Page 20 - 201212 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - December 2012

Setting History Straight Setting History Straight - lip curled in derision and distaste when he saw real Uncle Sam. Then, in 1961, a historian Davy Crockett the drawings of Davy Crockett’s out fit... But stumbled on proof that “Uncle Sam” had eventually hunger won out, and Parker signed actually existed. up for the film. They had to teach him how to THE TRUTH: There’s a detailed account of THE MYTH: Davy Crockett was an American ride a horse, first, and and do it without him the Uncle Sam story in Charles Panati’s book hero, a clean-cut frontier superman who: coming down with a case of hives. His leather Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things. - “Killed him a b’ar when he was only breeches were specially sprayed before he wore three”; them, and when he was out of camera range he Here are some excerpts: - Was the greatest Indian fighter of his shied away from them as if they were a bunch of day; poison ivy, swearing they would give him BACKGROUND - Could shoot a rifle better than any man “crotch rot.” Parker later played TV’s Daniel - “Uncle Sam was Samuel Wilson. He alive; Boone for 6 years. [] was born in Arlington, Massachusetts, on - Was a respected Congressman who September 13, 1766...At age 14 [he] joined the considered running for president; Setting History Straight - army and fought in the American Revolution.” - Was the last man to die at the Alamo. George Armstrong Custer - “With independence from Britain BACKGROUND: Much of this “information” won, Sam moved in 1789 to Troy, New York, was taken from Crockett’s autobiography and a and opened a meat-packaging company. series of Crockett Almanacs which were A BRAVE INDIAN FIGHTER? Because of his jovial manner and fair business published between 1835 and 1856. practices, he was affectionately known ot But it was Walt Disney who made the THE MYTH: General George Armstrong townsfolk as Uncle Sam.” legend stick. In December, 1954 he unveiled a Custer was one of the U.S. Army’s great OUR “UNCLE SAM” IS BORN %'D7484 <0;40< ,-9>= ;9.50== @4=3 ,8 0:4<9/0 soldiers during the western expansion. His - “During the War of 182, government called “Davy Crockett, Indian fighter.” The folk valiant battle at the Little Bighorn - fighting a troops were quartered near Troy. Sam hero became an instant national fad, surprising horde of renegade Indians that outnumbered his Wilson’s fair-dealing reputation won him a even Uncle Walt. In a matter of months, small cavalry unit 1,000 to 1 (Custer’s Last military contract to provide beef and pork to merchants sold millions of dollars worth of $=,8/ D @,< ,8 0A,7:60 91 =30 10,;60<<80<< =3,= the soldiers. To indicate that certain crates of official Davy Crockett coonskin caps, bubble made the white man’s victory over the red man meat produced at his warehouse were destined gum cards, toy guns, fringed jackets, etc. inevitable. for military use, Sam stamped them with a Fourteen-million copies of Crockett’s life story At one time so many people believed it large ‘U.S.’ - for ‘United States,’ though the were sold. The Davy Crockett theme song hit that Custer was the hero of several films, and abbreviation was not yet in the vernacular.” national top 20 four times in one year, with four =30 7,48 .3,;,.=0; 48 , :;470 =470 %'D<0;40< - “On October ,1 1812, government different versions. (“The Legend of Custer” ran for a few months inspectors made a routine tour of the plant. & &$'& C <:/61>> A-= in 1967 on ABC.) Custer was also the subject of They asked a meat packer what the - A drunk who deserted his wife and a million-selling record, “Please Mr. Custer,” in ubiquitously stamped ‘U.S.’ stood for. The children; 1958. worker, himself uncertain, joked that the - A “scout” who avoided going into THE TRUTH: letters must represent the initials of his battle against the Indians by hiring a substitute; - Custer was a lieutenant colonel, not a employer, Uncle Sam.” - A congressman with one of the worst general. (He had briefly been a major general - “The error was perpetuated. Soon absentee records in history. during the Civil War, but was immediately soldiers began referring to all military rations The only thing that seems to be demoted to captain when the war ended.) as bounty from Uncle Sam. Before long, they consistant with the legend is that Crockett did - Custer was far from an exemplary were calling all government-issued supplied die at the Alamo. But that, says author Paul soldier. He finished last in his class at West property of Uncle Sam. They even saw Sann in Fads, Follies, and Delusions, was Point in 1861. And in 1867, he left his command themselves as Uncle Sam’s men.” “more bungling and stupidity than heroism.” to visit his wife; when he was caught, he was UNCLE SAM’S WARDROBE During the Crockett craze, several courtmartialed and kicked out of the service for “The familiar and colorful image of Uncle journalists researched the new American hero a year. He was allowed to return only because Sam we know today arose piecemeal, almost and the following are some sample comments: the Army needed help fighting Indians. one item at a time, each the contribution of an “He was never king of anything, except - Custer’s Last Stand wasn’t heroism, it illustrator.” maybe the Tennessee Tall Tales and Bourbon was stupidity. Custer’s division was supposed to - “The first Uncle Sam illustrations Samplers’ Association. When he claimed that he be a small pert of a major attack, led by General appeared in New England newspapers in had shot 105 bear in nine months, his fellow Alfred Terry - who was planning to meet Custer 1820.” tipplers refused to believe a word of it, on the in two days with his troops. Custer was - “Solid red pants were introduced grounds that Davy couldn’t count that high.” instructed to wait for Terry. Instead, he led his during...Jackson’s presidency.” - John Fisher, Harper’s magazine. 266 men into battle, where they were all - “The...beard first appeared during “He was out on the frontier because it slaughtered. Historians speculate that the Abraham Lincoln’s term, inspired by the was an easier place to live in than a home with foolishly ambitious Custer believed a victory President’s own beard, which set a trend at the a growing brood. Davy had a flock of children would earn him a presidential nomination, or time.” and he left them and never bothered with any of that he had unwarranted contempt for the - “By the late nineteenth century, them again. He set the cause of married life Indians’ fighting ability. Uncle Sam was such a popular national figure back about 200 years.” that cartoonist decided he should appear more - Harry Golden, syndicated columnist Setting History Straight - patriotically attired. They adorned his red “Davy grew up to be a very brave young pants with stripes. His costume became and man, who would bear any hardship to escape a Uncle Sam embodiment of the country’s flag.” routine day’s work.” - “It was Thomas Nast, the - Murray Kempton, New York Post famous...cartoonist of the Civil War and Ironically Fess Parker, who played the & +& CUncle Sam is a fictional Reconstruction period, who made Uncle Sam lead in the Disney version of Crockett’s life - character, created by cartoonists as a symbol of tall, thin, and hollowcheeked. Coincidentally, 70;4.,F< 29?0;8708= ,8/ =30 &$D 4=4C08F< and became a star as a result - was also a bit of “national character.” Nast’s Uncle Sam strongly resembles a fraud. Says Leonard Mosley in Disney’s drawings of the real-life Sam Wilson. But World, “Parker hated Wild West roles. As in the BACKGROUND: Ironically, while Americans Nast’s model was actually Abraham Lincoln. routinely believe historical tales which are case of most minor Hollywood actors, hunger had sometimes forced him to play in Western completely false, Americans are skeptical of (Continued on Page 21) some that are actually true. This is a case in films, and he found he was allergic to horses point. For years, it was assumed there was no and loathed the clothing cowboys wore. His...