The following is a email discussion on 07/23/96 on the authenticity of

the Crockett story between Steve Greenhow SG), the original poster, and

Jon Roland (JR):



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At 07:09 PM 7/23/96 -0700, you wrote:



JR: One thing that caught my attention in your quote on Crockett was the

reference to "barbecue". 



SG: This caught my attention too. 



JR: That term was in use in 1884 when the biography was written, but to

the best of my knowledge, had not yet been invented as of 1835 when

Crockett left Congress.



SG: I wondered about that as well.



JR: Etymologists generally attribute it to a corruption of "barbacoa",

originating with the Taino tribe of Arawaks of the Greater Antilles and

Bahamas, although in Texas it is attributed to the -BQ (bar B Q) ranch

there, which is said to have anglicized it and claimed to have invented

it, promoting it during the cattle drive period following the Civil War

as a way to promote the sale of beef.



SG: I suppose this word "barbacoa" was borrowed from the Arawaks by the

Spanish and it spread through their empire, because around here (Austin,

TX) Mexican restaurants commonly offer barbacoa on the menu. It's not

quite the same as American barbecue, but does involve meat roasted over

a fire. My Webster's 10th Collegiate also mentions the probable Arawak

origin and gives the first recorded use of "barbecue" in English as

1709; so it very possibly could have been in use in rural Tennessee

between 1827 and 1835, the years during which Crockett served in

Congress. I had not heard the bar B Q ranch story, and had not heard of

the bar B Q ranch, but it sounds plausible and is quite interesting.

This state was literally resurrected by the cattle industry during

Reconstruction. 



JR: Ellis may have played loosely with Crockett's quotes. Does he

explain how he got them? Are there indications of a political agenda

that would cause him to invent them? If so, then "Crockett" is

"Socrates" for Ellis' "Plato".



SG: "Barbecue" aside, I must assume Ellis was either working from

memory, or from extremely comprehensive notes he had made as a very

young man, or, as you suggest, playing the role of Plato. Crockett died

at the Alamo roughly 48 years before the book was published--a long time

for even the best memory to recall dialogue verbatim. Therefore I

suspect Ellis may have filled in a few holes here and there with some

skillful oratory of his own and was to some degree or another, Plato to

Crockett's Socrates. It is no matter to me. The story makes a wonderful,

heart-felt point and I am convinced, given the nature of the oral

tradition in his time and culture, Crockett would heartily approve.

After all, this is the man who claimed to be half-man, half-alligator

and to have waged a fist fight with fellow frontier legend Mike Fink

that lasted two days running. I once worked for a man who claimed,

"there is no bad publicity in show business." Somehow that adage seems

to apply here.



SG: As for a Ellis' political agenda, I haven't a clue. I only came

across the excerpt ten days ago and do not have the book, but I am

looking. My feeling is that it is out of print and a well-stocked

library or book-and-paper show may be the only place to find it. Until I

do find it and read it, or learn more about the author, I can't

speculate on Ellis' agenda beyond what can be deduced from the excerpt.

It might be interesting to find outside corroboration, in the

Congressional record for example, of Crockett making the speech(es), or

a newspaper account of the Georgetown fire Crockett helped to put out,

etc., but I will leave that to more aggressive historians. I am grateful

to Ellis for putting such a great story down on paper. It's message is

still timely today.



regards,

  ________________________________________________________

 \                                                        /

 \ Steve Greenhow                                         /

 \ Austin, Texas USA                                      /

 \ email: magbo@ix.netcom.com                             /

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 \ "And gentlemen in England now-a-bed                    /

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 \  That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."        /

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