Crockett's Bounty

David (Davy) Crockett (1786-1836), famed frontiersman and congress-man, came to Texas from Tennessee in early 1836. He signed a pledge of allegiance to the provisional Texian government and proceeded to San Antonio de Béxar, besieged by the Mexican Army during the Texas Revolution. Crockett reached the Alamo in early February, just weeks before Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna arrived with troops. Crockett died with the other Alamo defenders on March 6, 1836, and the battle inspired Texas forces. For Crockett’s service and sacrifice to the Texas Revolution, his heirs received almost 1,300 acres of land. In 1853, 17 years after her husband’s death, Elizabeth (Patton) Crockett, and sons, George Patton and Robert Crockett, arrived to claim Crockett’s bounty. They received land in this area and contracted with William L. Mitchell to locate and survey the acreage, exchanging half for his service. Here the Crocketts, later joined by other family members, built at least two log cabins and began clearing and farming the land. After Elizabeth’s death in 1860, the Crocketts continued to live on the property, later subdividing and selling it. The final tract sold in 1889, but the family remained active in the community, with grandson Ashley Crockett operating area newspapers. Subsequent owners of Crockett’s bounty included John Berry, a cattleman, and James Travis Shirley, whose family established the Rocky Point School, a chapel and a baptismal pool on the property. During the Great Depression, John Ward Harrison established a dairy on the land, providing jobs for many workers. In the 1940s, Herbert Calhoun began a cattle and quarter horse operation on Crockett’s bounty, continuing the legacy of the land and its stewards.