Adam Huntsman

Adam Huntsman plagued David Crockett in his reelection campaigns for Congress in West Tennessee. The frontier lawyer and politician who wore a wooden peg leg eventually beat Crockett in 1835, leading to his journey to Texas and heroic death at the Alamo. "Since you have chosen to elect a man with a timber toe to succeed me," he said, "you may all go to hell and I will go to Texas."Known by his friends and adversaries for his wit and sarcasm both in speech and print, Adam Huntsman served 10 years in the Tennessee state senate and was a member of the 1834 state constitutional convention, helping craft the amended document that endured until the end of Reconstruction. He served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives (1835-37) before devoting himself to the campaign efforts of the Democratic party in West Tennessee. His individualistic spirit put him at odds with Andrew Jackson and helped bring about the first two-party politcial system in Tennessee history.