David Crockett and his fellow Alamo defenders spent most of the siege hoping in vain for reinforcements. But in the early morning hours of March 1, 1836, a few brave men from Gonzales did make their way into the old mission. "It was only a reinforcement of thirty-two," as James Donovan writes in The Blood of Heroes, but "they told of more on their way, riding to Gonzales from all points. If those reinforcements arrived before the rest of the Mexican Army, the rebels might have a fighting chance."
History records "the immortal thirty-two" as including a young man named Jonathan Lindley. And one of the first people I ran into, as I was setting out to report Born on a Mountaintop, turned out to be a relative of his.
Dave Lindley and his wife, Joyce, were touring Tennessee's Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park when I arrived to do the same. Despite a longstanding interest in history, Dave hadn't known he had an Alamo connection until a friend came back from San Antonio and said, "Hey, there's a Lindley on the wall!" Jonathan Lindley, Joyce explained, turned out to be cousin of Dave's "third or fourth great grandfather." He had gone to Texas, as so many did, in search of opportunity and land; the Lindleys believe he was manning a cannon in the Alamo church when the Mexicans broke through.
I thought of Dave and Joyce when my Crockett road trip finally took me to to San Antonio. I was
History records "the immortal thirty-two" as including a young man named Jonathan Lindley. And one of the first people I ran into, as I was setting out to report Born on a Mountaintop, turned out to be a relative of his.
Dave Lindley and his wife, Joyce, were touring Tennessee's Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park when I arrived to do the same. Despite a longstanding interest in history, Dave hadn't known he had an Alamo connection until a friend came back from San Antonio and said, "Hey, there's a Lindley on the wall!" Jonathan Lindley, Joyce explained, turned out to be cousin of Dave's "third or fourth great grandfather." He had gone to Texas, as so many did, in search of opportunity and land; the Lindleys believe he was manning a cannon in the Alamo church when the Mexicans broke through.
I thought of Dave and Joyce when my Crockett road trip finally took me to to San Antonio. I was
admiring the statue of Crockett that's part of the Cenotaph in Alamo Plaza when I looked down and saw a familiar name. You can find it in the somewhat murky photo above, but here's a close-up.
When I'd asked Dave Lindley about Crockett himself, he'd had some thoughtful things to say. Having read up on "the real man, as opposed to the Disney character," he wasn't inclined to overglorify him. "The real man made a lot of mistakes, like most humans do," Dave said, "so putting him on a pedestal, to me, is not a proper place." I couldn't agree more about Crockett being human. His human flaws and human emotions, I think, only make his story more interesting. But it's equally true that Americans put him on a pedestal long ago, for reasons that are just as fascinating as the facts of the real man's life.
Here's just one: We humans need stories that give us hope, and courage in the face of darkness. And to that end, the stories of the famous Davy Crockett and the anonymous Jonathan Lindley both serve.
Here's just one: We humans need stories that give us hope, and courage in the face of darkness. And to that end, the stories of the famous Davy Crockett and the anonymous Jonathan Lindley both serve.
RSS Feed