Richard Penn Smith was a minor American playwright who is best known for writing a largely fictitious account of events at and leading up to the Battle of the Alamo

Battle of the Alamo

The Battle of the Alamo was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar . All but two of the Texian defenders were killed...

, which was presented as the work of Davy Crockett

Davy Crockett

David "Davy" Crockett was a celebrated 19th century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician. He is commonly referred to in popular culture by the epithet "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S...

.

Life and career

Smith was born in Philadelphia. His father was a well-known minister and his grandfather had been the first provost

Provost (education)

A provost is the senior academic administrator at many institutions of higher education in the United States, Canada and Australia, the equivalent of a pro-vice-chancellor at some institutions in the United Kingdom and Ireland....

 of the College of Philadelphia. In 1818 he began his legal studies in the law offices of William Rawle

William Rawle

William Rawle was an American lawyer in Philadelphia, who in 1791 was appointed as United States district attorney in Pennsylvania...

. During that time, he began writing a column called "The Plagiarist" for a local newspaper. This prompted him to purchase a small newspaper named "The Aurora" which he edited from 1822-1827. The next year his first play, "Quite Correct", was produced at the Chestnut Street

Chestnut Street (Philadelphia)

Chestnut Street is a major historic street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Originally named Wynne Street because Thomas Wynne's home was there. William Penn renamed it Chestnut Street in 1684. It runs east–west from the Delaware River waterfront in downtown Philadelphia through Center City and West...

 Theater. That same year, he sold "The Aurora" and returned to legal practice to support his theatrical work. He had written over thirteen plays by 1836, when he stopped writing following the publication of "Davy Crockett's Journal". He was married twice and had 5 children with each wife. Only 1 survived from the first marriage, but all 5 from the second remained alive. He died at his home in Philadelphia in 1854.

Historical Hoax

In 1836, a sensation was created by a new book titled "Col. Crockett's Exploits and Adventures in Texas: wherein is contained a full account of his journey from Tennessee to the Red River and Natchitoches, and thence across Texas to San Antonio; including many hair-breadth escapes; together with a topographical, historical, and political view of Texas ... Written by Himself". It was published by "T.K. and P.G. Collins" (actually Carey and Hart, who had published some of Crockett's authentic, though heavily edited, writings). They claimed that it was Crockett’s journal, which had been taken from the Alamo by Mexican General Manuel Fernández Castrillón

Manuel Fernández Castrillón

Manuel Fernández Castrillón was a major general in the Mexican army of the 19th century. He was a close friend of General and Mexican President Antonio López de Santa Anna.-Early life:Manuel Fernández Castrillón was born in Cuba...

 and later recovered at the Battle of San Jacinto

Battle of San Jacinto

The Battle of San Jacinto, fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day Harris County, Texas, was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Sam Houston, the Texian Army engaged and defeated General Antonio López de Santa Anna's Mexican forces in a fight that lasted just eighteen...

, where the General was killed. It became a huge best-seller. For over a century the book had a profound influence on the public's view of the Texas Revolution

Texas Revolution

The Texas Revolution or Texas War of Independence was an armed conflict between Mexico and settlers in the Texas portion of the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas. The war lasted from October 2, 1835 to April 21, 1836...

and Davy Crockett's career, despite the fact that the author's true identity had been revealed in 1884.

List of Plays

Reasonably popular at the time, modern criticism has judged Smith to be a competent craftsman of little originality, as most of his plays were based on earlier works. He was considered to be part of the "Philadelphia School" of dramatists.

• Quite Correct (1828)
• The Eighth of January (1829)
• The Disowned: or The Prodigals (1829)
• A Wife at a Venture (1829)
• The Sentinels: or The Two Sergeants (1829)
• William Penn (1829)
• The Triumph at Plattsburgh (1830)
• The Deformed: or Woman's Trial (1830)
• The Water Witch (1830)
• Caius Marius (1831)
• Is She a Brigand? (1833)
• The Daughter (1836)
• The Actress of Padua (1836)
• The Bombardment of Algiers (?)
• The Last Man: or The Cock of the Village (?)