The Men Who Built America: Frontiersmen

Previously, on "The Men Who Built America: Frontiersmen.."

Forty years after Daniel Boone crossed the Appalachians

the American frontier now reaches as far west

as the Great Plains.

Famed Shawnee war chief, Tecumseh falls in battle

and with him dies the dream of a Pan-Indian homeland.

Fire!

Andrew Jackson defeats Great Britain

in the War of 1812

a victory that propels him

to the presidency.

His bitter rival, Davy Crockett

seeks a fresh start

in the Mexican territory of Texas.

We need somebody like you, Crockett.

What he finds instead..

Hell or Texas.

Hell or Texas!

...is a fight for freedom..

...that will make him a legend.

Whoa-oa-oa whoa-oa-oa

At a garrison in Southern Texas

known as the Alamo

nearly 260 men, women, and children

prepare for a siege.

Among their commanders

is celebrated frontiersman..

...Davy Crockett.

Outside the walls, cle to 5000 Mexican troops

led by the ruthless general, Santa Anna..

...surround the mission.

The Texians believed that Santa Anna's troops

were two months out

but once Crockett got to the Alamo

and it became clear that Santa Anna's troops

were on the march and they were much closer

than had been anticipated

there was no getting out of it

at this point for Crockett.

Alright, close it up.

Right, there on the walls.

Let's go, go, go!

This massive, well-trained army

you know, surrounding this, this little mission

in the middle of the desert.

The Alamo looks like a complete

uh, disaster waiting to happen.

Outnumbered fifteen to one..

...Crockett knows the odds of survival are bleak.

Man, uh, th-there's a thing that happens

when death's at the door.

Most people don't know when the reaper's gonna show up, right?

You just kinda, hopefully, y-you die in peace or you die quickly.

When you see the reaper standing outside the door

and you know he's comin' in here for us

your world just kinda lends perspective in that moment.

What was important, what's not important

who I wish I would've talked to.

Man, it's a hell of a thing to, to go through that.

Over the course of an hour, Crockett and the Texans

repel the Mexican advances three times.

But Santa Anna is relentless

accepting heavy losses to breach the fortress.

Santa Anna sent his troops from many different sides.

Wave, after wave, after wave of men

uh, who scaled ladders

and swarmed literally like locusts.

Davy Crockett did what many American patriots have done

and that is decide to stay and fight for a cause

in the face of an attacking enemy.

And it speaks volumes about him

uh, and about his character.

Ninety minutes after the battle begins..

...the Mexican Army takes the Alamo.

Almost all of the fort's defenders are killed.

Most accounts suggest

that Crockett was in some of the heaviest fighting

and that he was one of the last remaining survivors.

They were led out and executed right in front of Santa Anna.

Then they were loaded into three separate human pyres

and lit aflame.

For Crockett to live this incredible life

on the frontier and then die at the Alamo

sealed him as legendary.

Davy Crockett was not this kind of

backwoods outdoorsman, uh, entirely.

Uh, he was a man with great political ambitions

who got into trouble because he was also

very independent-minded, so he wouldn't always play ball

uh, with the political establishment.

Crockett was always the congressman of the little guy.

It is that underdog struggle

uh, fighting against a-a tyranny.

And so, the story

of Davy Crockett goin' down swinging

fighting to the very last man, and the very last breath

uh, feeds the legend of the King of the Wild Frontier.

Word of the slaughter at the Alamo

soon spreads across the country..

...enraging Americans.

In Washington, President Andrew Jackson

sees the defeat in Texas as a much bigger concern.

By 1836..

...Mexico is a significant territorial rival

in North America.

Mexico controls land stretching from California

to the border of Oregon

covering more than 1.7 million square miles.

The US hasn't added a new state

since Missouri in 1821

and the promise of expansion west feels stalled.

Andrew Jackson was among those Americans

who believed that Texas ought to be

part of the United States.

But Jackson was also a man with a keen strategic sense

who wanted to strike at the right moment.

He didn't want to have a war with Mexico just then.

Didn't think the time was right.

If Texas can win its own independence

Jackson can bring it into the union.

Until then, his hands are tied.

Fortunately, for Jackson..

...one Texan sees the crushing loss at the Alamo

as an opportunity.

His name is Sam Houston.

Crockett and Sam Houston

both served in Andrew Jackson's militia

during the Creek War.

Houston became famous for the Battle of Horseshoe Bend

where he was impaled through the groin with an arrow

and had one of his other soldiers yank it out

and he just kept on fighting.

And Houston also was really a rugged frontiersman.

Houston is now the leader of some 370 untrained men.

They comprise the Army of Texas

and their fight for independence isn't over.

To increase his numbers in the face of a much larger enemy

Houston calls on Texans to avenge Crockett's death..

...and remember the Alamo.

The way I see it..

The defeat at the Alamo ended up

creating a great rallying cry of patriotism

to fight for independence

and to fight to the death, to fight to the end.

...it is really important to..

Hundreds of angry Texans

are drawn to the cause of independence.

In just a month, Houston's army swells

to nearly a thousand.

They're positioned near the San Jacinto River..

...right in the path of General Santa Anna

and 1500 Mexican troops.

Just six weeks after Crockett's death at the Alamo

Sam Houston takes his revenge..

...unleashing 900 furious Texans

against a larger Mexican force.

Santa Anna is camped near the San Jacinto River

where the Texans surprise them.

Ultimately, the Battle of San Jacinto

only lasted 18 minutes.

It was a chaotic 18 minutes.

I don't think anyone expected the battle to go this way.

Over 630 Mexican soldiers are killed.

The Texans suffer just 11 casualties.

The crushing defeat leads to Mexico's surrender.

And Texas finally wins independence.

Back in Washington, DC..

...Jackson welcomes the news.

He's dreamed of Texas joining the US for years.

But the future of Texas is caught in the growing debate

over slavery.

Congress wasn't willing to go along with annexation

because Texas would enter the union with slavery.

And the addition of Texas

would tip the balance in the senate

in favor of the pro slavery side.

The result of this was that Texas remained in this limbo

for almost a decade.

In 1837, Jackson's presidency ends

with one goal unfulfilled.

A nation stretching all the way to the Pacific.

Andrew Jackson remained politically involved

even after he retired.

He was writing constant letters to people

giving very strong opinions about subject

after subject after subject.

And he was a man who believed in the expansion

of the United States.

Expansion in the southwest may be stalled

but the United States still has a claim

in the northwest.

Located between British Canada and Mexico's holdings

the Oregon Territory is 250,000 square miles

of disputed land..

...claimed by Britain, Native Americans, and the US.

Lewis and Clark planted a flag here

four decades ago.

But to truly own it, the US needs settlers..

...and that's a problem.

Americans really didn't know how to make it to Oregon.