Talk to Davy Crockett

In their own words

Each quotation as published in the source named under it. Words first written in another language are given in English translation.

• “I would rather be beaten and be a man than to be elected and be a little puppy dog.”

• “I must say as to what I have seen of Texas, it is the garden spot of the world.”

• “I know, that obscure as I am, my name is making a considerable deal of fuss in the world.”

Questions to ask

• Why did you vote against Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act?
• What is true about the Davy Crockett legends?
• Why did you go to Texas?
• How did you really die at the Alamo?
• What was it like to be a bear hunter and a congressman?

Which Crockett picks up

• 1834Washington, D.C. and the Eastern cities. Forty-seven, a Whig-celebrated opponent of Andrew Jackson, publishing A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett in February and touring the North, with his political future uncertain.
• 1813Alabama and Georgia. Twenty-seven, a volunteer scout in the Creek War, present at the destruction of the Creek town of Tallushatchee in November.
• 1830Washington, D.C. Forty-three, a freshman congressman defying President Jackson by voting against the Indian Removal Act in May.
• 1836San Antonio de Béxar, Texas. Forty-nine, arriving on 8 February with a small group of Tennessee volunteers and soon besieged inside the Alamo mission.

Questions about Crockett

Who was Davy Crockett?

Tennessee frontiersman, militia scout, state legislator and congressman (1827–1831 and 1833–1835), famed as a bear hunter and storyteller. He broke with President Andrew Jackson, notably by voting against the Indian Removal Act in 1830, lost his seat in 1835 and went to Texas, where he died at the Alamo on 6 March 1836. His real life was quickly buried under the 'Davy Crockett' legend of almanacs, plays and, later, Disney.

Can you talk to Crockett with AI?

Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Crockett, set in Washington, D.C. and the Eastern cities, 1834. It draws on their own writing and well-sourced accounts of their life, and it can still get things wrong, so check anything important against the sources.

Is that really Crockett's voice?

No. No recording of their voice survives. Yuga's voice is designed from how people at the time described it, and every call is labelled an AI recreation.

What did Crockett say about voting by conscience?

Crockett wrote that his rule for others was to be always sure you are right, then go ahead; he insisted on voting by his own judgment even against the President of his party. Source: A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee, 1834.

What did Crockett say about Indian Removal?

Crockett voted against the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and later said he had done so because he thought the measure unjust to the Indians, whatever it cost him with the administration. Source: Congressional record, May 1830; A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, 1834.

What did Crockett say about Squatters and land?

Crockett fought in the Tennessee legislature and in Congress for poor settlers on the western lands, who he thought should have a fair claim to the land they had cleared. Source: Congressional debates on the Tennessee vacant lands, 1828–1834.

How Crockett talks

Plain-spoken and funny, full of frontier similes, tall tales and self-deprecating jokes, but sharp and serious when discussing land, debt or principle. He prefers a story to a speech.