# Did Davey Crocket actually wear a coon skin cap and did they have any practical value? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 22, 2016, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857 "2016-01-22T04:44:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/1 "2016-01-22T04:44:57Z")
fess Parker made it famous, but still, you meet up on the wide open plains after hundreds of mile and a few years. wouldn’t you be better off with a Grizzly, Wolf, or Eagle as your headgear? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/2 "2016-01-22T04:49:32Z")
Well, to get a bear cap, you have to kill a bear… raccoons don’t put up anywhere near as much of a fight. And, I’d imagine for practicality’s sake, they’d be pretty warm. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/3 "2016-01-22T04:54:56Z")
Yes he wore one. [From wiki:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_Crockett) > [@](#): > > His youngest child, Matilda, later wrote that she distinctly remembered the last time she saw her father: "He was dressed in his hunting suit, wearing a coonskin cap, and carried a fine rifle presented to him by friends in Philadelphia … Coonskin caps were worn by Native Americans when Europeans arrived. I suppose you might not want to cut up a bear skin to get hat size pieces. I’m guessing skunkskin caps were less popular. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/4 "2016-01-22T05:01:13Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > to get a bear cap, you have to kill a bear Which the song says he did when 3 years old - shoulda kept him in bearskin hats for a good while. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/5 "2016-01-22T05:05:31Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > Which the song says he did when 3 years old - shoulda kept him in bearskin hats for a good while. The version in my neighbourhood was: “Daniels Boone was a man, Yes, a BIIIG man, ♪ But the bear was much bigger, So he run like \* \*\*\*\*\* up a tree…” ♫ Times were different then, but kids were just as rude. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/6 "2016-01-22T05:23:52Z")
Certianly, you must understand that Davey Crocket and Daniel Boone were separated by almost a century. Did the coonskin cap persist for that long? If they’re so great, I might buy one. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/7 "2016-01-22T07:30:24Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > The version in my neighbourhood was: > > “Daniels Boone was a man, > Yes, a BIIIG man, ♪ > But the bear was much bigger, > So he run like \* \*\*\*\*\* up a tree…” ♫ > Times were different then, but kids were just as rude. “Daniel Boone was a goon, a biiiig goon,” was the way we learned it (the rest was mostly the same). But, wrong song, and wrong guy. “Davey, Davey Crocket, king of the wild frontier”, and that’s all I remember. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/8 "2016-01-22T09:38:26Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > Certianly, you must understand that Davey Crocket and Daniel Boone were separated by almost a century. Hardly. Daniel Boone 1734-1820 Davy Crockett 1786-1836 Looks like their lives overlapped by 34 years. ---
**Author:** ![Stinky\_Pete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Stinky\_Pete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stinky_Pete)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/9 "2016-01-22T12:19:44Z")
Sorry if it disappoints but no, Crockett was not recorded as wearing a coon skin cap. Yes, a fur cap is indeed practical in the winter time and Crockett was known to go out in terrible Winter weather. He was indeed a successful hunter and an expert shot with a rifle. He particularly liked hunting bears. And since you seem to be looking for historical accuracy, at no time was he ever called Davey Crockett. His name was David Crockett. The cap and the name Davey were inventions of Disney. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/10 "2016-01-22T12:26:38Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > “Daniel Boone was a goon, a biiiig goon,” was the way we learned it (the rest was mostly the same). > > But, wrong song, and wrong guy. > > “Davey, Davey Crocket, king of the wild frontier”, and that’s all I remember. Born on a Mountain top in Tennassee Prettiest state in the land of the free Raised in the woods so he knew every tree Killed him a bar when he was only three Davy, Davt Crockett, King of the wild frontier. I used to sing it to my son when he was a baby. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/11 "2016-01-22T13:25:23Z")
> [@Stinky\_Pete](#): > > Sorry if it disappoints but no, Crockett was not recorded as wearing a coon skin cap. > > Yes, a fur cap is indeed practical in the winter time and Crockett was known to go out in terrible Winter weather. He was indeed a successful hunter and an expert shot with a rifle. He particularly liked hunting bears. > > And since you seem to be looking for historical accuracy, at no time was he ever called Davey Crockett. His name was David Crockett. > > The cap and the name Davey were inventions of Disney. This may seem satisfying and iconoclastic, but a look at Google N-gram turns up plenty of references to “Davy Crockett” going back to his own time, long predating Disney. In fact, Crockett seems to have used the name on his autobiography. As noted above, there are contemporary references to his wearing a coonskin cap (one listing i Wikipedia). Whether it had that Disneyesque tail down the back, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/12 "2016-01-22T13:47:27Z")
I enjoyed the portrait of Crockett we saw in the _The Alamo_ (2004-\*-not \*John Wayne’s version). He certainly came from the backwoods & occasionally played up that image (on the campaign trail) but generally dressed like a civilized man–and generally preferred “David.” (In the movie, we saw Crockett meeting Houston at a DC theater–where a fur-hatted actor played a caricature “Crockett” for laughs.) The portrait (done from life) reproduced [here](http://www.cah.utexas.edu/exhibits/Pena/english/exhibit3.html) shows him in buckskins–waving a slouch hat. Not to say he \*never \*owned a fur cap… ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/13 "2016-01-22T14:27:19Z")
[This picture](http://www.cah.utexas.edu/exhibits/Pena/english/large/10a.html) from Ms Burke’s link has him called Davy Crockett and wearing what appears to be a dead cat on his head. It is from 1837, which is just a couple years after his death. So if the origins of the coonskin cap are myth they happened early. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/14 "2016-01-22T14:37:05Z")
That’s the cover of _Davy Crockett’s Almanack_–there’s even[a website](http://davycrockettsalmanack.blogspot.com/)by that name, devoted to Legends of the Past. The New York Historical Society has [more details](http://blog.nyhistory.org/davy-crockett-almanacs/) on the publication. > [@](#): > > The real David Crockett struggled with debt, the dissolution of his marriage to his second wife Elizabeth, and a desire for political power that he never fully attained, but the mythologizing of his character and exploits began during his lifetime and was perpetuated by numerous Davy Crockett almanacs, books (including Crockett’s own autobiography) plays, songs, newspaper articles, and word-of-mouth. > > While Crockett was not above using his outsize image to further his own career, he probably did not have anything to do with the popular almanacs. In fact, no one knows who wrote them… > > After his death at the Alamo, the real Crockett (who opposed Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act) receded and Davy the folk hero emerged as a popular symbol for land-hungry, ambitious Americans who would fight Mexicans, Native Americans, and nature for the Western lands they saw as their rightful territory. As both David and Davy Crockett were known to say, “Be always sure you’re right–then go ahead!” Yes, the legend started early. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/15 "2016-01-22T14:42:40Z")
Davey was very well known. At the Alamo Santa Ana knew who he was, referred to him as a ‘naturalist’. He replaced Daniel Boone as the American frontiersman of note, was even credited as being related to Boone, but IIRC there’s no actual connection. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/16 "2016-01-22T14:43:22Z")
And don’t forget that he was also a politician. Politicians often wear different hats for political purposes and the coonskin cap may have been used for the purpose of making him more folksy. Much like Ben Franklin wearing the beaver hat in Paris because the European elite thought that’s what Americans wore. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/17 "2016-01-22T14:55:18Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > And don’t forget that he was also a politician. Politicians often wear different hats for political purposes and the coonskin cap may have been used for the purpose of making him more folksy. Much like Ben Franklin wearing the beaver hat in Paris because the European elite thought that’s what Americans wore. More likely, Franklin just liked beaver. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/18 "2016-01-22T15:03:56Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > More likely, Franklin just liked beaver. But that had little to do with his sartorial decisions. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/19 "2016-01-22T15:05:00Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > more likely, franklin just liked beaver. iswydt. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/20 "2016-01-22T15:30:07Z")
Good book on Davy’s life and his place in popular culture: [Born on a Mountaintop: On the Road with Davy Crockett and the Ghosts of the Wild Frontier](http://www.amazon.com/Born-Mountaintop-Crockett-Ghosts-Frontier/dp/030772090X/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1453476638&sr=1-11&keywords=davy+crockett) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857.md?page=2)