07/28/2017
Spotlight on Daniel Boone.
Born: November 2, 1734 Reading, Pennsylvania
Died: September 26, 1820 St. Charels, Missouri
An American frontiersman and explorer, Daniel Boone was the greatest woodsman in the United States history. He left behind many lands that he discovered, protected, settled, and improved. He was the subject of many stories after his death that exaggerated both his accomplishments and his flaws.
Daniel Boone was born near Reading, Pennsylvania, on November 2, 1734, the sixth of eleven children born to Squire Boone, a farmer and land speculator, and Sarah Morgan. His formal education was limited; he was more interested in the outdoors. He and his family moved to North Carolina in 1751. After working for his father, Boone became a wagoner and a blacksmith.
In 1755 Boone joined General Edward Braddock (c. 1696-1755), commander in chief of British forces in North America, as a wagoner. Boone participated in Braddock's attempt to capture Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh, PA) during the French and Indian War (1754-63), a war fought between the British and the French for control over land in North America. While on march he met John Finley, a hunter, whose talk of the Kentucky wilderness greatley influenced Boone's career. When Braddock's command was destroyed by a French and Indian ambush, Boone fled for his life on horseback.
Boone married Rebecca Bryan on August 14, 1756, and settled down in North Carolina, believing that he had all he needed- "a good gun, a good horse, and a good wife." Finley's stories of Kentucky, though, never really left Boone's midn.
In 1767 Boone led his first expedition as far westward as the area of Floyd County, Kentucky. In 1769, with Finley and four others, he cleared a trail through the Cumberland Gap that soon became a highway to the frontier. As an agent for Richard Henderson (1735-1785) and his Transylvania Company, Boone led the first group of colonists to Kentucky, reaching the site of Boonesborough in April 1775. Later that year he brought west another party, which included his family.
Boone became the leader fo the Kentucky settlement, as hunter, surveyor, and Indian fighter. When Kentucky became a county of Virginia, he was given the rank of major in the militia. Boone's misfortunes began in July 1776, when his daughter was captured by Shawnee and Cherokee tribespeople. He was able to rescue her but two years later was himself captured by teh Shawnee. Though he escaped and helped defend Boonesborough against Indian raiders, while on his way east he was robbed of money other settlers had given him to buy land. He was forced to repay the angry settlers. From this time on, Boone was followed by debts and lawsuits.
For More Information:
Draper, Lyman C. "The Life of Daniel Boone"
Faragher, John Mack. "Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer."
