America Unearthed: Lost Secrets of the Alamo Revealed (S3, E1) | Full Episode | History

right oh um the history that we were all taught growing up is  wrong my name is scott walter and i'm a forensic   geologist there's a hidden history in this country  that nobody knows about there are pyramids here   chambers tombs inscriptions they're all over  this country we're going to investigate these   artifacts and sites and we're going to get to  the truth sometimes history isn't what we've been told america's history is built on icons   larger than life figures who fought and  won battles that shaped the united states regular folks who died fighting for what  they believed in like folk hero davy crockett   i grew up with reruns of the crockett  tv show which made his coonskin cap   famous and made him the king of the wild  frontier but the real davy crockett was   a much bigger player in american  history than most people realize crockett was an american folk hero he was a  tennessee congressman who fought for native   american rights and he was a soldier who fought  for texas independence at the famed battle of   the alamo it was in the bloodshed of the alamo  where crockett supposedly died but did he really a tip i've received claims that's not the case   so i want to know if one of my childhood  heroes has a secret about his own death a family in alabama says it has a landing  proving the legendary davy crockett   actually lived out his days in  winston county which already has   legendary status as one of the few places  in the south that oppose the confederacy jason hello scott glad to have you  well that email that you sent i'm   pretty excited about it i mean if this  land grant that you have is legitimate   well this tells us a whole new story about davy  crockett history tells us he died at the alamo but   if this thing is legit maybe that's not  the case well i believe it is legitimate   sir you know me and my family have thought for  generations that it is we'd like to get to the   truth about it well if anybody can get to the  truth i think i can i'm ready when you are okay scott this is my mother glenda  alexander hi glenda nice to meet you   good to meet you let's have a seat   okay this is what we came to see  it says davey crockett right here   and it was granted to david crockett in 1859.  that's over 20 years after the element yes it is   and it's also has the president's signature  on this is a president james buchanan   and it also has the president's seal  on it i believe that it was the said   david crockett that we're speaking of  they fought the battle at the alamo   the battle of the alamo in the winter of  1836 took place at a mission smack in the   center of what is now san antonio texans had  booted the mexican army out of the area but a   general by the name of santa anna fought back  with his troops and won one month later texans   inspired by the cry remember the alamo would get  their independence at the battle of san jacinto   but crockett who fought alongside the texans at  the alamo wouldn't be around to see it unless   he wasn't actually dead so you  think this is his actual signature   i'm kind of thinking that the president  granted this to him and he came here to   just kind of live out the rest of his days  and peace this is a affidavit where it was uh   registered in huntsville alabama and it also has  davy crockett's signature on it okay right there   would you place right over this uh this is a  newspaper article crockett not dead yet right   he had received a severe gash with the  tomahawk on the upper part of his forehead   a ball in his left arm now this is interesting  it says here he was immediately taken care of   and conveyed to comfortable lodging where his  wounds were dressed and every attention necessary   to his recovery paid him what's the date on this  april light 1030c so that would have been about   a month after the alamo this article says that  he survived this is really an important document   here i think so too i mean all three of these  documents they really make a compelling argument   that he did survive the alamo and lived out his  days in secret on what is now your land yes i   believe that hayes was buried here on the place  you think that davy crockett is buried here on   your land my mother found human bones um yes here  and she took them to the university to have them   examined and they did uh in fact they  were identified as human bones they're old   what happened to the bones she put them back  where she found them are there any other clues   or any other evidence that you have that suggests  he might be here well we have a lot of artifacts   can you take me to where you  found these artifacts that's good taken together the newspaper account of davy  crockett's survival and the landing with his   signature are a one-two punch that challenges the  story that davy crockett died in the battle of the   alamo if he was on this land then there's bound to  be evidence here too that'd seal the deal so jason   tell me a little bit more about davy crockett  coming back here to sweet home alabama   i mean why here well this is a unique place no  this happens to be the boundary of the creek and   the cherokee nations now david crockett was  a great indian sympathizer a native american   sympathizer i believe it was after the atrocities  that have been performed on the native americans   they come back here to uh spend the rest  of his life you know and live out with okay   well you know davy crockett was uh a well-known  person in his time why the secrecy well i have   a theory about it scott you got a 20 bill i  do there's one right here okay who's the man   on there well that's andrew jackson of course you  know andrew jackson was president at the time yes   well david crockett served under andrew jackson  one time david crockett andrew jackson had a   great falling out he opposed andrew jackson on  several things and one of the biggest things was   indian removal act the indian removal act was a  law passed in 1830 under president andrew jackson   the controversial law forced five  native american tribes off their land   more than 180 years later resentment remains today  some native americans refuse to handle the 20   bill because it bears jackson's image maybe the  alamo was a perfect cover for davey crockett to   fake his death to go into hiding maybe what he  did is he waited for andrew jackson to leave   office and then years later when buchanan  came into office perhaps he signed this landy   document for davy crockett tell me a little  bit more about some of the artifacts that   you uh you found out here certainly here's  a few okay let's take a peek here okay well   that's an arrowhead and this is pottery native  american pottery i presume and this looks like   maybe an old button maybe going back to the  1800s yes you mentioned that davey crockett   ended up here on your land you think he is here  and that there are a lot of artifacts maybe if we   brought in some gpr equipment ground penetrating  radar maybe we could find some more artifacts what   i'd like to do is ask a friend of mine who's an  archaeologist to come here and help us with this   excavation to see what we might be able  to find here i think that'd be great   maybe if we learn more about what happened we can  get to the bottom of this mystery once and for all i'm investigating the incredible secret life  of davey crockett clues suggest that the hero   of the alamo didn't just live on as a legendary  symbol of american defiance if a news article   and landita write then perhaps crockett himself  lived on after the battle and came here to alabama i've got a good one for you remember davey  crockett the king of the wild frontier of   course folk hero david crockett was not only  this american icon and hero but he may have   survived the alamo and then lived out his days  here wow the people that i just talked to here   that own this property believe that not only did  he live here but he died here and is buried here   and i'm hoping that you can help us find  some artifacts that might directly tie   to davy crockett it's not uncommon for there  to be rural cemeteries and people would be   buried on their homesteads if he died out here  he could be buried here so it's entirely possible   that if there was a early to mid 19th century  homestead here we're going to find evidence of it   what would happen if we found remains if  we find human remains we have to call the   district medical examiner another angle would be  to track down some of david crockett's descendants   and see if we can get a dna sample i know we  talked about doing some ground penetrating radar   ground penetrating radar is a great tool  it's a non-invasive tool used to find buried   archaeological features and if we were looking for  the 19th century occupation here gpr's the tool   you want i have to say this based on everything  i've seen so far these documents that they have   are very compelling so if you can help us find  something that could corroborate this story i mean   this would be fantastic this would be a big story  yeah this is the rewrite history while mike and   his team do their own research into the land grant  and prepare for the search i need to find out more   about davy crockett an american icon who became  a congressman after shedding his coonskin cap to do that i'm starting not  at the beginning of his life   but where it supposedly ended at  the place history says he died   a mission that was the backdrop for the most  memorable battle in texas history the alamo in san antonio after quitting politics he fought here  with texans desperate for independence   just 189 defenders faced a force of around 1800  mexican soldiers the mexicans bombarded the alamo   with hundreds of cannonballs during a week-long  siege under the final assault the defenders lost   the battle and this is also where historians like  michael wallace say davy crockett lost his life michael thanks for meeting me here today my  pleasure i have to say i just saw some very   interesting symbolism in the keystone above  the entrance there a stylized avm that i know   was used by the freemasons and by the templars  but that's not why i came here to talk to you   i want to learn more about david crockett  great well you've come to the right person tell me a little bit about how did david crockett  get here in the first place he fought in the creek   indian wars and he fought under andrew jackson  he witnessed so many atrocities that really just   sickened him especially the killing of indian  women and children he wouldn't know more of that   business at all and this is a man who lost  his own grandparents to the cherokee people   they they killed them back in the late 1700s and  jackson wanted to move five tribes out of the   southeast united states including the cherokees  and the creeks and crockett stood against it to   be sympathetic to the natives to the point that  it cost him essentially his political career   doesn't it say a lot about his character though  i think it says a lot about his character i think   you're dead on right there one of the things he's  best remembered for in congress is standing up to   andrew jackson who by this time was the president  of the united states it was a bold brave audacious   some would say fool-hearty move that not only  cost him his job in congress but ultimately his   life you know what he said when he left congress  no you all can go to hell i'm going to texas some of america's biggest historic figures  had lives that were tragically cut short   but could some of them actually have lived on  in secret jesse james jimmy hoffa and others   are all said to have faked their death but  what about davy crockett there's a family   that says the king of the wild frontier  had a secret life we know nothing about while mike arbuthnot plants an  archaeological dig in alabama   i'm at the alamo finding out about crockett's  last stand and whether he could have cheated death   so rest assured the alamo didn't look like this  back in 1836 these big live oaks weren't here and   this library behind us wasn't here and there was  really no roof on that building there at all so it   looked very different it did indeed well the alamo  was where davey crockett uh supposed to have died   tell me a little bit about his life i'd like to  know more about that there are so many legends and   myths about this man he never used the word davey  on for himself he always signed documents letters   david crockett some of his pals called him  davey but he always went by david crockett   david crockett is the name on the land  grant i looked at in alabama and based   on what michael wallace says that's exactly  how davy crockett would have signed his name   that's a clue that tells me that the land grant  could be more legit than legend did he really kill   a bear at age three david crockett did not nor  was he born on a mountaintop okay it was a great   story when you're nine years old but the adult  story is even better because crockett overcame so   much turmoil and angst in his own life he was born  on the frontier in 1786. his father indentured him   out as a servant when he was just a lad yes and  it was a tough life to be on the frontier at that   time it sounds to me like he was very resilient  he kept coming back whatever got in his way   resiliency is one of crockett's main traits one  of the great stories of resiliency is when he and   two of his cohorts went on a long hunt which he  loved to do down into what is now alabama while   they were down there they became separated he  was by himself he became very ill very very ill   and it looked like it was the end for mr crocker  but he always came back i find it very interesting   you said he was in alabama before he was here at  the alamo yeah he was i was just in alabama and   i met with a family that firmly believes that  he survived the alamo and lived out his days   on their land now this may seem like a tall order  but they showed me some very compelling documents   including a landing with davey's name on it have  you ever heard any stories about david crockett   surviving the alamo i've heard plenty of stories  about crockett surviving the alamo but people   want to keep legends alive and and crockett is is  one of those people they don't want them to die tell me about the battle the year is 1836  the uh texas war of independence is raging   and davy crockett arrives in texas right he does  he really came down here to jump start his career   he was gypsy-footed he was a wonder he wanted to  get away from washington get away from his family   his obligations go hunting so they promised him  some acreage in order to get that acreage he had   to join the militia and come to san antonio  and that's what he did so really the whole   uh battle at the alamo was really more a function  of bad luck than it was uh planning right bad luck   and very very poor timing a few hundred defenders  facing this large array of mexican infantry   13 days of blood and guts and the smell of smoke  small arms fire people wounded the screams of the   wounded the agony of the dying you could almost  smell the adrenaline in the air and the fear in   the air and the courage in the air but finally  on march 6 1836 the final assault began and the   troops breached the alamo and of course general  santa anna that morning said there will be no   quarter given which meant take no prisoners  kill them all tell me how did davy crockett   die what exactly happened to him well there are  many theories about how he died in the manner   of his death and so forth i personally subscribe  to what i call the de la pena theory de la pena   was a high-ranking mexican infantry officer who  witnessed the capture of crockett and a few others   about a half dozen men they were brought to santa  ana crockett was wounded they were very bedraggled   they begged to spare crockett's life the other  officers they said this is the great naturalist   crockett santana said i don't care no quarter  will be given he and the others were banned at it   killed put on the fire and all the bodies burned  so somewhere today under the streets of this great   alamo city are the charred bones of crockett  and all the other defenders when i think about   this whole thing i still see that there was an  opportunity that davy crockett could have survived   i do truly believe he died here that day  but i'll give you this on march 6 1836 david   crockett died here at the alamo in san antonio  but davey crockett rode on and he rides on today   i went to the alamo in texas looking for clues  that davy crockett didn't go down fighting   as history has long suggested crockett was taken  prisoner by mexican forces ordered to kill him   but was he really executed a land grant in alabama  from 1858 bears the signature of david crockett   suggesting he cheated death while  preparations for a dig to unearth   clues about his true fate are taking place on  that land i'm headed to investigate a new lead   at the alamo i saw crockett's name on a  masonic plaque meaning that he must have been   a freemason and i'm hoping a masonic brother  i know might share secrets with me about his fate   jack i know you know a little something about  texas and the battle of the alamo i do i grew   up in houston texas i grew up hearing and studying  about the battle of the alamo hearing the legends   of how davey crockett died heroically defending  the alamo during the texas revolution were there   other freemasons involved at the alamo in fact  members of the mexican army on the other side   were also freemasons general santa ana himself  was a scottish right freemason really in the case   of santa ana we have copies of his scottish rite  membership certificate and i have those right here   well it's in tough shape well i see we've got  some latin here and this is in spanish so you've   got freemasons on both sides right what happened  to santa ana about a month later at the battle   of san jacinto santa ana was captured by the  texan forces and strangely enough as hated as   he was his life was spared why do you think  that was well one of the legends is that he   gave the masonic sign in distress and was spared  by general sam houston who was also a freemason   i believe that the masonic sign of distress  could be the same as the knights templars   sign of distress the freemasons were one of the  groups that i think carried on the templars ideals i believe the sign is made by raising both  hands in the air as depicted in multiple   artworks with a templar connection but to  this day the gesture is one of many secret   masonic signs that are for members only and my  friend jack isn't about to reveal any of them   there are certain ways that freemasons  can indicate to other freemasons   okay that they're brothers scott i took an  obligation not to reveal the masonic sign of   distress so both davey crockett and santa anna  were free masons that's correct let's say they   met on the battlefield it is possible that he  escaped by giving the masonic side of distress   we have documented instances of that happening  in the revolutionary war and the civil war   so it seems even more plausible that  davy crockett could have survived   you realize that if this is true i mean this is  explosive new information that the history we've   been told about davy crockett isn't right one  thing's for sure dead men cannot sign their name everything that i've heard so  far makes me think there's a   real chance the history books have it  wrong when it comes to davy crockett if he didn't die at the  alamo could he have died here   on the property connected to  the land grant bearing his name and if that is the case then there  should be clues or bones left behind we've got a 400 megahertz antenna down there  that's going to shoot radar waves down to see   the variation in speed at which it comes  back to give us some idea of what's going on   down underground okay on this screen you're gonna  be looking for little chevrons on the center part   and that just means that there's been something  down there the radar is hit and we really don't   know what it is until we dig it up let's start  in the corner and we'll work our way across okay hey guys i think i got something here  seriously it looks pretty big let's take a look   is that what i think it is that is a  bright anomaly that's a big anomaly   okay so i i'm reading this thing right mm-hmm  so there's something down here right underneath   your feet i mean what if it was something  an artifact that somehow connected to davy crockett how's the data looking great so remember  that first anomaly you saw yes at a depth   of about one meter so about three feet down  there it's oriented about east west which   is consistent with a 19th century american burial   now that's not to say that's what this is i  understand it's very interesting that that's what   we found there in that location that is exciting  it would be incredible if it was davy crockett's   body it doesn't connect to anything else  like a root wood or anything like that   it's got good promise well we're probably going  to need the backhoe that jason has all fired up   and i think he's ready to go and i'm ready  to go so what do you say guys let's go dick go ahead there's you seeing anything cultural in there  there's nothing cultural so far there's no   artifacts historic or prehistoric in here  need to go a little deeper let's go deeper something right there wow he there sure is really  can you see it scrape it feel it i'll be around   the bedroom scrape the top of it can you hand me that shovel right here not davey is it it's not david crocker well  mike this is that thing that got us excited   we thought maybe we hit something significant but  it's just a rock down near the water table that is   110 centimeters so that's basically a  meter that's where the anomaly showed up   i think what we should do is we  have that other anomaly over here   if you guys don't mind digging that up and  seeing if there's anything significant there   i'm going to head over to tennessee there's  somebody over there who has a very interesting   and solid connection to davy crockett i'd like  to talk to them i'm disappointed that we haven't   found anything yet at the dig site but something  else could be key to this crockett mystery   i need to compare the signature on the landy  with an actual signature from davey crockett tell me how you're connected to davy crockett   i'm a fourth great uh through his oldest son john  wesley crockett so you're a direct descendant i'm   a direct descendant and i can prove it well let's  talk about davy crockett for a second why is davey   crockett such a legend why do people revere him  so much even to this day he is obviously still   considered a hero you've got to remember that  david came from from nothing he had no training   no school can you imagine what all that man  has done the coonskin cap where did that come   from is that real or is that myth it's real his  youngest daughter matilda tells about seeing her   father leaving for texas and and waving to him  and that he was dressed in his hunting outfit   with his coonskin cow he's always  looking for a greener pasture   i've met with a family down in alabama who are  absolutely convinced that davey crockett survived   the alamo came to their property and lived out  his days for about 20 something years after the   alamo they really believed that he was there  i cannot imagine david crockett surviving the   alamo and remaining quiet in alabama and nobody  knowing he was there that is not david crockett   that's not his personality can't you imagine  the tales that he would have had to have told   about what happened at the alamo to me that is  a real myth okay and i run into that they're   not the only family i have had that before what  do you say to those people or how do you handle   that i write back and i say give me what you know  and if you do that then you find that you're not   what you think when david lived here there was  two or three other david crockett's in this area   too okay so it sounds to me like you're open to  to people coming forward that might be connected   oh we have new cousins every day that have got  all the information that are legitimate oh yes   oh okay okay yes our last reunion which was in um  it was in paris our last reunion where's france   well paris tennessee oh okay every two years  we have a crockett reunion we really do have   legitimate people come forward i want to get back  to this document that i saw that this other family   had it does say davy crockett but do you have  anything that i might be able to use to compare   that signature with one of something that we  know is davy crockett's actual handwriting   well here is is one uh that right here  right here is oh yeah david crockett   and i think that th this is 1829. 1829. okay  this is going to work very well so i appreciate   this i'm gonna go back and take a look and i'll  let you know what i find out i'd like to know that davy crockett is an american legend and  history says he went down fighting at the alamo   but what if that's wrong and he found a  way to survive the battle and live out   his days here in alabama that's  a question i'm hoping to answer   god how was tennessee tennessee was great um i  met with one of the direct descendants of davy   crockett i got to hear her thoughts and she  gave me a couple of documents here that have   been authenticated as being legitimate  documents signed by davy crockett but   before i go through that tell them about the dig  the dig uh well we did some additional research   and we completed the archaeological investigation  unfortunately no signs of davy crockett the fact   that you didn't find anything directly connected  to davy crockett doesn't prove that he wasn't here   what that does is that really puts even more  importance on the analysis of these signatures   you've presented your landi the newspaper article  and this document with davy crockett's signature   so when you look at it the first letter is the  d and the d in this case is a problem they don't   match clearly they do not match and was because  of this that a handwriting expert who did look   at this document concluded that this was not the  same person okay now i don't know if i agree with   that and here's why if we continue on and look at  the abi in david they are virtually identical okay   now when we go to crockett the seas are slightly  different i can see where somebody would argue   they're different however this document is  1829 this one is 1858 we're talking almost   30 years apart i can tell you as you age your  signature changes and it doesn't get better i've   seen a lot of examples of how signatures change  with age take the autographs of our presidents   comparing letters and proclamations from  george washington showed differences before   and after he was in office jfk's signature  had become a near squiggle after his election and at the end of his life richard nixon merely  signed his letters as dick davy crockett according   to the newspaper article he was shot in the  arm maybe he was shot in that arm that he   used to sign his signature with and it may have  affected uh his signature if i were a betting man   i think that's davey crockett's signature  what do you think with the similarities   now i'd have to agree with you too i'm  not no expert but it does look similar well i can't explain the similarities in the  signature um but i have a possible explanation   for the differences and that would be  that this is a different david crockett   and we discovered that about this time early  1860s late 1850s a man named davey crockett   kegel moved to winston county alabama he  actually joined the confederacy right in jasper   he fought for the confederates and he had a change  of heart and then he joined the union and he lived   here for some years he owned property here right  about the time this landing was was signed well   let me just push back on that a little bit why  would he not have signed his name davey crockett   kegel i don't know believe me that that's an odd  one that's especially on a legal document you have   to put your whole name on a legal document or it's  not legal i think you're making a good point the   fact that the kegel is missing from this document  to me is a problem i don't believe he died at the   alamo i believe it could be his signature it's  been a lifelong mystery of mine it was a lifelong   mystery of my mother's is it really him i don't  think it's no cagle i have seen a lot of evidence   here that really questions the established  history of davy crockett not conclusive but   very powerful it is possible he survived the  alamo that he lived out his days very likely   here based on the documents you have and i think  that we owe that to him we owe that to history   to leave that door open until we have really  conclusive evidence to draw that final conclusion the story of davy crockett proves one thing  there's always more to know about a person   and their past after everything i've seen i  think it's possible davy crockett could have   survived the battle at the alamo crockett and his  adversary in battle general santa anna were both   freemasons and enemies on the battlefield would  sometimes spare their fraternal brothers lives   bonds went beyond borders meaning that  the old news article about crockett's   survival and recovery might be fact not  fiction when it comes to celebrated icons   people will always believe tales of their  heroes defying death but i think in the   case of crockett it could be that more than just  legend lived on after the alamo perhaps he did too if you have a mysterious  artifactor site i need to see   i want to know about it go to  history.com slash unearthed you

Channel: HISTORY

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Keywords: history, history channel, history shows, history channel shows, america unearthed, history america unearthed, america unearthed show, america unearthed full episodes, america unearthed clips, full episodes, America Unearthed season 3 episode 1, America Unearthed s3 e1, America Unearthed s03 e01, America Unearthed 3X1, America Unearthed s3 full episodes, America Unearthed season 3 clips, season 3, episode 1, Lost Secrets, Alamo Revealed, Davy Crockett, American legend, Mexico

Id: Zi2ZjoufqC4

Length: 42min 59sec (2579 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 27 2020