The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 94, July 1990 - April, 1991 Page: 67
692 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Nur~ez Account
standard secondary study, Walter Lord's A Time to Stand, strongly inti-
mates that the "tall American" whose fall Nufiez described could well
have been "Crockett himself," and as recently as 1986 historian Ben
Procter employed the account in The Battle of the Alamo, published by
the Texas State Historical Association."
Lay historians seem even more unrelenting, resentful of any per-
ceived plot to tarnish their hero. In their revisionist study, Roll Call at
the Alamo, Phil Rosenthal and Bill Groneman concoct the "possibility
that the Mexicans incorrectly identified one of the [executed] Texans as
Crockett" and use the Nufiez account as the linchpin for their argu-
ment that the former congressman died fighting. Rosenthal and Grone-
man then assert that the Nufiez account was "direct and to the point"
and when "tied together" with the Rafael Soldana and Susanna Dickin-
son accounts, neither of whom ever claimed to witness the old bear
hunter's death, makes "a good case for Crockett to have lived up to his
legendary status."'
Newspaperman Bob Boyd was almost belligerent in his certainty.
"Davy Crockett died fighting at the Alamo," he asserts in his sparsely
documented treatment:
He did not surrender. He did not ask for quarter. He did not beg for his life.
He died fighting back-to-back with two of his Tennessee comrades. Before they
had finished, a pile of dead enemies, estimated at between 14 and 24, lay
around them.
The "evidence," Boyd alleged, is "undeniable." All this before citing
Susanna Dickinson who reported seeing Crockett's mutilated corpse as
she was led from the fort after the battle. Mrs. Dickinson, however,
never claimed to be privy to the exact circumstances of Crockett's death.
Boyd then seeks to bolster his argument by claiming that other Mexi-
can accounts "confirm" that his hero's death was "valiant and vengeful."
Although he fails to identify who the others were, it is likely that the
Nufiez narrative is one on which Boyd would rely for confirmation.
Seeking to refute "international historian and linguist" Richard Santos's
protestation that Crockett did not die "fighting a la John Wayne," Aus-
tin writer Arthur G. Milton cited Nufiez as proof to the contrary.'
' Waltel Lo( d, A Tzme to Stand (New York- I la pe & Brothel s, 19(6 ), 161; Ben Iroctei, The
Battle of the Alamo (Austin. Texas State llistonical Association, 19(86), 32-36
1'Phil Rosenthal and Bill Gi oneman, Roll Call at the Alamo (Foi t Collins, Col : The Old Army
Press, 1985), 29-32, 33 (ist quotation), 34-35' 36 (and-4th (quotations)
'Bob Boyd, The Texas Revolution A DaT-by--Day Au ount, ed Soren W Nielsen (San Angelo:
San Angelo Standard, Inc., 1986), 1-3, 5-6, 154, Aithui (; Milton, "New Attack on the Al-
amo, Book Misrepresents Battle," Austiln Amemuan-Statesman, Ap I, 1989
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 94, July 1990 - April, 1991, periodical, 1991; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101214/m1/91/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.