege of the Alamo, or which rifle finally fell from his hand when the Mexican infantry surprised the outnumbered Texans in a pre-dawn assault against the north-east fortress wall may never be known with certainty.

Known Crockett Rifles

His first rifle, a .48-caliber flintlock, hasn't been outside Tennessee since 1806, and now resides in the pioneer collection at the East Tennessee Historical Society Museum in Knoxville. For much appreciated service in the Tennessee State Assembly, Crockett's Lawrence County constituents presented him with a .40-caliber flintlock crafted by James Graham around 1822.

Calling this rifle "Old Betsy", Crockett used it to kill 125 bears between 1825 and 1834. When he departed for Texas in 1835, Davy left "Old Betsy" with his son, John Wesley. Today, it resides in the Alamo Museum collection in San Antonio.

"Pretty Betsy," a rifle presented to Crockett in 1834 by the Whigs of Philadelphia, is located at Nashville, Tenn. None of these rifles took part in the Alamo fighting in the closing weeks of Crockett's life.

Historical documents record Davy Crockett sold two dries to Colonel Neal of the Texas Army in January 1836, and that he had not been paid for the rifles when the Alamo fell in March 1836. After subsequent entreaties by his daughter, the Texas government finally paid Crockett's estate for these two rifles. Unfortunately, no specific details exist about the rifles Crockett sold to the Texas Army.

Echo Of A Craftsman

In San Antonio's Alamo museum, visitors can view an old flintlock rifle with brass patchbox and barrel markings strongly suggesting a specific 19th century gunsmith, Jacob Dickert, as being the maker of the rifle. This display rifle, according to the museum curator, was re-constructed in the 1920s by a local gunsmith using various parts donated by many Texans, and reported to come from rifles once used at the Alamo. This rifle makes a powerful statement that Dickert rifles were used by at least one of the Alamo's defenders.

As historian and master gun maker Mike Branson explains, original siege reports from Mexican officers at the Alamo record the presence of a tall, slender man wearing fringed leather clothing and a hat made from an animal skin, whose long-barreled rifle proved deadly at 100 and 250 yards. All historians agree Davy Crockett died at the battle of the Alamo, but actual facts are hard to pin down.

Some hold the sharp-shooting frontiersman fell in battle, surrounded by piles of slain Mexican soldiers. Others argue Crockett realized the futility of continued resistance early in the crisp, smoke-filled dawn of March 6, 1836 and surrendered, only to be summarily executed at General Santa Anna's order later that same morning.

New Rifles For A New Crockett

When Disney's new movie, The Alamo. debuts, Davy Crockett, played by veteran actor Billy Bob Thornton, will sharp shoot Mexican artillerymen, and tend off assault troops using an authentic period rifle. The rifle used by this actor-marksman is one of a pair of .54-caliber Lancaster County flintlocks, crafted in the early 1800's style by historian and master gun maker Mike Branson.

The movie company's request to potential gun makers was deceptively simple--describe for us the rifles you believe Colonel Crockett and the other Kentucky frontiersmen might have taken to the plains and hills of Texas around 1835. Drawing from his extensive library and studies, and working closely with friends and fellow gunsmiths Jack Brooks and Bob Lienemann, Branson examined many photos of original Kentucky rifles, making careful note of distinguishing characteristics such as caliber, barrel contour, locks, sights, furniture, stock shape and patchboxes.

"Between 1775 and 1836, firearms changed only in style, but not in technology," Mike concluded. "Davy Crockett was 50 years old when he arrived in Texas in January, 1836, and would have been comfortable with the type of rifles he'd used all his life on me Tennessee frontier, Percussion caps, in existence for about 10 years, would be too new to be really trusted and available on the frontier. Davy knew how to keep a flintlock firing. I hypothesized he preferred curly maple-stocked, swamped barrel, brass fitted rifles--just the sort he'd used all his life. For the movie company's desire for authenticity, I proposed full stocked Kentucky flintlock rifles, as crafted between 1795 and 1817."

Jacob Dickert

From the 1760s until his death in 1822, Jacob Dickert was known both as a military contractor and respected Lancaster County, Pennsylvania gun maker. As an arms contractor tot the Continental Army and for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, he made and sold rifles to the government, and repaired muskets and other firearms. Dickert also owned a gun barrel boring mill in the 1790s, located a few miles from his gun factory.

On surviving rifles, original Dickert-bored barrels average between 42-and 44-inches long. The hunting and trade rifles crafted by Dickert and his employees evolved a particular style on their "Jacob Dickert" marked barrels. On the slender, straight-gripped curly maple stock, typical Dickert rifles show American rococo style carving with "S" and "C" scrollwork, double "C" scrolls and two spiral volutes. Surviving Dickert flintlocks typically employ an engraved daisy-head patchbox, and brass furniture.