Daniel Boone(1734 — 1820)
Daniel Boone
États-Unis
6 min read
Daniel Boone (1734-1820) was an American pioneer, trapper, and explorer, an iconic figure of the conquest of the West. In 1775 he blazed the Wilderness Road through the Appalachians and founded Boonesborough, in present-day Kentucky.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Born in 1734 in Pennsylvania into a family of Quaker settlers of English descent.
- In 1775, blazed the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap for the Transylvania Company.
- Founded Boonesborough that same year (1775), one of the first colonial settlements in Kentucky.
- Captured in 1778 by the Shawnee during the War of Independence, he was adopted and then escaped to defend Boonesborough.
- Died in 1820 in Missouri; his legend was popularized during his own lifetime and became an American national myth.
Works & Achievements
Blazing of a trail through the Cumberland Gap connecting Virginia to Kentucky. This route opened the way for hundreds of thousands of settlers heading West.
Establishment of one of the first American settlements in Kentucky, which became an anchor point for the colonization of the region.
Successful resistance against the Shawnee and their British allies over the course of about ten days, saving the settlement during the War of Independence.
Long hunting and scouting expeditions that introduced the fertile lands of Kentucky to settlers in the East.
A first-person narrative, actually written by Filson, which turned Boone into a legendary figure of the American frontier.
Anecdotes
In 1778, Daniel Boone was captured by the Shawnee while gathering salt at Blue Licks. Chief Blackfish adopted him, renamed him "Sheltowee
(Big Turtle)
and brought him into his family. Boone played along for months before escaping
covering nearly 250 km in four days to warn Boonesborough of an imminent attack.
In 1776, his daughter Jemima and two other teenage girls were kidnapped by a band of Shawnee and Cherokee warriors near Boonesborough. Boone led the pursuit and freed them two days later. The episode left such a strong impression that it later inspired a famous scene in James Fenimore Cooper's novel *The Last of the Mohicans*.
Contrary to the image popularized later on, Boone hated the raccoon-skin cap often attributed to him. He preferred to wear a beaver felt hat, which he considered more dignified and more practical. The coonskin cap is an invention of later shows and tales.
Boone's fame exploded in 1784 thanks to John Filson's book, which published a first-person account of his adventures. Heavily romanticized, this text turned the very real frontiersman into an almost legendary national hero, read as far away as Europe.
Toward the end of his life, ruined by improperly recorded land titles in Kentucky, Boone lost most of his property. Disheartened, he settled in Missouri, then a Spanish territory, where he was given a post as a local judge despite his little taste for paperwork.
Primary Sources
“Curiosity is natural to the soul of man, and interesting objects have a powerful influence on our affections.” Written in the first person in Boone's name, the narrative recounts his arrival in Kentucky and the founding of Boonesborough.
Richard Henderson purchases from the Cherokee a vast territory between the Kentucky and Cumberland rivers; Boone is tasked with clearing a road and establishing a settlement there.
A nineteenth-century collection of interviews and documents bringing together the recollections of the Boone family and their contemporaries about life on the Kentucky frontier.
Key Places
Boone's birthplace, within a Quaker community on the colonial frontier.
Natural pass through the Appalachians that Boone used to reach Kentucky; a key point along the Wilderness Road.
Fortified settlement founded by Boone in 1775 on the Kentucky River, besieged by the Shawnee in 1778.
Salt spring where Boone was captured in 1778 and the site of the bloody 1782 battle in which his son Israel was killed.
Region where Boone spent his final years near his family and where he died in 1820.
