Daniel Boone is one of the early American heros about whom there seems to be a lot of confusion. I have heard his name, and that of Davy Crockett, used inter-changeably.
An unscientific sample of young interns at the home office revealed that approximately 33% of young Americans can correctly identify the achievements of this pioneer.
Daniel Boone was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania in 1733, one year after the birth of George Washington.
At that time, Berks County was still a part of Lancaster County. It is hard to think that Pennsylvania was "crowded" by any modern meaning of the term, but settlements grew rapidly throughout the 18th century.
The city of Lancaster was laid out in 1734, when Boone was one year old, and the city of Reading (now the county seat of Berks County) was founded in 1748, when Boone was 15.
Boone had the true pioneer spirit -he wanted to go where no one had gone before.
From the Wiki:
"Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the U.S. state of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of the Thirteen Colonies. Despite resistance from American Indians, for whom Kentucky was a traditional hunting ground, in 1775 Boone blazed the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap and into Kentucky. There he founded Boonesborough, one of the first English-speaking settlements beyond the Appalachian Mountains. Before the end of the 18th century, more than 200,000 people entered Kentucky by following the route marked by Boone."
Here is a free-use photo from the Wiki site for Daniel Boone.
Boone spent most of his life defending the settlements of the "new frontier" beyond the Appalachian Mountains. During the American Revolution, numerous battles were fought in Kentucky where the British supported Indian guerrila warfare.
After the war, Boone went heavily into debt as the result of unsuccessful land speculation schemes, and he ended his life in Missouri.
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Here are two vintage postcards that describe the life of Daniel Boone.
A colored photograph of his birthplace, taken about 1910, and a colored photograph (circa 1925) of the Cumberland River which created the famous "Cumberland Gap".
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Here is a link to the painting by George Caleb Bingham, "Daniel Boone Escorting Settlers Through the Cumberland Gap" .
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Comments: 18
Unclear prose on my part, Stephanie.
It should read, "he ended his days".
He did not commit suicide.
Nice picture of the falls.
At the time of Boone's birth, Lancaster County was enormous -it was later carved into an additional four counties.
I know about him largely because I toured the Boone homestead (in the picture) when I was a child.
Thanks for the additional information on the Boone family.
Crockett was born in Tennessee, one of the areas settled by the waves of emigrants that had followed Boone from eastern states, and he was an American citizen at birth.
I'd read about both Boone and Crockett, over the years, but remember them from childhood TV shows best... sad, isn't it? Those shows were likely been nothing more than stealing a famous name, in terms of historical validity. "F Troop" was probably closer to factuality. (Spellcheck says that isn't a word, so I coined it.)
I think that the "unreality" of the TV treatments of pioneers contributes to the confusion about their lives and deeds.
Thanks for including the wiki-link. I checked it out and morbid as it may be, I found the story of Boone's supposed exhumation quite interesting. It brings to mind stories of the bones of saints and other religious icons that ancient peoples have often secretly exhumed and spirited away in the night. How befitting when you consider that Boone was a true icon of American history.