Davy Crockett is born, August 17, 1786
David Crockett, as he liked to be called, was a true child of the frontier. He was born near the Nolichucky River in Tennessee. As did all children growing up on the frontier, he learned how to track, hunt, and shoot fast and straight, and was always comfortable in the backwoods. When Davy was twelve years old he was leased out to settle his father’s debts, tending cattle on a four-hundred-mile cattle drive. When he returned, he was enrolled in school but took off after four days. His real knowledge came from practical lessons on how to survive on his own.