Daniel Boone

Daniel Boone (November 2, 1734 – September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer whose exploits turned him into one of the country’s earliest folk heroes. He gained fame for exploring and settling Kentucky, a region that at the time lay beyond the western edge of the Thirteen Colonies.

Into Kentucky

In 1775, hired by Judge Richard Henderson’s Transylvania Company, Boone carved out the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap and into Kentucky, despite opposition from local Native American tribes. He established Boonesborough, one of the first English-speaking settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains. By the late 1700s, over 200,000 people had entered Kentucky by following the path Boone had marked.

During the Revolutionary War, Boone served as a militia officer. In Kentucky, the conflict mainly pitted American settlers against British-allied Native Americans. In 1778, the Shawnee captured Boone. According to legend, the Shawnee chief adopted him and gave him the name Sheltowee, meaning Big Turtle.

Businessman and politician

After several months with the Shawnee, Boone escaped. While the war continued, he was elected to the Virginia General Assembly three times and fought at the Battle of Blue Licks in 1782, one of the Revolution’s final engagements. After the war, Boone worked as a surveyor and merchant but fell deep into debt as a Kentucky land speculator. He moved to Missouri in 1799 and spent most of his last twenty years there, frustrated by legal troubles tied to his land claims.

Legacy

Boone remains a legendary, if imperfectly remembered, figure in American history. He was celebrated in his own time, especially after a book about his adventures came out in 1784, making him famous in both America and Europe.

Commemoration and portrayals

After his death, he became the subject of many heroic tall tales and fictional works. His real and mythical adventures helped create the archetypal frontier hero in American folklore. In popular culture, Boone is remembered as one of the earliest and most important frontiersmen, even though mythology often overshadows the actual facts of his life.

Boone was born on October 22, 1734 (November 2 by the modern calendar), the sixth of twelve children in a Quaker family. His father, Squire Boone, emigrated from Bradninch in Devon, England, to colonial Pennsylvania around 1712. Squire, a weaver and blacksmith, married Sarah Morgan, whose family were Welsh Quakers.