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On June 7, 1769, Daniel Boone began exploring the Bluegrass State of Kentucky. From the article:
"Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone was a hunter, fur trapper and trailblazing American frontiersman whose name is synonymous with the exploration and settlement of Kentucky. Crossing the Appalachian Mountains and traveling through the Cumberland Gap, Boone helped carve the Wilderness Road from Virginia to Kentucky and established the Boonesboro settlement. He fought in the French and Indian War and escaped the wrath of Native Americans many times over. Boone became a living legend, thanks in large part to writer John Filson, who mythologized his adventures in the American frontier.
Daniel Boone’s Early Life
Daniel Boone was born into a large Quaker family on November 2, 1734 in Berks County, Pennsylvania. His parents, Squire and Sarah, had 11 children in total, with Boone being the sixth.
Boone had no formal education, but he learned how to read and write on a rudimentary level. Fascinated with the outdoors, he spent most of his youth hunting in the wilderness near his home, becoming an impressive marksman by age 13.
The Boone family moved to North Carolina around 1750 and settled in the northwestern region along the Yadkin River. Because skirmishes would break out regularly between the white settlers and the Native Americans who didn’t want their land encroached upon, Boone joined a militia to help protect the settlements.
The French and Indian War
Siding with the British who were fighting with the French for territory, Boone joined the French and Indian War as a wagoner.
While in British General Edward Braddock’s campaign to attack the French fortification Fort Duquesne, Boone met trader John Findley who first told him of Native American land called “Kentucke” – a place teeming with wildlife.
After his involvement in the French and Indian War, Boone found his way back home to North Carolina, while never forgetting Findley’s tales of Kentucke.
Daniel Boone’s Children
In 1756 Boone married Rebecca Bryan. Like his parents before him, Boone had 10 children with his wife.
He was often away from his family, however, on remote wilderness hunting trips – some were solitary adventures – that would occasionally last for months.
One of his six sons, James Boone, would be killed at the hands of the Cherokees. Another son, Israel, was killed at the Battle of Blue Licks in 1782, one of the last skirmishes of the Revolutionary War (Boone was also at the battle and saw his son die).
Wilderness Road
Boone never forgot his conversation with Findley. In fact, he first journeyed to Kentucky through the Cumberland Gap on a small hunting excursion in 1767.
However, it was his 1769-1771 expedition there with Findley that was more memorable since he gained a much deeper knowledge of the region’s wilderness and terrain.
In 1775 Boone was hired to take a group of men to carve a path to Kentucky, which became known as Wilderness Road. Once Boone and his men reached the Kentucky River, they built the Boonesboro settlement, and the frontiersman brought his family to live with him there.
Angry at the white settlers living off their land, many Native Americans attacked Boonesboro and neighboring settlements. In 1776 one of Boone’s daughters, Jemima, was captured by the Cherokee and Shawnee, but luckily for Boone, he was able to retrieve her safely two days later.
As a militia leader, Boone spent the ensuing years successfully defending multiple white settlements in Kentucky. He ended up being captured by the Shawnee in 1778 but escaped months later.
Land Speculator and Slave Owner
Although he was famous as a militia leader, hunter and surveyor, Boone was not adept in business. By most reports he was an aggressive land speculator who often went heavily into debt to acquire property.
Because he wasn’t a skilled negotiator – his ability to read legal documents was marginal at best – and after numerous lawsuits and losses (including a warrant for his arrest), Boone lost all of his land in Kentucky by 1798.
Boone was also a slave owner, who at one point in his life owned as many as seven slaves.
Daniel Boone’s Final Years
After losing his property titles in Kentucky and faced with ongoing legal problems, Boone moved his family in 1799 to Missouri, which at the time was territory claimed by Spain.
He was a respected leader in his new community and in 1807 was appointed a justice of Femme Osage township by Meriwether Lewis, famed leader of the Lewis and Clark expedition who at the time was serving as governor of the region.
At the age of 78, Boone volunteered for the War of 1812 but was denied admission into the armed forces. In 1817, the lifelong outdoorsman went on his final long hunt into his beloved wilderness.
Boone died at his son Nathan Boone’s home at age 86 on September 26, 1820, near Defiance, Missouri. Nathan Boone’s home was later made into a historical site.
Legacy of Daniel Boone
Boone’s intrepid exploration as a frontiersman was the stuff of legends, though many of the stories involving Boone’s exploits are exaggerations or outright fabrications.
Author John Filson helped make Boone a living legend at age 50, when the former published The Discovery, Settlement and Present State of Kentucke, which included an appendix entitled “The Adventures of Col. Daniel Boon [sic].”
Americans and Europeans alike devoured romantic tales by Filson and other authors about Boone traversing dangerous wilderness, fending off attacks by wild animals and savages while pushing forth to unknown land, despite the fanciful nature of these stories."
"Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone was a hunter, fur trapper and trailblazing American frontiersman whose name is synonymous with the exploration and settlement of Kentucky. Crossing the Appalachian Mountains and traveling through the Cumberland Gap, Boone helped carve the Wilderness Road from Virginia to Kentucky and established the Boonesboro settlement. He fought in the French and Indian War and escaped the wrath of Native Americans many times over. Boone became a living legend, thanks in large part to writer John Filson, who mythologized his adventures in the American frontier.
Daniel Boone’s Early Life
Daniel Boone was born into a large Quaker family on November 2, 1734 in Berks County, Pennsylvania. His parents, Squire and Sarah, had 11 children in total, with Boone being the sixth.
Boone had no formal education, but he learned how to read and write on a rudimentary level. Fascinated with the outdoors, he spent most of his youth hunting in the wilderness near his home, becoming an impressive marksman by age 13.
The Boone family moved to North Carolina around 1750 and settled in the northwestern region along the Yadkin River. Because skirmishes would break out regularly between the white settlers and the Native Americans who didn’t want their land encroached upon, Boone joined a militia to help protect the settlements.
The French and Indian War
Siding with the British who were fighting with the French for territory, Boone joined the French and Indian War as a wagoner.
While in British General Edward Braddock’s campaign to attack the French fortification Fort Duquesne, Boone met trader John Findley who first told him of Native American land called “Kentucke” – a place teeming with wildlife.
After his involvement in the French and Indian War, Boone found his way back home to North Carolina, while never forgetting Findley’s tales of Kentucke.
Daniel Boone’s Children
In 1756 Boone married Rebecca Bryan. Like his parents before him, Boone had 10 children with his wife.
He was often away from his family, however, on remote wilderness hunting trips – some were solitary adventures – that would occasionally last for months.
One of his six sons, James Boone, would be killed at the hands of the Cherokees. Another son, Israel, was killed at the Battle of Blue Licks in 1782, one of the last skirmishes of the Revolutionary War (Boone was also at the battle and saw his son die).
Wilderness Road
Boone never forgot his conversation with Findley. In fact, he first journeyed to Kentucky through the Cumberland Gap on a small hunting excursion in 1767.
However, it was his 1769-1771 expedition there with Findley that was more memorable since he gained a much deeper knowledge of the region’s wilderness and terrain.
In 1775 Boone was hired to take a group of men to carve a path to Kentucky, which became known as Wilderness Road. Once Boone and his men reached the Kentucky River, they built the Boonesboro settlement, and the frontiersman brought his family to live with him there.
Angry at the white settlers living off their land, many Native Americans attacked Boonesboro and neighboring settlements. In 1776 one of Boone’s daughters, Jemima, was captured by the Cherokee and Shawnee, but luckily for Boone, he was able to retrieve her safely two days later.
As a militia leader, Boone spent the ensuing years successfully defending multiple white settlements in Kentucky. He ended up being captured by the Shawnee in 1778 but escaped months later.
Land Speculator and Slave Owner
Although he was famous as a militia leader, hunter and surveyor, Boone was not adept in business. By most reports he was an aggressive land speculator who often went heavily into debt to acquire property.
Because he wasn’t a skilled negotiator – his ability to read legal documents was marginal at best – and after numerous lawsuits and losses (including a warrant for his arrest), Boone lost all of his land in Kentucky by 1798.
Boone was also a slave owner, who at one point in his life owned as many as seven slaves.
Daniel Boone’s Final Years
After losing his property titles in Kentucky and faced with ongoing legal problems, Boone moved his family in 1799 to Missouri, which at the time was territory claimed by Spain.
He was a respected leader in his new community and in 1807 was appointed a justice of Femme Osage township by Meriwether Lewis, famed leader of the Lewis and Clark expedition who at the time was serving as governor of the region.
At the age of 78, Boone volunteered for the War of 1812 but was denied admission into the armed forces. In 1817, the lifelong outdoorsman went on his final long hunt into his beloved wilderness.
Boone died at his son Nathan Boone’s home at age 86 on September 26, 1820, near Defiance, Missouri. Nathan Boone’s home was later made into a historical site.
Legacy of Daniel Boone
Boone’s intrepid exploration as a frontiersman was the stuff of legends, though many of the stories involving Boone’s exploits are exaggerations or outright fabrications.
Author John Filson helped make Boone a living legend at age 50, when the former published The Discovery, Settlement and Present State of Kentucke, which included an appendix entitled “The Adventures of Col. Daniel Boon [sic].”
Americans and Europeans alike devoured romantic tales by Filson and other authors about Boone traversing dangerous wilderness, fending off attacks by wild animals and savages while pushing forth to unknown land, despite the fanciful nature of these stories."
Daniel Boone
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Daniel Boone and the Opening of the American West – Part 1
This video documentary take you back in time to the battleground that was the Kentucky frontier; it traces the life of Daniel Boone from his birth near Readi...
Thank you my friend SGT (Join to see) for making us aware that on June 7, 1769, hunter, fur trapper and trailblazing American frontiersman Daniel Boone began exploring what would eventually become the Bluegrass State of Kentucky.
Images:
1. Daniel Boone Mural;
2. Daniel Boone in Kentucky;
3. 1700's Boonesborough;
4. Daniel Boone as Frontiersman in buckskin
Rest in peace Daniel Boone
Background from shsmo.org/historicmissourians/name/b/booned/
"Daniel Boone (1734 - 1820)
Introduction
Daniel Boone is one of the most famous frontiersmen in U.S. history. He was a skilled hunter, trapper, and trailblazer. During the early days of westward expansion, Boone’s explorations helped open the frontier to new settlements. In 1799, he led his family and other settlers across the Mississippi River into land populated by Native Americans but claimed by Spain. Boone spent the last twenty years of his life in what is now Missouri.
Early Years
Daniel Boone was born November 2, 1734, in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Sometimes, an alternate birth date is listed because the Boone family used an outdated calendar system and recorded Daniel’s birth on October 22. Daniel was the sixth of eleven children born to Squire and Sarah Boone, both Quakers. Boone’s father had grown up in England but had immigrated to the New World as a teenager.
As a child, Daniel was responsible for taking the family’s cattle into the woods to graze each day. Daniel loved wandering the woods with the cows. The outdoors fascinated him, and he spent his days studying small birds and game, which he hunted with a homemade "herdsman’s club." Daniel begged for a rifle and became an expert marksman. At thirteen, he provided a steady supply of fresh game for the family’s meals.
Daniel Boone did not attend school. His older brother’s wife taught him to read and write. Though he mastered the basics, Boone’s grammar and spelling remained poor. Boone could sign his name, though, which set him apart from most frontiersmen, who used an "X" for their signature.
Around 1750 the Boones moved to North Carolina and settled in the Yadkin River valley. The Native Americans who lived and hunted there did not like sharing their land with the settlers. Fightsfrequently broke out between the two groups, and Boone joined the county militia to help defend the settlements.
Fights Alongside British
In 1755, Daniel Boone went to fight in the French and Indian War. The war erupted in 1754 when France and Britain began fighting over territory in North America. It was called the French and Indian War because the Native Americans fought mostly alongside the French. At the time, the colonies had yet to gain independence from England, so the settlers fought alongside the British.
Boone joined British Major General Edward Braddock on his march to attack Fort Duquesne, a French fortification located in present-day Pittsburgh. George Washington—then a young colonial militia leader—also joined the march. During the trip, Boone worked as a wagoner alongside a trader named John Findley who had trekked to the Native American villages in Ohio and beyond. John told Boone about a place the Native Americans called “Kentucke”—a hunting ground packed with deer, buffalo, bear, and turkey. As the men neared Fort Duquesne, they were overpowered and suffered huge losses. Boone grabbed a horse from his wagon team and escaped, eventually returning to North Carolina but dreaming of Kentucky.
Hunts and Explores Frontier
Boone married Rebecca Bryan on August 14, 1756. Together they had ten children, six sons and four daughters. For the next several years, he made his living as a hunter and trapper. Boone disappeared for days, and sometimes months, into the Appalachian Mountains. Deer hides-used for clothing-were always in demand.
Eventually, Boone’s teamster friend, John, sought him out and asked Boone to accompany him on a trip to Kentucky. Joined by four others, they set out in 1769 and crossed through the Appalachians via the Cumberland Gap. Few white men had dared to cross the mountains. The men built a base camp near what is now Irvine, Kentucky, and spent several months hunting and exploring the great wilderness.
Frontiersman in buckskin
Boone traveled the frontier wearing buckskin leggings and a loose-fitting shirt made of animal skin. On his leather belt he attached a hunting knife a hatchet, a powder horn, and a bullet pouch. Many images portray Boone wearing a coonskin cap, which was popular with trappers. Boone preferred wide-brimmed beaver felt hats to keep the sun out of his eyes.
The Shawnee captured Boone’s hunting party several months into the expedition. They claimed the area as their hunting ground and believed anything caught there belonged to them. The Shawnee took the men’s supplies and deerskins. Boone escaped and finally returned home in March 1771, penniless and empty-handed.
Moves West
In 1775 a friend hired Boone to cut a path into Kentucky for a new settlement on land purchased from the Cherokee. Boone led about thirty axmen through the wilderness to clear a path, which eventually became a route to the new frontier and was called the Wilderness Road. When the group reached the Kentucky River, they built a fort and called it Boonesborough. Other settlers followed, and Boone brought his family, too.
Life on the frontier was dangerous. Native Americans frequently attacked Boonesborough, hoping to drive the settlers back east. In 1776, Boone’s daughter Jemima was kidnapped by a small group of Shawnee and Cherokee men while canoeing on the river. Boone led a rescue party that retrieved Jemima and her friends two days later.
Boone was captured by the Shawnee in 1778. Impressed with Boone’s scouting and hunting skills, the Shawnee chief adopted Boone as one of his own. Boone lived among the Shawnee for four months before escaping and returning to Boonesborough. By 1798, Boone had lost all of his land in Kentucky due to title errors and debt.
Finds a Home in Missouri
In 1799, Boone decided to move farther west, into the land that is now Missouri but at the time was called Upper Louisiana. He built a canoe from a six-foot poplar tree so he could move some household items by river. Boone made the journey with his wife, two of his daughters and their husbands, and son Daniel Morgan Boone. Several other Kentucky families came along, and son Nathan Boone soon followed.
Spanish authorities, eager to have settlers in the area, granted Boone 850 acres in the Femme Osage District, now part of St. Charles County. He was made a commandant, or syndic, of the Femme Osage District. As a syndic, Boone settled disputes that arose among the area settlers. He became famous for holding court under a large tree on his son Nathan’s land. This tree was known as the “Judgment Tree.”
In 1804, Boone lost his land claimsafter Spain had transferred the territory to France, which in turn sold it to the United States. Boone remained in the area, living on land family members had secured. Rebecca Boone died in 1813, and Boone spent his remaining years living with his children. In 1820 painter Chester Harding visited Boone and painted the only known portrait made during his lifetime.
Daniel Boone died at Nathan Boone’s home in Defiance, Missouri, on September 26, 1820. He was buried next to his wife in a Marthasville-area cemetery.
Boone's Legacy
Soon after his death, the Missouri legislature honored Daniel Boone by naming Boone County after him. Many other states have also honored the legacy of Daniel Boone. Though it has been more than 180 years since he died, Daniel Boone and stories of his adventures continue to attract interest. Generations later, people still identify with his restless, wandering spirit, which compelled him to push the boundaries of existence.
References and Resources
For more information about Daniel Boone's life and career, see the following resources:
Society Resources
The following is a selected list of books, articles, and manuscripts about Daniel Boone in the research centers of The State Historical Society of Missouri. The Society’s call numbers follow the citations in brackets. All links will open in a new tab.
Articles from the Missouri Historical Review
Amyx, Clifford. “The Authentic Image of Daniel Boone.” v. 82, no. 2 (January 1988), pp. 153-164.
Asbury, Virginia Hays, and Albert N. Doerschuk. “The Boone, Hays and Berry Families of Jackson County.” v. 23, no. 4 (July 1929), pp. 536-549.
Bryan, William S. “Daniel Boone in Missouri.” v. 3, no. 4 (July 1909), pp. 293-299.
_____. “Peculiarities of Life in Daniel Boone's Missouri Settlement.” v. 4, no. 2 (January 1910), pp. 85-91.
King, Roy T. “Portraits of Daniel Boone.” v. 33, no. 2 (January 1939), pp. 171-183.
Shoemaker, Floyd C. “Daniel Boone.” v. 21, no. 2 (January 1927), pp. 208-214.
Articles from the Newspaper Collection
“Daniel Boone.” Jefferson City Inquirer. August 7, 1845. p. 2, col. 5.
“Daniel M. Boone.” Jeffersonian Republican. August 3, 1839. p. 2, col. 4.
“Funeral Obsequies of Daniel Boone.” Jefferson City Inquirer. October 2, 1845. p. 2, col. 3.
“The Great Frontiersman Upon Whom Both Kentucky and Missouri Have Claims.” Kansas City Star. June 14, 1925. p. 1.
“Missouri, Kentucky Fight Over Daniel Boone's Burial.” Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune. January 18, 1988. p. 7.
“New Names in the Hall of Fame Include the Great Pioneer.” Kansas City Star. October 11, 1915. p. 12.
“Obituary: Col. Daniel Boone.” Missouri Gazette & Public Advertiser. October 4, 1820. p. 3, col. 5.
“Portrait of Daniel Boone.” St. Louis Globe-Democrat Sunday Magazine. November 22, 1959. pp. 17-18.
“To the Editors of the Missouri Intelligencer.” Missouri Intelligencer. August 27, 1810. p. 2, col. 5.
Books
Abbott, John S. C. Daniel Boone: Pioneer of Kentucky. New York: Dodd & Mead, 1872. [REF F508.1 B644a]
Bakeless, John. Daniel Boone: Master of the Wilderness. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1939. [REF F508.1 B644ba c.2]
Bruce, H. Addington. Daniel Boone and the Wilderness Road. New York: Macmillan Co., 1910. [REF F508.1 B644bru]
Christensen, Lawrence O., William E. Foley, Gary R. Kremer, and Kenneth H.Winn, eds. Dictionary of Missouri Biography.Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1999. pp. 98-101. [REF F508 D561]
Draper, Lyman C. The Life of Daniel Boone. Edited by Ted Franklin Belue. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1998. [REF F508.1 B644dr]
Ellis, Edward S. The Life and Times of Col. Daniel Boone, The Hunter of Kentucky. New York: Beadle & Adams, c. 1860. [Bay Collection]
Faragher, John Mack. Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer. New York: Henry Holt, 1992. [REF F508.1 B644fa]
Goellner, Glen. The Saga of a Man and a House. St. Charles, MO: Daniel Boone Shrine Association, c. 1956. [REF F508.1 B644go]
Hammon, Neal O., ed. My Father, Daniel Boone: The Draper Interviews with Nathan Boone. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999. [REF F508.1 B644dr2 c.1]
Hurt, R. Douglas. Nathan Boone and the American Frontier. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1998. [REF F508.1 B646h]
Lofaro, Michael A. Daniel Boone: An American Life. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2003. [REF F508.1 B644lo2]
Manuscript Collection
Boone, Daniel (1734-1820), Affidavit, n.d. (C1467)
This is an affidavit written by Boone indicating that his son, Daniel Morgan Boone, had claimed 600 arpents of land in St. Charles, MO, as granted by Spanish Lt. Gov. Zenon Trudeau in 1797. Boone writes that his son inhabited and cultivated the land before October 1, 1800.
Boone, Daniel (1734-1820), Deed, 1815, (C1732)
Deed to William Cashio for land in St. Charles County purchased from Daniel Boone, 6 May 1815.
Boone, Daniel (1734-1820), Ephemera, n.d. (C1475)
The collection contains a facsimile of pages from the Boone family Bible, noting birthdates for Boone, his wife, and children. Also included is a map sketch of Boone’s Pennsylvania birthplace.
Boone, Daniel (1734-1820), Papers, 1784-1787 (C2204)
Boone’s signature can be found here, as well as a court order written by Boone in 1787. There is also a Squire Boone account receipt from 1784.
Draper, Lyman Copeland (1815-1891), Collection, 1735-1815 (C2964)
Draper conducted extensive interviews with Nathan Boone and corresponded with other family members and frontier settlers. This is a microfilm copy of manuscripts from the Draper Collection. The originals are located at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
Draper, Lyman Copeland (1815-1891), Nathan Boone Interview, 1851 (C1212)
This collection includes Draper’s notes and comments from his interviews with Nathan Boone. It also contains recollections of Daniel Boone’s life and of other pioneers in Missouri and Kentucky."
Daniel Boone and the Opening of the American West – Part 1
"This video documentary take you back in time to the battleground that was the Kentucky frontier; it traces the life of Daniel Boone from his birth near Reading, Pennsylvania in 1734, through his years in Kentucky and to his death in St. Charles County, Missouri in 1820. Against the backdrop of the American Revolution, Daniel Boone explores an ordinary man living in extraordinary times who was destined to settle and defend the beautiful, but often fiercely unforgiving, wilderness of Kentucky that became known as "the dark and bloody ground"."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr14TTfWB0Y
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC (Join to see) LTC Ivan Raiklin, Esq. Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown 1stSgt Eugene Harless SSgt Robert Marx SGT Mark Halmrast Sgt Randy Wilber SGT Michael Thorin Sgt John H. SGT Gregory Lawritson SP5 Robert Ruck CPL Dave Hoover SPC Margaret Higgins SSgt Brian Brakke MSgt David Hoffman
Images:
1. Daniel Boone Mural;
2. Daniel Boone in Kentucky;
3. 1700's Boonesborough;
4. Daniel Boone as Frontiersman in buckskin
Rest in peace Daniel Boone
Background from shsmo.org/historicmissourians/name/b/booned/
"Daniel Boone (1734 - 1820)
Introduction
Daniel Boone is one of the most famous frontiersmen in U.S. history. He was a skilled hunter, trapper, and trailblazer. During the early days of westward expansion, Boone’s explorations helped open the frontier to new settlements. In 1799, he led his family and other settlers across the Mississippi River into land populated by Native Americans but claimed by Spain. Boone spent the last twenty years of his life in what is now Missouri.
Early Years
Daniel Boone was born November 2, 1734, in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Sometimes, an alternate birth date is listed because the Boone family used an outdated calendar system and recorded Daniel’s birth on October 22. Daniel was the sixth of eleven children born to Squire and Sarah Boone, both Quakers. Boone’s father had grown up in England but had immigrated to the New World as a teenager.
As a child, Daniel was responsible for taking the family’s cattle into the woods to graze each day. Daniel loved wandering the woods with the cows. The outdoors fascinated him, and he spent his days studying small birds and game, which he hunted with a homemade "herdsman’s club." Daniel begged for a rifle and became an expert marksman. At thirteen, he provided a steady supply of fresh game for the family’s meals.
Daniel Boone did not attend school. His older brother’s wife taught him to read and write. Though he mastered the basics, Boone’s grammar and spelling remained poor. Boone could sign his name, though, which set him apart from most frontiersmen, who used an "X" for their signature.
Around 1750 the Boones moved to North Carolina and settled in the Yadkin River valley. The Native Americans who lived and hunted there did not like sharing their land with the settlers. Fightsfrequently broke out between the two groups, and Boone joined the county militia to help defend the settlements.
Fights Alongside British
In 1755, Daniel Boone went to fight in the French and Indian War. The war erupted in 1754 when France and Britain began fighting over territory in North America. It was called the French and Indian War because the Native Americans fought mostly alongside the French. At the time, the colonies had yet to gain independence from England, so the settlers fought alongside the British.
Boone joined British Major General Edward Braddock on his march to attack Fort Duquesne, a French fortification located in present-day Pittsburgh. George Washington—then a young colonial militia leader—also joined the march. During the trip, Boone worked as a wagoner alongside a trader named John Findley who had trekked to the Native American villages in Ohio and beyond. John told Boone about a place the Native Americans called “Kentucke”—a hunting ground packed with deer, buffalo, bear, and turkey. As the men neared Fort Duquesne, they were overpowered and suffered huge losses. Boone grabbed a horse from his wagon team and escaped, eventually returning to North Carolina but dreaming of Kentucky.
Hunts and Explores Frontier
Boone married Rebecca Bryan on August 14, 1756. Together they had ten children, six sons and four daughters. For the next several years, he made his living as a hunter and trapper. Boone disappeared for days, and sometimes months, into the Appalachian Mountains. Deer hides-used for clothing-were always in demand.
Eventually, Boone’s teamster friend, John, sought him out and asked Boone to accompany him on a trip to Kentucky. Joined by four others, they set out in 1769 and crossed through the Appalachians via the Cumberland Gap. Few white men had dared to cross the mountains. The men built a base camp near what is now Irvine, Kentucky, and spent several months hunting and exploring the great wilderness.
Frontiersman in buckskin
Boone traveled the frontier wearing buckskin leggings and a loose-fitting shirt made of animal skin. On his leather belt he attached a hunting knife a hatchet, a powder horn, and a bullet pouch. Many images portray Boone wearing a coonskin cap, which was popular with trappers. Boone preferred wide-brimmed beaver felt hats to keep the sun out of his eyes.
The Shawnee captured Boone’s hunting party several months into the expedition. They claimed the area as their hunting ground and believed anything caught there belonged to them. The Shawnee took the men’s supplies and deerskins. Boone escaped and finally returned home in March 1771, penniless and empty-handed.
Moves West
In 1775 a friend hired Boone to cut a path into Kentucky for a new settlement on land purchased from the Cherokee. Boone led about thirty axmen through the wilderness to clear a path, which eventually became a route to the new frontier and was called the Wilderness Road. When the group reached the Kentucky River, they built a fort and called it Boonesborough. Other settlers followed, and Boone brought his family, too.
Life on the frontier was dangerous. Native Americans frequently attacked Boonesborough, hoping to drive the settlers back east. In 1776, Boone’s daughter Jemima was kidnapped by a small group of Shawnee and Cherokee men while canoeing on the river. Boone led a rescue party that retrieved Jemima and her friends two days later.
Boone was captured by the Shawnee in 1778. Impressed with Boone’s scouting and hunting skills, the Shawnee chief adopted Boone as one of his own. Boone lived among the Shawnee for four months before escaping and returning to Boonesborough. By 1798, Boone had lost all of his land in Kentucky due to title errors and debt.
Finds a Home in Missouri
In 1799, Boone decided to move farther west, into the land that is now Missouri but at the time was called Upper Louisiana. He built a canoe from a six-foot poplar tree so he could move some household items by river. Boone made the journey with his wife, two of his daughters and their husbands, and son Daniel Morgan Boone. Several other Kentucky families came along, and son Nathan Boone soon followed.
Spanish authorities, eager to have settlers in the area, granted Boone 850 acres in the Femme Osage District, now part of St. Charles County. He was made a commandant, or syndic, of the Femme Osage District. As a syndic, Boone settled disputes that arose among the area settlers. He became famous for holding court under a large tree on his son Nathan’s land. This tree was known as the “Judgment Tree.”
In 1804, Boone lost his land claimsafter Spain had transferred the territory to France, which in turn sold it to the United States. Boone remained in the area, living on land family members had secured. Rebecca Boone died in 1813, and Boone spent his remaining years living with his children. In 1820 painter Chester Harding visited Boone and painted the only known portrait made during his lifetime.
Daniel Boone died at Nathan Boone’s home in Defiance, Missouri, on September 26, 1820. He was buried next to his wife in a Marthasville-area cemetery.
Boone's Legacy
Soon after his death, the Missouri legislature honored Daniel Boone by naming Boone County after him. Many other states have also honored the legacy of Daniel Boone. Though it has been more than 180 years since he died, Daniel Boone and stories of his adventures continue to attract interest. Generations later, people still identify with his restless, wandering spirit, which compelled him to push the boundaries of existence.
References and Resources
For more information about Daniel Boone's life and career, see the following resources:
Society Resources
The following is a selected list of books, articles, and manuscripts about Daniel Boone in the research centers of The State Historical Society of Missouri. The Society’s call numbers follow the citations in brackets. All links will open in a new tab.
Articles from the Missouri Historical Review
Amyx, Clifford. “The Authentic Image of Daniel Boone.” v. 82, no. 2 (January 1988), pp. 153-164.
Asbury, Virginia Hays, and Albert N. Doerschuk. “The Boone, Hays and Berry Families of Jackson County.” v. 23, no. 4 (July 1929), pp. 536-549.
Bryan, William S. “Daniel Boone in Missouri.” v. 3, no. 4 (July 1909), pp. 293-299.
_____. “Peculiarities of Life in Daniel Boone's Missouri Settlement.” v. 4, no. 2 (January 1910), pp. 85-91.
King, Roy T. “Portraits of Daniel Boone.” v. 33, no. 2 (January 1939), pp. 171-183.
Shoemaker, Floyd C. “Daniel Boone.” v. 21, no. 2 (January 1927), pp. 208-214.
Articles from the Newspaper Collection
“Daniel Boone.” Jefferson City Inquirer. August 7, 1845. p. 2, col. 5.
“Daniel M. Boone.” Jeffersonian Republican. August 3, 1839. p. 2, col. 4.
“Funeral Obsequies of Daniel Boone.” Jefferson City Inquirer. October 2, 1845. p. 2, col. 3.
“The Great Frontiersman Upon Whom Both Kentucky and Missouri Have Claims.” Kansas City Star. June 14, 1925. p. 1.
“Missouri, Kentucky Fight Over Daniel Boone's Burial.” Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune. January 18, 1988. p. 7.
“New Names in the Hall of Fame Include the Great Pioneer.” Kansas City Star. October 11, 1915. p. 12.
“Obituary: Col. Daniel Boone.” Missouri Gazette & Public Advertiser. October 4, 1820. p. 3, col. 5.
“Portrait of Daniel Boone.” St. Louis Globe-Democrat Sunday Magazine. November 22, 1959. pp. 17-18.
“To the Editors of the Missouri Intelligencer.” Missouri Intelligencer. August 27, 1810. p. 2, col. 5.
Books
Abbott, John S. C. Daniel Boone: Pioneer of Kentucky. New York: Dodd & Mead, 1872. [REF F508.1 B644a]
Bakeless, John. Daniel Boone: Master of the Wilderness. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1939. [REF F508.1 B644ba c.2]
Bruce, H. Addington. Daniel Boone and the Wilderness Road. New York: Macmillan Co., 1910. [REF F508.1 B644bru]
Christensen, Lawrence O., William E. Foley, Gary R. Kremer, and Kenneth H.Winn, eds. Dictionary of Missouri Biography.Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1999. pp. 98-101. [REF F508 D561]
Draper, Lyman C. The Life of Daniel Boone. Edited by Ted Franklin Belue. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1998. [REF F508.1 B644dr]
Ellis, Edward S. The Life and Times of Col. Daniel Boone, The Hunter of Kentucky. New York: Beadle & Adams, c. 1860. [Bay Collection]
Faragher, John Mack. Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer. New York: Henry Holt, 1992. [REF F508.1 B644fa]
Goellner, Glen. The Saga of a Man and a House. St. Charles, MO: Daniel Boone Shrine Association, c. 1956. [REF F508.1 B644go]
Hammon, Neal O., ed. My Father, Daniel Boone: The Draper Interviews with Nathan Boone. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999. [REF F508.1 B644dr2 c.1]
Hurt, R. Douglas. Nathan Boone and the American Frontier. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1998. [REF F508.1 B646h]
Lofaro, Michael A. Daniel Boone: An American Life. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2003. [REF F508.1 B644lo2]
Manuscript Collection
Boone, Daniel (1734-1820), Affidavit, n.d. (C1467)
This is an affidavit written by Boone indicating that his son, Daniel Morgan Boone, had claimed 600 arpents of land in St. Charles, MO, as granted by Spanish Lt. Gov. Zenon Trudeau in 1797. Boone writes that his son inhabited and cultivated the land before October 1, 1800.
Boone, Daniel (1734-1820), Deed, 1815, (C1732)
Deed to William Cashio for land in St. Charles County purchased from Daniel Boone, 6 May 1815.
Boone, Daniel (1734-1820), Ephemera, n.d. (C1475)
The collection contains a facsimile of pages from the Boone family Bible, noting birthdates for Boone, his wife, and children. Also included is a map sketch of Boone’s Pennsylvania birthplace.
Boone, Daniel (1734-1820), Papers, 1784-1787 (C2204)
Boone’s signature can be found here, as well as a court order written by Boone in 1787. There is also a Squire Boone account receipt from 1784.
Draper, Lyman Copeland (1815-1891), Collection, 1735-1815 (C2964)
Draper conducted extensive interviews with Nathan Boone and corresponded with other family members and frontier settlers. This is a microfilm copy of manuscripts from the Draper Collection. The originals are located at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
Draper, Lyman Copeland (1815-1891), Nathan Boone Interview, 1851 (C1212)
This collection includes Draper’s notes and comments from his interviews with Nathan Boone. It also contains recollections of Daniel Boone’s life and of other pioneers in Missouri and Kentucky."
Daniel Boone and the Opening of the American West – Part 1
"This video documentary take you back in time to the battleground that was the Kentucky frontier; it traces the life of Daniel Boone from his birth near Reading, Pennsylvania in 1734, through his years in Kentucky and to his death in St. Charles County, Missouri in 1820. Against the backdrop of the American Revolution, Daniel Boone explores an ordinary man living in extraordinary times who was destined to settle and defend the beautiful, but often fiercely unforgiving, wilderness of Kentucky that became known as "the dark and bloody ground"."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr14TTfWB0Y
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC (Join to see) LTC Ivan Raiklin, Esq. Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown 1stSgt Eugene Harless SSgt Robert Marx SGT Mark Halmrast Sgt Randy Wilber SGT Michael Thorin Sgt John H. SGT Gregory Lawritson SP5 Robert Ruck CPL Dave Hoover SPC Margaret Higgins SSgt Brian Brakke MSgt David Hoffman
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