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"A Regular Row in the Backwoods."
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“A Regular Row in the Backwoods.”

The 1841 issue of the Crockett Almanac, named after the Tennessee backwoodsman, Davey Crockett, made famous by his self-serving tall tales, portrayed a rough rural “sport.” The inexpensive comic almanacs combined illustrated jokes on topical subjects with astrological and weather predictions. While presented here as a rllicking free-for-all, frontier violence, emanating from a male culture based on honor and reputation, was often characterized by sudden attacks and maiming (such as eye gouging). The rough-and-tumble frontier Crockett came to represent was formed as white Southerners poured across the Appalachian Mountains in the decades following the Revolution, settling first in Tennessee and Kentucky, and later in Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Alabama, and eventually Texas. The Louisiana Purchase, the introduction of steamboats, and an expanded network of roads made this migration possible.


Source: Crockett Almanac (1841)—Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.