BOONE, DANIEL

Few people reach legendary status in a society in their own lifetime. Daniel Boone (1734–1820) was one of them. In fact the legend of Daniel Boone has become difficult to separate from the real Daniel Boone. Many unauthorized biographies and books appeared trumpeting his accomplishments and promoting various causes and points of view. However, the truth about Boone is just as fascinating as the stories.

Daniel Boone was born on November 2, 1734, near what is known today as Reading, Pennsylvania. Boone was the sixth of eleven children. From their log cabin home his Quaker family ran a small farm, a blacksmith shop, and a weaving establishment. Daniel tended cows as a child and began hunting at the age of twelve. He had little formal schooling, but he did learn to read and write.

Boone excelled at skills required to survive in the woods. He developed a keen eye and an accurate shot with his long rifle, and with those skills he kept the family in meat. He traded animal skins for lead, gunpowder, salt, and other needed items. In 1750 the Boone family moved to North Carolina along the Yadkin River. In 1755 Boone volunteered to drive a supply wagon in a British military expedition to seize Fort Duquesne from the French. Another driver in the expedition was trader John Findley, who thrilled Boone with tales of a rich hunter's paradise beyond the Appalachian Mountains.

The military expedition was cut short by a surprise attack of French and Indians and the British troops fled. Boone returned home to marry neighbor Rebecca Bryan. Rebecca had ten children with Daniel and followed him through all his moves and exploring, a true pioneer woman.

Findley told Boone of the Cumberland Gap, a pass through the mountains, and of the Warriors' Path, a trail that led to Kentucky. Boone took his first trip through the Cumberland Gap in 1767 with his brother Squire and his friend William Hill. They reached what is now Floyd County in Kentucky before winter weather discouraged them. In the spring they returned home. A year later John Findley came to Boone and described a route to Kentucky along the Ohio River and the two made the journey in 1769. Boone's party was attacked by Indians and he was briefly captured. He spent two years exploring Kentucky and hunting. Years later he was to say of Kentucky, "I have never found but one Kentucky—a spot of earth where nature seems to have concentrated all her bounties."

After his return to his family in North Carolina, Boone led a group of friends and family to Kentucky in 1773 with the intention of staying. Indians attacked settler groups. Boone's oldest son, James, was captured, tortured, and killed. Against Boone's desires, the entire party returned to North Carolina. In 1775 Boone helped Judge Richard Henderson buy a huge tract of land from the Cherokee Indians. Boone led a group of thirty woodsmen into the heart of Kentucky to connect Indian trails and buffalo paths and prepare the region for settlement. The paths were to be known as the Wilderness Road. Boone built a fort, called Boonesborough, at a site by the Kentucky River, just south of present-day Lexington. Boone's wife and daughter, whom Boone brought when the building was finished, were the first white women to see the heart of Kentucky.

Life in the wilderness was hard. Boone's daughter and two female friends were captured by Indians in 1776 and held for several days until Boone rescued them. In 1778 Boone himself was captured by the Shawnee and held captive. Chief Blackfish adopted Boone and made him a Shawnee brave. When he learned of a planned attack on Boonesborough, Boone escaped and led the successful defense of his fort. Troubles with the Indians continued and Boone lost another son, Israel, to Indian attacks in 1782.

Boone became one of the wealthiest men in Kentucky in terms of land, but he was naive in the ways of business and never held clear title to the land. Eventually, he lost all his claims of land ownership in Kentucky. In 1789 Boone moved to Point Pleasant on the Ohio River, where he supplied meat and grain to the U.S. military. In 1799 Boone led a group of settlers into Missouri at the invitation of the Spanish governor, who granted Boone 850 acres of land near St. Louis. Boone lost this land when the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 brought the area under U.S. control. However, the U.S. Congress restored his 850 acres in 1814 as a reward for his services in opening the West.

Boone served as a lieutenant colonel in the Virginia militia during the American Revolution (1775–1783). He was elected to the state legislature in 1781, 1787, and 1791. He ran several businesses, but he was always most at home hunting and exploring in the deep woods. Boone's business ventures usually failed and he was often in debt. His land ownership was normally based on unfiled claims. At one point in his late 1760s, Boone was even arrested for bad debts.

Boone died at his son Nathan's home on September 26, 1820, at the age of 85. The remains of Daniel and Rebecca Boone were moved to Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1845. Boone lived the life of explorer and hunter—a life extolled in print many times while Boone was still alive. Over 175 years after his death the legend has continued to grow.

BOONE, DANIEL

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