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109-765: In 1775, Daniel Boone blazed a trail for the Transylvania Company from Fort Chiswell in Virginia through the Cumberland Gap. It was later lengthened, following Indian trails, to reach the Falls of the Ohio at Louisville . The Wilderness Road was steep, rough and narrow. It could be traversed only on foot or horseback. By contrast, wagons could travel along the National Road route (originally

218-631: A North Carolina militia company as a teamster and blacksmith. In 1755, his unit accompanied General Edward Braddock's attempt to drive the French out of the Ohio Country , which ended in disaster at the Battle of the Monongahela . Boone, in the rear with the wagons, took no part in the battle, and fled with the retreating soldiers. He returned home after the defeat, and married Rebecca Bryan ,

327-410: A panther scattered all but Boone. He calmly cocked his rifle and shot the panther through the heart just as it leaped at him. The story may be a folktale , one of many that became part of Boone's popular image. In Boone's youth, his family became a source of controversy in the local Quaker community. In 1742, Boone's parents were compelled to publicly apologize after their eldest child Sarah married

436-529: A "worldling" , or non-Quaker, while she was visibly pregnant. When Boone's oldest brother Israel also married a "worldling" in 1747, Squire Boone stood by his son and was therefore expelled from the Quakers, although his wife continued to attend monthly meetings with her children. Perhaps as a result of this controversy, in 1750 Squire sold his land and moved the family to North Carolina . Daniel Boone did not attend church again, although he always considered himself

545-513: A Christian and had all of his children baptized . The Boones eventually settled on the Yadkin River , in what is now Davie County , North Carolina, about two miles (3 km) west of Mocksville . Boone received little formal education, since he preferred to spend his time hunting, apparently with his parents' blessing. According to a family tradition, when a schoolteacher expressed concern over Boone's education, Boone's father said, "Let

654-416: A bear, escaped from Indians by swinging on vines (as Tarzan would later do), and so on. Although Boone's family thought the book was absurd, Flint greatly influenced the popular conception of Boone, since these tall tales were recycled in countless dime novels and books aimed at young boys. Thanks to Filson's book, Boone became a symbol of the "natural man" who lives a virtuous, uncomplicated existence in

763-420: A booming Ohio River port. He kept a tavern and worked as a surveyor, horse trader, and land speculator. In 1784, on Boone's 50th birthday, frontier historian John Filson published The Discovery, Settlement and Present State of Kentucke . The popular book included a chronicle of Boone's adventures, which made Boone a celebrity. As settlers poured into Kentucky, the border war with American Indians north of

872-473: A chance to drive out the colonists. Isolated settlers and hunters became the frequent target of attacks, convincing many to abandon Kentucky. By late spring of 1776, Boone and his family were among the fewer than 200 colonists who remained, primarily at the fortified settlements of Boonesborough, Harrodsburg, and Logan's Station . On July 14, 1776, Boone's daughter Jemima and two other girls were captured outside Boonesborough by an Indian war party, who carried

981-481: A council. After an impassioned speech by Boone, the warriors voted to spare the prisoners. Although Boone had saved his men, Blackfish pointed out that Boone had not included himself in the agreement, so Boone was forced to run the gauntlet through the warriors, which he survived with minor injuries. Boone and his men were taken to Blackfish's town of Chillicothe . As was their custom, the Shawnee adopted some of

1090-568: A family of Quakers . His father, Squire Boone (1696–1765), immigrated to colonial Pennsylvania from the small town of Bradninch in the county of Devon , England, sometime around 1712. Squire, a weaver and blacksmith, married Sarah Morgan (1700–1777), whose family were Quakers from Wales . In 1731, the Boones built a one-room log cabin in the Oley Valley in what is now Berks County, Pennsylvania , near present-day Reading , where Daniel

1199-612: A family story, he purchased land in Pensacola , but Rebecca refused to move so far away from friends and family. The Boones instead moved to a more remote area of the Yadkin Valley, and he began to hunt westward into the Blue Ridge Mountains . It was the first of May, in the year 1769, that I resigned my domestic happiness for a time, and left my family ... to wander through the wilderness of America, in quest of

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1308-413: A group of Shawnee, slinging tomahawks , attacked the sleeping men. Some of Boone's party were killed and a few were wounded but most were able to escape into the woods. Boone regrouped his men and managed to drive off the hostile Shawnee. The party lost some of their horses. Here Boone built a temporary open barricade with 6 to 7-foot (2.1 m) high logs. By the next year, the Shawnee had been joined by

1417-587: A judge from North Carolina , organized a land speculation company with a number of other prominent North Carolinians called the Transylvania Company . The men hoped to purchase land from the Cherokees on the Kentucky side of the Appalachian Mountains and establish a British proprietary colony. Henderson hired Daniel Boone, an experienced hunter who had explored Kentucky, to blaze a trail through

1526-522: A legendary frontiersman in his own right. While Boone recovered, the Shawnee kept up their attacks outside Boonesborough, killing cattle and destroying crops. With food running low, the settlers needed salt to preserve what meat they had, so in January 1778, Boone led a party of 30 men to the salt springs on the Licking River . On February 7, when Boone was hunting for meat for the expedition, he

1635-528: A member of the North Carolina militia during this "Cherokee Uprising" , periodically serving under Captain Hugh Waddell on the North Carolina frontier until 1760. Boone supported his growing family in these years as a market hunter and trapper, collecting pelts for the fur trade . Almost every autumn, despite the unrest on the frontier, he would go on "long hunts" , extended expeditions into

1744-537: A neighbor in the Yadkin Valley, on August 14, 1756. The couple initially lived in a cabin on his father's farm, and eventually had ten children, in addition to raising eight children of deceased relatives. In 1758, conflict erupted between British colonists and the Cherokees , their former allies in the French and Indian War. After the Yadkin Valley was raided by Cherokees, the Boones and many other families fled north to Culpeper County, Virginia . Boone saw action as

1853-553: A promised 21,000-acre (8,500 ha) land grant from Walker and the Loyal Land Company. Martin and his men built the earliest westernmost frontier fort at present-day Rose Hill, Virginia , a fort dubbed Martin's Station. Later that year Indians chased off Martin and his men, who returned to Albemarle County . Martin returned six years later to rebuild the fort, and a few months later became an agent for Richard Henderson's Transylvania Company. In 1774, Richard Henderson ,

1962-497: A two-year hunting and trapping expedition. His first sighting of the Bluegrass region from atop Pilot Knob became "an icon of American history", and was the frequent subject of paintings. On December 22, 1769, Boone and fellow hunter John Stuart were captured by a party of Shawnee , who confiscated all of their skins and told them to leave and never return. The Shawnee had not signed the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix , in which

2071-465: A visit from Col. Boone... He has taken part in all the wars of America, from Braddock's war to the present hour," but "he prefers the woods, where you see him in the dress of the roughest, poorest hunter." Boone died on September 26, 1820, at his son Nathan Boone's home on Femme Osage Creek, Missouri. He died while hunting and was found the following day. He was buried next to Rebecca, who had died on March 18, 1813. The graves, which were unmarked until

2180-517: Is now West Virginia and Kentucky. In the summer of 1774, Boone traveled with a companion to Kentucky to notify surveyors there of the outbreak of war. They journeyed more than 800 miles (1,300 km) in two months to warn those who had not already fled the region. Upon his return to Virginia, Boone helped defend colonial settlements along the Clinch River , earning a promotion to captain in the militia, as well as acclaim from fellow citizens. After

2289-524: The Bluegrass region of Kentucky to Boonesborough on the Kentucky River (near Lexington ). The western spur ran to the Falls of the Ohio ( Louisville ). As settlements grew southward, the road stretched all the way to Knoxville, Tennessee , by 1792. Due to road realignments in many places modern roads do not always follow the old wilderness trails. The western spur of the Wilderness road

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2398-547: The Braddock Road blazed by the competing Ohio Company and George Washington circa 1750), particularly after the improvements. Despite the adverse conditions, thousands of families used the Wilderness Road. In 1792, the new Kentucky legislature provided money to upgrade the road. In 1796, an improved all-weather road was opened for wagon and carriage travel. The road was abandoned around 1840 (construction on

2507-721: The Chickamauga Cherokee in the Cherokee–American wars with the settlers, which lasted until 1794. The route of the Wilderness Road made a long loop from Virginia southward to Tennessee and then northward to Kentucky, a distance of 200 miles (320 km). From the Long Island of the Holston River (modern Kingsport, Tennessee ), the road went north through Moccasin Gap of Clinch Mountain , then crossed

2616-822: The Clinch River and crossed rough land (called the Devils Raceway) to the North Fork Clinch River. Then it crossed Powell Mountain at Kanes Gap. From there it ran southwest through the valley of the Powell River to the Cumberland Gap. After passing over the Cumberland Gap the Wilderness Road forked. The southern fork passed over the Cumberland Plateau to Nashville, Tennessee via the Cumberland River . The northern fork split into two parts. The eastern spur went into

2725-545: The Cumberland Narrows in northwestern Maryland host to Nemacolin's Path , and the Cumberland Gap in the four-state region of North Carolina and Virginia on the east side and through the gap, Tennessee and Kentucky . While late 19th and 20th century technologies would later bridge the mountain chain in other places, these all required significant civil engineering works to make a road bed past

2834-591: The Falls of the Ohio . Robert Emmett McDowell (1914–1975), Kentucky historian and Filson Historical Society member since 1956, claims there are errors in Filson's map. The map shows the trail leaving Louisville through Sullivan's Old Station, Kuvkendahl's Mill, the Fishpools to Bullitt's Lick, then through Bardstown to Danville. McDowell claims that originally the trail went through Harrodsburg not Danville, and Sullivan's Old Station and Kuykendahl's Mill were not on

2943-583: The Iroquois had ceded their claim to Kentucky to the British. The Shawnee regarded Kentucky as their hunting ground; they considered American hunters there to be poachers . Boone, undeterred, continued hunting and exploring in Kentucky. On one occasion, he shot a man to avoid capture, which historian John Mack Faragher says "was one of the few Indians that Boone acknowledged killing." Boone returned to North Carolina in 1771, but came back to hunt in Kentucky in

3052-562: The Loyal Land Company , with five companions, made a famous exploration through the Cumberland Gap and into eastern Kentucky. The Loyal Land Company settled people in southwest Virginia, but not Kentucky. In 1769, Virginia longhunter and explorer Joseph Martin made the first of several forays into the region. Acting as an agent for Dr. Thomas Walker, to whom Martin was connected through family relationships, Martin began an expedition to Powell's Valley in early 1769 in return for

3161-585: The United States . Its name was later changed to U.S. Route 25E . This new road brought a new industry, tourism, to the rural areas filling hotels and restaurants with travelers. Cumberland Gap is a National Historical Park , and portions of the Wilderness Road can be visited at Wilderness Road State Park in Virginia. Additionally, a reconstructed fort at Martin's Station in Virginia on the Wilderness Road can be visited about 5 miles (8 km) east of

3270-635: The barrier range geologist classify as the ridge-and-valley Appalachians . Settlers from Pennsylvania tended to migrate south along the Great Wagon Road through the Great Appalachian Valley and Shenandoah Valley . Daniel Boone was from Pennsylvania and migrated south with his family along this road. From an early age, Boone was one of the longhunters who hunted and trapped among the Native American nations along

3379-505: The court-martial that followed, Boone was found "not guilty" and was even promoted after the court heard his testimony. Despite this vindication, Boone was humiliated by the court-martial, and he rarely spoke of it. After the trial, Boone returned to North Carolina to take his family back to Kentucky. In the autumn of 1779, a large party of emigrants came with him, including the family of Captain Abraham Lincoln , grandfather of

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3488-408: The siege of Boonesborough . Armed enslaved men fought alongside their owners at the fort's walls. After going beyond the fort walls to engage the attackers, London, one of the enslaved, was killed. Boone was shot in the ankle while outside the fort. Amid a flurry of bullets, he was carried back inside by Simon Kenton , a recent arrival at Boonesborough. Kenton became Boone's close friend, as well as

3597-526: The Cherokee claim to Kentucky. Boone then blazed "Boone's Trace", later known as the Wilderness Road , through the Cumberland Gap and into central Kentucky. Sam, an enslaved Black "body servant", and other enslaved laborers were among this group of settlers. When this group camped near the location of present-day Richmond, Kentucky , Indians attacked, killing Sam and his owner. After driving off

3706-643: The Cumberland Gap into central Kentucky. The Appalachian Mountains form a natural barrier to east–west travel. From New York to Georgia there are only five ways to travel to the west, with only three natural interior breaks allowing animal powered travel without great engineering works. These were the Gaps of the Allegheny and the several ways such as the Kittanning Paths in Pennsylvania ,

3815-634: The Cumberland Gap. Since the completion of the Cumberland Gap Tunnel in 1996, a project has been underway to restore the original appearance of the Wilderness Road as it crosses the historic Cumberland Gap. Since 2001, Hwy. 25E has been obliterated over several miles of its length and the original grade restored, including the addition of 32 feet (9.8 m) of elevation to restore the Gap to its original contour, with virtually all modern artifacts, buildings and roads removed. The replanting of thousands of seedlings from original forest stocks in

3924-659: The Mohicans (1826). In 1777, Henry Hamilton , British Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, began to recruit American Indian war parties to raid the Kentucky settlements. That same year in March, the newly formed militia of Kentucky County, Virginia , mustered in Boonesborough, whose population included ten to 15 enslaved people. On April 24, 1778, the British-allied Shawnee led by Chief Blackfish mounted

4033-452: The National Road after Vandalia, Illinois also stopping owing to the Panic of 1837 and early railroad construction), although modern highways follow much of its route. The first European explorers of the southern Appalachian Mountains were Spanish . Hernando de Soto and his troops traversed the region in 1540 and 1541 searching for gold . The first recorded English explorations of

4142-636: The Ohio River resumed. In September 1786, Boone took part in a military expedition into the Ohio Country led by Benjamin Logan . Returning to Limestone, Boone housed and fed Shawnee who had been captured during the raid, and helped to negotiate a truce and prisoner exchange. Although the war would not end until the American victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers eight years later, the 1786 expedition

4251-679: The Ohio and Mississippi Rivers , allowing faster and cheaper travel both up and down the rivers. During the 1850s, the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad was constructed along part of this route. During the American Civil War , both the Union Army and the Confederate States Army used the Wilderness Road. An early battle ( Camp Wildcat ), stymied the first Confederate attempt to seize control of neutral Kentucky. The Cumberland Gap changed hands four times throughout

4360-560: The Overhill Cherokee area, but Needham was killed on the return trip. Gabriel Arthur was almost killed, but was rescued and adopted by a Cherokee chief. For his own safety, Arthur was then sent with one of the chief's raiding parties. For about a year, he traveled with the Cherokee throughout the Appalachians. He was probably the first European to visit modern West Virginia . In 1750, Dr. Thomas Walker , an investor in

4469-640: The Road to market. Beef in Eastern markets had become a main source of income for farmers in Kentucky. A postal road was opened in 1792 from Bean Station, Tennessee through Cumberland Gap to Danville, Kentucky . This was due largely to the efforts of Governor Isaac Shelby of Kentucky. This connection of Kentucky to the East was a great advantage. Frontier settlers considered the postal riders heroes and waited eagerly for their arrival for news from settlements along

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4578-572: The Shawnee for months. Boone responded by leading a preemptive raid against the Shawnee across the Ohio River , and then by helping to successfully defend Boonesborough against a 10-day siege led by Blackfish, which began on September 7, 1778. After the siege, Captain Benjamin Logan and Colonel Richard Callaway —both of whom had nephews who were still captives surrendered by Boone—brought charges against Boone for his recent activities. In

4687-671: The Shawnee on August 7. On the way home from the campaign, Boone was hunting with his brother Ned when Shawnee shot and killed Ned, who resembled Daniel. The Shawnee beheaded Ned, believing him to be Daniel, and took the head as evidence that Daniel Boone had finally been slain. In 1781, Boone traveled to Richmond to take his seat in the legislature, but British dragoons under Banastre Tarleton captured Boone and several other legislators near Charlottesville . The British released Boone on parole several days later. During Boone's term, Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown in October 1781, but

4796-519: The Treaty of Camp Charlotte on October 19, 1774, that his tribe would no longer hunt or claim land south of the Ohio River in Kentucky. Notwithstanding this promise, the Shawnee viewed Boone and other settlers as invaders. On March 24, 1775, Boone and his party were only 15 miles (24 km) from their final destination of the Kentucky River when they camped for the night. Just before daybreak

4905-750: The United States following the Louisiana Purchase . He was appointed captain of the local militia. Because Boone's land grants from the Spanish government had been largely based on oral agreements, he again lost his land claims. In 1809, he petitioned Congress to restore his Spanish land claims, which was finally done in 1814. Boone sold most of this land to repay old Kentucky debts. When the War of 1812 came to Missouri, Boone's sons Daniel Morgan Boone and Nathan Boone took part, but by that time Boone

5014-536: The area is intended, over a period of decades, to recreate a forest that will allow visitors to view the crossing of the Gap on the Wilderness Road as travelers would have experienced it circa 1790. This section of the Wilderness Road is now a hiking trail, including an interpretive center about the road's history located on the Tennessee side. Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (November 2 [ O.S. October 22], 1734 – September 26, 1820)

5123-521: The attackers, the party buried the two men side by side. Boone founded Boonesborough along the Kentucky River ; other settlements, notably Harrodsburg , were also established at this time. Despite occasional Indian attacks, Boone brought his family and other settlers to Boonesborough on September 8, 1775. American Indians who were unhappy about the loss of Kentucky by treaties saw the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) as

5232-406: The autumn 1772. In 1773, Boone packed up his family and, with his brother Squire and a group of about 50 others, began the first attempt by British colonists to establish a settlement. Boone was still an obscure figure at the time; the most prominent member of the expedition was William Russell , a well-known Virginian and future brother-in-law of Patrick Henry . Another member of this expedition

5341-455: The brief war, which ended soon after Virginia's victory in the Battle of Point Pleasant in October 1774, the Shawnee relinquished their claims to Kentucky. Following Dunmore's War, Richard Henderson , a prominent judge from North Carolina, hired Boone to help establish a colony to be called Transylvania . Boone traveled to several Cherokee towns and invited them to a meeting, held at Sycamore Shoals in March 1775, where Henderson purchased

5450-424: The chaotic nature of land speculation in frontier Kentucky and Boone's poor business instincts. Frustrated with the legal hassles that went with land speculation, in 1789 Boone moved upriver to Point Pleasant , Virginia (now West Virginia ). There he operated a trading post and occasionally worked as a surveyor's assistant. That same year, when Virginia created Kanawha County , Boone became the lieutenant colonel of

5559-405: The circumstances of their deaths. Charles's body was found by the pioneers 40 miles from the abduction site, dead from a blow to the head. The brutality of the killings sent shockwaves along the frontier, and Boone's party abandoned their expedition. The attack was one of the first events in what became known as Dunmore's War , a struggle between Virginia and American Indians for control of what

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5668-459: The colonies to escape the poor harvest, high rents and religious intolerance of Ulster. Since the better lands had already been taken, they constantly pressed onward to the western frontier of the foothills of the Carolinas. The flood of Scots-Irish, German, and others immigrants kept coming. Over 200,000 pioneers came over the Wilderness Road, enduring severe hardships. In the winter of 1778–79,

5777-406: The country of Kentucky. Years before entering Kentucky , Boone had heard about the region's fertile land and abundant game. In 1767, Boone and his brother Squire first crossed into what became the state of Kentucky, but they failed to reach the rich hunting grounds. In May 1769, Boone set out again with a party of five others—including John Findley, who first told Boone of the Cumberland Gap —on

5886-564: The county militia. In 1791, he was elected to the Virginia legislature for the third time. He contracted to provide supplies for the Kanawha militia, but his debts prevented him from buying goods on credit, so he closed his store and returned to hunting and trapping, though he was often hampered by rheumatism . In 1795, Boone and his wife moved back to Kentucky, living on land owned by their son Daniel Morgan Boone in what became Nicholas County . The next year, Boone applied to Isaac Shelby ,

5995-520: The fall of 1784 along the Wilderness Road. Many families, even in ice and snow, crossed the creeks and rivers without shoes or stockings; they often had no money and few clothes. They lived off the land by hunting in the woods and by fishing in the streams. Since they had hardly any money, entire families sometimes walked hundreds of miles after landing in America. They even used cattle as pack animals to carry their heavy loads. Cabins were built and land

6104-662: The fighting continued in Kentucky. Boone returned to Kentucky and in August 1782 fought in the Battle of Blue Licks , a disastrous defeat for the Kentuckians in which Boone's son Israel was killed. In November 1782, Boone took part in another Clark-led expedition into Ohio, the last major campaign of the war. After the Revolutionary War ended, Boone resettled in Limestone (later renamed Maysville, Kentucky ), then

6213-561: The first English-speaking settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains . By the end of the 18th century, more than 200,000 people had entered Kentucky by following the route marked by Boone. He served as a militia officer during the Revolutionary War (1775–1783), which in Kentucky was fought primarily between American settlers and British-allied Indians. Boone was taken in by Shawnees in 1778 and adopted into

6322-408: The first governor of the new state of Kentucky, for a contract to widen the Wilderness Road into a wagon route, but the contract was awarded to someone else. Meanwhile, lawsuits over conflicting land claims continued to make their way through the Kentucky courts. Boone's remaining land claims were sold off to pay legal fees and taxes, but he no longer paid attention to the process. In 1798, a warrant

6431-499: The following spring. Boone did not have an opportunity to tell his men that he was bluffing to prevent an immediate attack on Boonesborough. Boone pursued this strategy so convincingly some of his men concluded he had switched sides, an impression that led to his court-martial (see below). Many of the Shawnee wanted to execute the prisoners in retaliation for the recent murder of Shawnee Chief Cornstalk by Virginia militiamen. Because Shawnee chiefs led by seeking consensus, Blackfish held

6540-507: The future president. Rather than remain in Boonesborough, Boone founded the nearby settlement of Boone's Station . He began earning money by locating good land for other settlers. Transylvania land claims had been invalidated after Virginia created Kentucky County, so settlers needed to file new land claims with Virginia. In 1780, Boone collected about $ 20,000 in cash (equivalent to $ 330,000 in 2023 ) from various settlers and traveled to Williamsburg to purchase their land warrants. While he

6649-462: The girls do the spelling and Dan will do the shooting." Boone was tutored by family members, though his spelling remained unorthodox. Historian John Mack Faragher cautions that the folk image of Boone as semiliterate is misleading, arguing that Boone "acquired a level of literacy that was the equal of most men of his times." Boone regularly took reading material with him on his hunting expeditions—the Bible and Gulliver's Travels were favorites. He

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6758-417: The girls north toward the Shawnee towns in the Ohio country. Boone and a group of men from Boonesborough set out in pursuit, finally catching up with them two days later. Boone and his men ambushed the Indians, rescuing the girls and driving off their captors. The incident became the most celebrated event of Boone's life. James Fenimore Cooper created a version of this episode in his classic novel The Last of

6867-483: The leaves and undergrowth and were a danger to the pioneers, their horses and cattle. Judge Richard Henderson had made a treaty with the Cherokee at Sycamore Shoals in 1775, purchasing over 20,000,000 acres (8,100,000 ha) of land between the Cumberland and Kentucky Rivers. On March 28, 1775, he left Long Island (Kingsport, Tennessee) with about 30 horsemen on the grueling trip down the Wilderness Road to Kentucky. At Martin's Station 40 to 50 additional pioneers joined

6976-525: The main road but high water alternate paths. Further claims were made that the Wilderness Trail was improved after General George Rogers Clark landed at the Falls of the Ohio which would facilitate the movement of troops and supplies as well as settlers. In 1784 Filson, also an historian, wrote The Discovery, Settlement and present State of Kentucke and an Essay towards the Topography, and Natural History of that important Country . Reuben Thomas Durrett indicates there are inaccuracies as well. Because of

7085-464: The market and the home. Hemlock was also highly valued for its many uses. The Wilderness Road served as a great path of commerce for the early settlers in Kentucky, as well as for wagon-loads of slaves being transported through Tennessee to plantations in Mississippi and Louisiana . Horses, cattle, sheep and hogs herded in the other direction found waiting markets in the Carolinas, Maryland and Virginia. Hogs in groups of 500 or more were driven down

7194-469: The mid-1830s, were near Jemima (Boone) Callaway's home on Tuque Creek , about two miles (3 km) from present-day Marthasville, Missouri . In 1845, the Boones' remains were disinterred and reburied in a new cemetery in Frankfort, Kentucky . Resentment in Missouri about the disinterment grew over the years, and a legend arose that Boone's remains never left Missouri. According to this story, Boone's tombstone in Missouri had been inadvertently placed over

7303-457: The mountains were those of Abraham Wood , which began around 1650. Later, Wood sent exploring parties into the mountains. The Batts-Fallam expedition reached the New River Valley in 1671. In 1673, Wood sent Gabriel Arthur and James Needham to the Overhill Cherokee of modern Tennessee . The purpose was to try to make direct contact with the Cherokee for trade, so as to circumvent the Ocaneechee "middlemen" traders. The expedition did reach

7412-593: The prisoners to replace fallen warriors. Boone was adopted into a Shawnee family at Chillicothe, perhaps into Blackfish's family, and given the name Sheltowee (Big Turtle). In March 1778, the Shawnee took the unadopted prisoners to Governor Hamilton in Detroit . Blackfish brought Boone along, though he refused Hamilton's offers to release Boone to the British. Hamilton gave Boone gifts, attempting to win his loyalty, while Boone continued to pretend that he intended to surrender Boonesborough. Boone returned with Blackfish to Chillicothe. On June 16, 1778, when he learned Blackfish

7521-416: The region had been debating what to do about the influx of settlers. This group had decided, in the words of Faragher, "to send a message of their opposition to settlement". James Boone and William Russell's son, Henry, were tortured and killed. Charles was captured. Adam witnessed the horror concealed in riverbank driftwood. After wandering in the woods for 11 days, Adam located the group and informed Boone of

7630-406: The road to new settlements. Hundreds of pioneers were killed by Indian attacks. Defensive log blockhouses built alongside the road had portholes in the walls for firing at Native American attackers. They were often called "stations". No one knew exactly when the next attack would happen. The Shawnee came from the north, while the Chickamauga (Cherokees who rejected the land sale treaty) came from

7739-407: The similarity of his painting to the well-known portraits by Chester Harding . Some historians believe Boone visited his brother Squire near Kentucky in 1810 and have accepted the veracity of Audubon's account. Boone spent his final years in Missouri, often in the company of children and grandchildren. He continued to hunt and trap as much as his health and energy levels permitted, intruding upon

7848-595: The skull of an African American. Black slaves were also buried at Tuque Creek, so it is possible that the wrong remains were mistakenly removed from the crowded graveyard. Both the Frankfort Cemetery in Kentucky and the Old Bryan Farm graveyard in Missouri claim to have Boone's remains. Many heroic actions and chivalrous adventures are related of me which exist only in the regions of fancy. With me

7957-623: The south. The tribes were resentful of the settlers taking their ancestral hunting lands, and the French and Indian War had further stirred up their passions against the white man. There was a great variety of animal life in the wilderness. At night, the pioneers could hear the hoots and screeches of owls , the howls of wolves , and the cries of panthers and wild cats. Sometimes the Native Americans imitated these sounds. Venomous snakes such as copperheads and rattlesnakes blended into

8066-511: The sparsely populated region, did not enforce the official requirement that all immigrants be Catholic . The Spanish governor appointed Boone " syndic " (judge and jury) and commandant (military leader) of the Femme Osage district. Anecdotes of Boone's tenure as syndic suggest he sought to render fair judgments rather than strictly observe the letter of the law. Boone served as syndic and commandant until 1804, when Missouri became part of

8175-424: The subject of many heroic tall tales and works of fiction. His adventures—real and legendary—helped create the archetypal frontier hero of American folklore. In American popular culture, Boone is remembered as one of the foremost early frontiersmen, even though mythology often overshadows the historical details of his life. Boone was born on October 22, 1734 ( "New Style" November 2), the sixth of eleven children in

8284-690: The territory of the Osage tribe , who once captured him and confiscated his furs. In 1810, at the age of 76, he went with a group on a six-month hunt up the Missouri River , reportedly as far as the Yellowstone River , a round trip of more than 2,000 miles. He began one of his final trapping expeditions in 1815, in the company of a Shawnee and Derry Coburn, a slave who was frequently with Boone in his final years. They reached Fort Osage in 1816, where an officer wrote, "We have been honored by

8393-609: The threat of Native American attacks, the road was so dangerous that most pioneers traveled well armed. Robbers and criminals also could be found on the road, ready to pounce on weaker pioneers. Although the Transylvania Company had purchased the region from the Cherokee, and the Iroquois had ceded it at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix , other tribes, such as the Shawnee, still claimed it and lived there. Often entire communities and church congregations would move together over

8502-404: The town of Cumberland Gap, Tennessee to Middlesboro, Kentucky through the mountain pass was paved and completed on October 3, 1908. This was an "object-lesson" road (a new kind of paved macadam construction funded by local communities but with federal governmental supervision) initiated by the U.S. Office of Public Roads. At that time, only about 680 miles (1,090 km) of paved roads existed in

8611-530: The trails as well as getting their mail and newspapers. Use of the Wilderness Road fell when the National Road was opened in 1818, allowing travel to the Ohio River on more level ground from the East. The Panic of 1837 , geology and new railroad technology doomed the James River Canal , once envisioned as augmenting this commercial route. At the same time, the steamboat first appeared on

8720-619: The tribe, but he resigned and continued to help protect the Kentucky settlements. He also left due to the Shawnee Indians torturing and killing one of his sons. He was elected to the first of his three terms in the Virginia General Assembly during the war and fought in the Battle of Blue Licks in 1782, one of the last battles of the American Revolution. He worked as a surveyor and merchant after

8829-439: The venture. On their way, they met nearly a hundred refugees fleeing Native American attacks further down the road. Despite the danger, the party kept going toward Kentucky. Since some of the streams were flooded, the pioneers had to swim with their horses. On April 20, they arrived at Boonesborough, a fortified town, named by Judge Henderson in honor of Boone. After 1770, a surge of over 400,000 Scots-Irish immigrants arrived in

8938-532: The war, but went deep into debt as a Kentucky land speculator. He resettled in Missouri in 1799, where he spent most of the last two decades of his life, frustrated with legal problems resulting from his land claims. Boone remains an iconic, if imperfectly remembered, figure in American history. He was a legend in his own lifetime, especially after an account of his adventures was published in 1784, making him famous in America and Europe. After his death, he became

9047-601: The war. Southern troops used the road for marches into Virginia. General Ulysses S. Grant came down the road for the Union campaign in Tennessee in 1864. Grant was so taken by the Road that he said, "With two brigades of the Army of the Cumberland I could hold that pass against the army which Napoleon led to Moscow ." A segment of the Wilderness Road was among the first roads in the United States to be paved. The old road from

9156-643: The weather was so cold that the Kentucky River froze to a depth of two feet. The frontier settlements alongside the road struggled to survive. Many of the cattle and hogs froze to death. The settlers had to eat frozen cattle and horses to survive. Often the Chickamauga, under the leadership of Dragging Canoe , would hide in ambush for weeks between Cumberland Gap and Crab Orchard , a distance of 100 miles (160 km). They would not attack large groups but wait for weaker ones who were not able to defend themselves. More than 100 men, women and children were killed in

9265-408: The western frontiers of Virginia, so-called because of the long time they spent away from home on hunts in the wilderness. Boone would sometimes be gone for months and even years before returning home from his hunting expeditions. Boone recommended three essentials for a pioneer: "A good gun, a good horse, and a good wife." He also would need a strong body, a sharp ax and good luck. Another essential

9374-587: The wilderness lasting weeks or months. Boone went alone or with a small group of men, accumulating hundreds of deer skins in the autumn, and trapping beaver and otter over the winter. When the long hunters returned in the spring, they sold their take to commercial fur traders. On their journeys, frontiersmen often carved messages on trees or wrote their names on cave walls, and Boone's name or initials have been found in many places. A tree in Washington County, Tennessee reads "D. Boon Cilled a. Bar on tree in

9483-581: The words "lick" or "licking". Starting on March 10, 1775, Boone, along with 35 axmen, cut a trail from Long Island in Kingsport, Tennessee through the forests and mountains to Kentucky. It was a rough mud trail, hardly more than a path. The Transylvania Company had obtained title to Kentucky from the Cherokee and Iroquois , and even the Shawnee chief Cornstalk , defeated in Dunmore's War , had promised at

9592-495: The world has taken great liberties, and yet I have been but a common man. Daniel Boone remains an iconic figure in American history, although his status as an early American folk hero and later as a subject of fiction has tended to obscure the actual details of his life. He emerged as a legend in large part because of John Filson 's "The Adventures of Colonel Daniel Boon", part of his book The Discovery, Settlement and present State of Kentucke . First published in 1784, Filson's book

9701-439: The wrong grave, but no one had corrected the error—and that Boone's Missouri relatives, displeased with the Kentuckians who came to exhume Boone, kept quiet about the mistake and allowed the Kentuckians to dig up the wrong remains. No contemporary evidence indicates this actually happened, but in 1983, a forensic anthropologist examined a crude plaster cast of Boone's skull made before the Kentucky reburial and announced it might be

9810-560: The year 1760". A similar carving is preserved in the museum of the Filson Historical Society in Louisville, Kentucky which reads "D. Boon Kilt a Bar, 1803." The inscriptions may be genuine, or part of a long tradition of phony Boone relics. According to a popular story, Boone returned home after a long absence to find that Rebecca had given birth to a daughter. Rebecca confessed that she had thought that Daniel

9919-533: Was salt . Before 1776, it had to be shipped into the Thirteen Colonies from the West Indies at great expense. It was the only meat preservative available for men on the move and Kentucky had an extra lure with its large salt brine lakes near what is today the community of Boonesborough, Kentucky . The many " salt licks " of Kentucky are today reflected in the many place names in the state that use

10028-480: Was Boone's friend and fellow long-hunter, Michael Stoner. Included in this group were an unknown number of enslaved Blacks, including Charles and Adam. On October 9, Boone's oldest son, James, several Whites and Charles and Adam left the main party to seek provisions in a nearby settlement. They were attacked by a band of Delawares , Shawnee, and Cherokees. Following the Fort Stanwix treaty, American Indians in

10137-478: Was about to return to Boonesborough with a large force, Boone eluded his captors and raced home, covering the 160 miles (260 km) to Boonesborough in five days on horseback and, after his horse gave out, the majority on foot. Biographer Robert Morgan calls Boone's escape and return "one of the great legends of frontier history." Upon Boone's return to Boonesborough, some of the men expressed doubts about Boone's loyalty, since he had apparently lived happily among

10246-502: Was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky , which was then beyond the western borders of the Thirteen Colonies . In 1775, Boone founded the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap and into Kentucky, in the face of resistance from Native Americans . He founded Boonesborough , one of

10355-514: Was authentic. Often reprinted, Filson's book established Boone as one of the first popular heroes of the United States. Timothy Flint also interviewed Boone, and his Biographical Memoir of Daniel Boone, the First Settler of Kentucky (1833) became one of the best-selling biographies of the 19th century. Flint embellished Boone's adventures, doing for Boone what Parson Weems did for George Washington . In Flint's book, Boone fought with

10464-460: Was born. Boone spent his early years on the Pennsylvania frontier, often interacting with American Indians . Boone learned to hunt from local settlers and Indians; by the age of fifteen, he had a reputation as one of the region's best hunters. Many stories about Boone emphasize his hunting skills. In one tale, the young Boone was hunting in the woods with some other boys when the howl of

10573-440: Was built to protect settlers in the area and named Logan's Fort . From there the trail went to the area that became Danville (1783) originally named Crow's Station in 1774, what would become Springfield (1793), Harrodsburg referred to as Harrod's Town or Oldtown and founded by James Harrod on June 16, 1774, abandoned and resettled in 1775, Bardstown (settled in 1780), Shepherdsville (founded as Bullitt's Lick in 1773), and

10682-448: Was captured by Blackfish's warriors. Because Boone's party was greatly outnumbered, Boone returned to camp the next day with Blackfish and persuaded his men to surrender rather than put up a fight. Blackfish intended to move on to Boonesborough and capture it, but Boone argued the women and children would not survive a winter trek as prisoners back to the Shawnee villages. Instead, Boone promised that Boonesborough would surrender willingly

10791-420: Was cleared of trees and undergrowth so crops could be planted. Chestnut was the most popular wood since its logs could be used to build cabins and rail fences to protect crops from wild animals. It could easily be split into shingles for roofs to cover cabins and barns. Its bark was used to make medicine and tannic acid for tanning and dyeing. In the fall, its rich nuts were used to fatten razorback hogs for

10900-420: Was dead, and that his brother had fathered the child. Boone did not blame Rebecca, and raised the girl as his own child. Boone's early biographers knew the story but did not publish it. Modern biographers regard the tale as possibly folklore, since the identity of the brother and the daughter vary in different versions of the tale. In the mid-1760s, Boone began to look for a new place to settle. The population

11009-431: Was growing in the Yadkin Valley, which reduced the amount of game available for hunting. He had difficulty making ends meet, and was often taken to court for nonpayment of debts. He sold what land he owned to pay off creditors. After his father's death in 1765, Boone traveled with a group of men to Florida, which had become British territory after the end of the war, to look into the possibility of settling there. According to

11118-474: Was issued for Boone's arrest after he ignored a summons to testify in a court case, although the sheriff never found him. That same year, the Kentucky assembly named Boone County in his honor. Having endured legal and financial setbacks, Boone sought to make a fresh start by leaving the United States. In 1799, he moved his extended family to what is now St. Charles County , Missouri, then part of Spanish Louisiana . The Spanish, eager to promote settlement in

11227-433: Was much too old for militia duty. Although Boone reportedly vowed never to return to Kentucky after moving to Missouri, stories (possibly folk tales) were told of him making one last visit to Kentucky to pay off his creditors. American painter John James Audubon claimed to have gone hunting with Boone in Kentucky around 1810. Years later, Audubon painted a portrait of Boone, supposedly from memory, although skeptics noted

11336-401: Was often the only literate person in groups of frontiersmen, and would sometimes entertain his hunting companions by reading to them around the campfire. I can't say as ever I was lost, but I was bewildered once for three days. —Daniel Boone The French and Indian War (1754–1763) broke out between the French and the British, along with their respective Indian allies, and Boone joined

11445-467: Was originally known as Skaggs' Trace, named after the longhunter Henry Skaggs . The trace began just outside Hazel Patch, in present-day Laurel County , and continued to Crab Orchard . In 1775 Benjamin Logan 's party, that included John Floyd , split with Daniel Boone's party and turned westward on Skaggs Trace. The trail went through the Crab Orchard approximately 10 miles where a Blockhouse

11554-402: Was primarily intended to popularize Kentucky to immigrants. It was translated into French and German, and made Boone famous in America and Europe. Based on interviews with Boone, Filson's book contained a mostly factual account of Boone's adventures from the exploration of Kentucky through the American Revolution, although many have doubted if the florid, philosophical dialogue attributed to Boone

11663-612: Was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the Fayette County militia. In April 1781, he was elected as a representative to the Virginia General Assembly , which was held in Richmond. In 1782, he was elected sheriff of Fayette County. Meanwhile, the American Revolutionary War continued. Boone joined General George Rogers Clark 's invasion of the Ohio country in 1780, fighting in the Battle of Piqua against

11772-505: Was sleeping in a tavern during the trip, the cash was stolen from his room. Some of the settlers forgave Boone the loss; others insisted he repay the stolen money, which took him several years to do. In contrast to the later folk image of Boone as a backwoodsman who had little affinity for "civilized" society, Boone was a leading citizen of Kentucky at this time. When Kentucky was divided into three Virginia counties in November 1780, Boone

11881-629: Was the last time Boone saw military action. Boone was initially prosperous in Limestone, owning seven slaves , a relatively large number for Kentucky at the time. In 1786, he purchased a Pennsylvania enslaved woman, age of about 20, for "Ninety poundes Current Lawfull (sic) money." A leader, he served as militia colonel, sheriff, and county coroner. In 1787, he was again elected to the Virginia state assembly, this time from Bourbon County . He began to have financial troubles after engaging in land speculation, buying and selling claims to tens of thousands of acres. These ventures ultimately failed because of

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