. Nothing in his life had thus far occurred to
test his courage. Though there was great excitement to be found in
hunting, there was but little if any danger. The deer and all smaller
game were harmless. And even the grizzly bear had but few terrors for a
marksman who, with unerring aim, could strike him with the deadly
bullet at the distance of many rods.

But the massacre at Fort Mimms roused a new spirit in David Crockett.
He perceived at once, that unless the savages were speedily quelled,
they would ravage the whole region; and that his family as well as that
of every other pioneer must inevitably perish. It was manifest to him
that every man was bound immediately to take arms for the general
defence. In a few days a summons was issued for every able-bodied man
in all that region to repair to Winchester, which, as we have said, was
a small cluster of houses about ten miles from Crockett's cabin.

When he informed his wife of his intention, her womanly heart was
appalled at the thought of being left alone and unprotected in the vast
wilderness. She was at a distance of hundreds of miles from all her
connections. She had no neighbors near. Her children were too young to
be of any service to her. If the dreadful Indians should attack them,
she had no one to look to for protection. If anything should happen to
him in battle so that he should not return, they must all perish of
starvation. These obvious considerations she urged with many tears.

"It was mighty hard," writes Crockett, "to go against such arguments as
these. But my countrymen had been murdered, and I knew that the next
thing would be that the Indians would be scalping the women and
children all about there, if we didn't put a stop to it. I reasoned the
case with her as well as I could, and told her that if every man would
wait till his wife got willing for him to go to war, there would be no
fighting done until we all should be killed in our own houses; that as
I was as able to go as any man in the world, and that I believed it was
a duty I owed to my country. Whether she was satisfied with this
reasoning or not she did not tell me, but seeing I was bent on it, all
she did was to cry a little, and turn about to her work."

David Crockett hastened to Winchester. There was a large gathering
there from all the hamlets and cabins for many miles around. The
excitement was intense. The nation of Creek Indians was a very powerful
one, and in intelligence and