Nihkwe
(‘Welcome’ in Shawnee language)
..Hunter…Soldier…Husband…
…..Trapper…..Thief….Trailblazer…
..Coroner….Land Speculator…Sheriff…
Slave Owner…Horse Trader…Tracker…
..Wagon Driver…Blacksmith….Father…
…Murderer…Explorer…Surveyor…
…Criminal…..Teamster…Quaker…
…Indian Killer...Storyteller…Poacher..
…General Assemblyman……
…Grandfather…..Traitor…Folk Hero..
…Prisoner of War…..Bear Killer…
..Tavern Keeper…..Backwoodsman…
…Politician…..Christian…
…Avenger…..Frontiersman…
…Adopted Son of Shawnee…
By Chester Harding, 1820
Who was Daniel Boone?
He’s been called all of the above names, and probably a lot more.
Daniel Boone was born 6th of 11 children in 1734 in Berks County, Pennsylvania; into a Quaker family. They all lived in an 1 room cabin. America was a British colony at that time.
Frontier Culture Museum, Staunton, Virginia
Example of 1 room cabin
He had little formal education, but was taught by siblings how to read and write.
His family was content to have him learn how to hunt and trap from local settlers and Indians*.
By the age of 15 he was known as the region’s best hunter.
Berks County, Pennsylvania
In 1750 his family moved to North Carolina, leaving the Quaker faith at the same time. (2 of his siblings had married outside of the Quaker community, causing the Boones to be kicked out).
Cree Indians, North Carolina, 1895
In 1754 the French & Indian War broke out between the French and the British with Indian allies on both sides. It would continue to 1763, with the British winning substantial territory. Daniel joined the North Carolina militia (British). In 1755 there was a significant battle called the Battle of Monongahela where the British were soundly defeated. Daniel returned home and in 1756 he married neighbor Rebecca Bryan.
Artist unknown
*while the current politically correct term is indigenous people, or First Americans, during Daniel Boone’s time period it was ‘Indian’. I have chosen to use the term he would have used.
Daniel and Rebecca had 10 children:
1756 Levina
1757 James
1759 Israel
1760 Susannah
1762 Jemima
1768 Rebecca
1769 Daniel Morgan
1773 Jesse Bryan
1775 William
1781 Nathan
In addition, they raised 8 children orphaned from other relatives.
Wow. That’s a lot of kids!
Friend’s magazine
Daniel Boone continued to support his family by hunting and trapping. He would go on ‘long hunts’ which were extended trips that lasted for weeks or months at a time. He would go alone or with a small group of men, following bison migration trails. He would return with deer skins, and beaver and otter pelts to sell to fur traders.
Side note:
He never wore a ‘coon cap’ and in fact disliked them and thought they were uncomfortable. He DID wear caps made from beaver.
During this time the French & Indian War brought a lot of anxiety and uncertainty, not to mention danger. He brought his family to the Yadkin Valley, North Carolina after peace was made with the Cherokee Indians. He continued hunting, trapping and land speculation. In 1769 a friend convinced him to go on a long hunt through the Cumberland Gap.
Pinnacle Overlook, Cumberland National Park; photo cred: Jessica N. Reynolds
That same year Henderson and Company hired Daniel to explore the Bluegrass Region of Kentucky.
In 1773 he pulled up stakes, sold his land to pay debts, and moved his family to Kentucky to establish a settlement.
Overlooking the Kentucky River
In the Fall of 1773 Daniel Boone’s first-born son, James (age 16) was leading a small party of settlers and slaves to meet up with a main group on their way to the main encampment of settlers. They were attacked by a mixed party of Cherokee and Shawnee (and possibly Delaware) and all but 3 were brutally massacred. Ultimately only 2 survived to tell of the ordeal.
“I Think We Have Company”; artist: Robert Griffing
Cherokee/Delaware Indian
In 1775 Daniel started leading settlers through The Wilderness Road that ran through the Cumberland Gap into the region of future Kentucky.
He was not the first to ‘discover’ or use the Cumberland Gap, but he made it popular by guiding settlers through it.
That same year Daniel built Fort Boonesborough, the 1st fortified settlement in Kentucky of English speaking peoples, west of the Appalachian Mountains.
Although unrest had been building for several years, the Revolutionary War broke out in 1775 and would last until 1783, with American colonists fighting for independence and what they considered unfair taxation from Great Britain.
`]Daniel Boone became a militia officer for the colonists. History repeats with different Indian tribes siding with one or the other of the primary combatants, depending on what was promised to them.
War Chief Dragging Canoe, Southern Cherokee, Revolutionary War
Artist: David Wagonner
In 1776 Daniel’s daughter, 13 year old Jemima, decided to take a break from camp with a couple of friends. Together with the Calloway sisters, aged 16 and 14, she ‘borrowed’ a canoe and went floating down the river. They were kidnapped by a group of Cherokee/Shawnee Indians. 3 days later Daniel Boone and a party of rescuers caught up with the kidnapping Indian party and returned the girls home safely.
The Abduction of Daniel Boone’s Daughter by Indians
Artist: Charles Wimar, 1855
This incident became the basis for James Fenimore Cooper’s fiction novel “The Last of the Mohicans”, 1826. It also became a popular subject for paintings and illustrations.
The Life of Daniel Boone by Cecil Hartley, 1865
In early 1778 Daniel Boone and a party of men were gathering salt at a place called Blue Licks. Daniel was captured by a party of Shawnee Indians and British militia. He learned they were on their way to attack the Fort. Daniel devised a plan where he promised the war party he and the salt gatherers would give up peacefully to the Shawnee, declare allegiance to King George, and Daniel would lead the Shawnee in the Spring to capture Fort Boonesborough.
Back at the Fort news of the capture spread. After many months and hearing nothing of the men, it was assumed all had died. Many families, including Rebecca and the children, relocated back to North Carolina.
Movie Poster
Later one of the kidnapped salt gathering men escaped and made it back to the Fort, convincing those there that Daniel was colluding with the British and had turned traitor, according to what he had seen and heard in the Indian encampment.
Apparently Daniel was a good actor.
Photograph of a Shawnee warrior
He was promoted to an officer in the Virginia militia, helping defend Fort Boonesborough against overwhelming numbers of enemy attackers. Afterwards
Daniel reunited with his family, and the Boones moved to Missouri.
Daniel continued to fight as a militia officer; hunted and trapped to help support his family, and dealt with land permits and purchases. Once, on his way to purchase land permits with money from settlers, he was robbed. Many settlers demanded that Daniel repay them their lost $$, and when he couldn’t some even sued him. During this time he also lost several members of his family, both close and extended.
In 1780 his 5 year old son, William, became ill and died while out on the trail with the family. Another son and a nephew were killed in the Battle of Blue Licks, Revolutionary War; with a couple of his brothers killed there as well. His last child, Nathan, was born in 1781.
The Paris Peace Treaty of 1783 ended the Revolutionary War with the American colonists achieving independence from Great Britain.
After their loss, the British abandoned their Indian allies to their own fate. Shawnee/Cherokee Chief Tecumseh continued his fight against the encroaching white settlers.
‘These lands are ours. No one has the right to remove us. The Master of Life has appointed this place for us to light our fires and here we shall remain.’
- Chief Tecumseh
Chief Tecumseh was killed in the War of 1812. This effectively ended any attempts of uniting Indian tribes together against the white settlers. Almost all tribes were then relocated to reservations on extremely limited lands in harsh conditions.
Shawnee/Cherokee Chief Tecumseh
1784 saw the publication of John Filson’s book about Daniel Boone. The folk hero was born.
“Many heroic actions and chivalrous adventures are related of me which exist only in the regions of fancy.”
- Daniel Boone
After all, he was Sheltowee - Big Turtle.
John Two Moons, Northern Cheyenne
In the next few years Daniel tried many different occupations to support his large family. Hunting and trapping were harder to do with the influx of more and more people. Daniel was a tavern owner, land surveyor, horse trader, land speculator, and county coroner.
The problem was, he wasn’t very good at any of them.
Movie Poster
1795 saw the Treaty of Greenville end the Northwest Indian War. After two decades or so of vicious attacks and counter-attacks by all sides, enmity was put to rest. Maybe. Britain was worried about land in the north (Canada), Indians were rapidly losing tribal lands and hunting grounds and more and more settlers were pouring into the area wanting their very own slice of heaven.
Daniel Boone moved his family to Missouri, again. Things were getting crowded. He had tried three terms as an assemblyman, and tried his hand at being a sheriff. All he really wanted to do was hunt and trap.
In 1813 his wife Rebecca Bryan Boone died.
There are no images of her. She was born into a Quaker family and most likely kept many of the simple Quaker traditions.
She was a true pioneer woman who raised 18 children, much of it by herself. From narratives by her children and neighbors she could equally skin a deer, chop firewood, grow flax and shear sheep to sew clothing and grow and maintain crops and a vegetable garden.
She was a true pioneer woman who raised 18 children, much of it by herself. From narratives by her children and neighbors she could equally skin a deer, chop firewood, grow flax and shear sheep to sew clothing and grow and maintain crops and a vegetable garden.
She was 75 years old when she died, and had been married for 56 years.
1830 Quaker woman’s dress and cloak.
He volunteered to fight in the War of 1812, at age 78. (He was rejected due to old age). Daniel was becoming crippled with arthritis, and hunting and trapping became more difficult. Not that that stopped him from going hunting.
He moved in with his son Nathan and daughter-in-law Olive.
Most likely a family photograph of Nathan Boone’s family
September 26, 1820 Daniel Boone passed away of natural causes, in son Nathan’s home. His legendary status as an American Folk Hero continued to grow.
Numerous books, poems, movies, TV series, paintings and stories grew his legacy to epic proportions.
Would he have approved?
I think he would have chuckled over the stories, told a few whoppers of his own to his grandchildren, and sat back and enjoyed the show.
He was, after all,
Daniel Boone.
‘Til next time,
inkspired
A few of the websites I visited while researching for this blog, in no particular order:
study.com
native-languages.org
libquotes.com
crimereads.com
Answers.com
Wikipedia
Californiasar.org
teachingAmericanhistory.org
ncdanielboonetrail.org
Pinterest
Tennesseeencyclopedia.net
Americanrevolutioninstitute.org
Biography.com
History.com
thefamouspeople.com
notablebiographies.com
Britannica.com
