David Crockett was 49 years old when he and a group of volunteers arrived in San Antonio in the first week of February 1836.

He and many of the others had traveled down from the small town of Nacadocious in East Texas,

where he had taken an oath to fight for Texas independence.

Profit and land enticed Crockett, but those weren't the only reasons.

By all accounts, Crockett became more acutely aware of the Texas Revolution after arriving in Nacadocious.

One of the last remaining bits of correspondence from Crockett comes from January 9, 1836.

He wrote to his daughter Margaret and her husband Wiley and said, quote,

I have taken the oath of government and have

enrolled my name as a volunteer. Crocket had fought in the Creek War and then spent nearly

20 years participating in local, state, and national politics. The collective experience

left a sour taste in his mouth, and in short, he seemed excited about a fresh start in a new land.

He left behind his second wife, Elizabeth, and eight children in Tennessee as he embarked on one last adventure.

In Nacadocious, he had reunited with his old friend Ben McCullough, but McCullough was not able

to continue the journey to San Antonio right away.

He contracted measles, and he was stuck in Nacadocious while he battled the sickness.

Crockett and a small group of volunteers made the 300-mile trip to South Texas.

And even though Crockett was a private like the other volunteers,

the men treated him like their leader, thanks to his military experience and celebrity status.

In the first week of February 1836, he led them into San Antonio.

San Antonio de Behar, the full name of the old Spanish town, had been in the hands of Texas revolutionaries for two months. A small army of volunteers had pushed all the Mexican soldiers

out of town in mid-December and had held the town with a scant force

as new volunteers arrived. Colonel James McNeil became the commander of the crumbling mission-turned

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