Following the war of 1812, the United States felt invigorated after it fended off the British for a second time.

The future seemed bright, and the subsequent decade became known as the era of

good feelings. The 1820s ushered in optimism. Families grew, new states entered the Union,

and the country began to create its own identity through music, folklore, and tall tales. Tall tales were

pivotal in crafting an American image.

The tales were inspired by people, places, and professions found across the growing nation.

Some characters were fictitious.

Others were real people whose stories were embellished or entirely fictionalized.

Daniel Boone became one of the first subjects of tall tales and folklore. In a similar vein,

David Crockett was on his way to becoming a popular folk hero as well. He was from what is

today Eastern Tennessee. He became a cowboy at the age of 12, and an accomplished hunter by the time he was a

teenager. He got married at 21, and he and his wife, Polly, had three children in Jefferson County, Tennessee.

Shortly after he moved his family to Franklin County, he felt called to join the war of 1812.

The U.S. and Great Britain were back at war,

and a theater of that expansive conflict developed south of Tennessee.

The Creek War, a civil war between two halves of the Creek Nation,

exploded in the modern-day state of Alabama,

and Crockett rode south with a column of Tennessee volunteers.

Crockett's column was led by Colonel John Coffey, and it was one part of the larger Tennessee

Army commanded by General Andrew Jackson. Coffey's column, with Crockett as a scout,

fought and won the critical battle of Talashatchi

against a force of Creek warriors.

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