Daniel Boone became one of the first American folk heroes. His exploits as a forest worker were legendary. He was a skilled hunter, shooter and tracker. He led the exploration and settlement of Kentucky.
Daniel Boone Overview:
| Occupation | Pioneer and Explorer |
| Children | 10, including Jemima, Daniel, and Nathan |
| Born | October 22, 1734 in the colony of Pennsylvania |
| Died | September 26, 1820 in Missouri |
| Best known for | Exploring and settling the frontier of Kentucky |
Biography of Daniel Boone:
Where did Daniel Boone grow up?
Daniel was raised in a Quaker family in Pennsylvania. His father was a farmer and he had 11 brothers and sisters. Daniel worked hard on his father’s farm. By the age of five he was chopping wood, and by the age of ten he was tending his father’s cattle.
Daniel loved nature. He would do anything to avoid being locked up at home. He learned how to hunt small game by watching his father’s cattlemen and spot their tracks in the woods. He also befriended the native Delaware Indians. They taught him a lot about forest survival, including tracking, trapping, and hunting. Daniel soon began dressing like an Indian.
Learning to Hunt
Daniel got his first rifle when he was 13 years old. He had a natural talent for shooting, and he soon became his family’s main hunter. He often went hunting alone for days. He killed foxes, beavers, deer and wild turkeys.
Yadkin Valley
In 1751, the Boone family moved to Yadkin Valley, North Carolina. Daniel hunted enough animal hides for his family to purchase 3,000 acres of land. He won every competition he entered and became known as the best sniper in the country.
French-Indian War
The French-Indian War began in his 1754. This was a war between the British colonies and an alliance of French and Indians. Daniel enlisted in the British Army and worked as a supply truck driver and blacksmith. He took part in the Battle of Turtle Creek, where the Franco-Indian army easily defeated the British. Daniel managed to escape on horseback.
Getting Married
Daniel returned to North Carolina and married a girl named Rebecca. Together they will have ten children. Daniel met a man named John Findley and told him about Kentucky, a country west of the Appalachian Mountains.
Expeditions to Kentucky
In 1769 Daniel Boone made an expedition to Kentucky. He discovered the Cumberland Gap, a narrow passage through the Appalachians. Meanwhile, Daniel discovers a land that he believes to be paradise. He had arable pastures and plenty of game to hunt.
Daniel and his brother John stayed in Kentucky to hunt and trap furs and pelts. However, they were soon captured by the Shawnee Indians. The Shawnees had agreed with England that the lands west of Appalachia were theirs. They took Daniel’s pelts, weapons, and horses and told him never to return.
Boonesborough
In 1775 Daniel launched another expedition to Kentucky. He and a group of men helped build a road into Kentucky called His Trail in the Wilderness. They cut down trees and even built a small bridge for wagons to pass.
Daniel spent the next three years building the fort and establishing a settlement called Boonsboro. He brought his family there and settled there. But it wasn’t easy for Daniel and his family. The Indians didn’t want settlers on their land. They attacked the fortress regularly. Once Daniel’s daughter Jemima was kidnapped and Daniel had to rescue her. Daniel was also captured once, but he managed to escape.
Eventually, Boone and his family left Boonesboro. They lived in West Virginia for a while, but then moved to Missouri. Daniel enjoyed hunting and the forest until the end of his life.
Interesting Facts about Daniel Boone
Daniel probably never went to school. He learned to read and write at home. However, he loved to read and often took a book with him on his hikes.
When Daniel was just 14 years old, he found bear tracks near his father’s herd. He tracked down the bears and killed the first one.
Boone’s gun was said to be able to shoot ticks out of a bear’s nose, hence the nickname “Chicklicker”.
One of his nicknames was Great He’s a Boy He’s a Scout.
In 1784, a book was written about Daniel called The Adventures of Colonel Daniel Boone. It made him a folk hero (although his last name was misspelled).