Today
Daniel Boone's indelible image in the minds of Americans is a mixture
of fact and legend. But this mingling of the real and the fictional is
not solely a result of the passage of time or of the liberties taken
in movies and television; it occurred even while Boone was alive. In
biographies, literature, and art, the frontiersman was subject to the
whims and personal agendas of writers and artists, rendering it
difficult to separate the man from the myth.
The myth, however, says much about Americans, in both the past and
present, as it embodies the cherished American characteristics of
rugged individualism and informality and the motif of the quest. These
themes are prevalent in popular narratives and images of Boone that
have appeared throughout the years.
Boone garnered international fame at age fifty, when his
"autobiography" appeared in John Filson's The Discovery, Settlement
and Present State of Kentucke . . . to Which is Added an Appendix,
Containing the Adventures of Col. Daniel Boon in 1784. The book sold
well domestically and was hugely popular in Europe. The next year,
John Trumbull of Connecticut published a shortened version of Filson's
book that was widely read in America.
Boone considered his nephew Daniel Bryan's 1813 book-length poem, The
Mountain Muse, a disaster of inaccuracy. The English romantic poet
Lord Byron portrayed the frontiersman as an example of Rousseau's
"natural man" in seven stanzas of the epic poem Don Juan in 1822.
James Fenimore Cooper probably modeled his fictional backwoods hero
Natty Bumppo on Boone; he certainly based some of the character's
adventures on episodes and exploits in Boone's life. Other biographers
variously depicted Boone as an instrument of God's plan for America, a
rabid Indian hater, or the ideal Christian, depending on their own
perspectives.
Daniel Boone's looks and mode of dress were brought to the public
consciousness by Chester Harding's famous full-length portrait. When
the
painting deteriorated, the artist cut out the head and pasted it onto
another background, so his original depiction of Boone's clothing was
lost.
Fortunately, James Otto Lewis had made an engraving based on Harding's
portrait accurately representing the fringed hunting shirt, leggings,
and
moccasins Boone favored.
But what about the hat? Lewis Correctly shows Boone with a beaver hat,
not
a coonskin cap. Boone himself considered that style of headwear
uncivilized. The misconception began when an actor who had helped
Lewis
sell the engravings was hired for a minstrel show called "The Hunters
of
Kentucky." Unable to find a beaver hat, he substituted a coonskin cap,
and
a myth was born.
Boone's presence in popular culture continued throughout the twentieth
century. Daniel C. Beard, founder of the Boy Scouts of America,
considered
calling the group the Sons of Daniel Boone. The frontier hero was
featured
in films, radio programs, and comic strips.
The Boone myth reached a media peak in the 1960's with the NBC
television
adventure series Daniel Boone (1964 - 1970), Fess Parker, who starred
as
Davy Crockett in movies, played Boone. Although the theme song for the
Boone show describes him as "the rippin'est, roarin'est, fightin'est
man the
frontier ever knew," these characteristics are more appropriately
associated
with Davy Crockett than with frontiersman Daniel Boone.
From
Silverman, Sharon
Hernes. Pennsylvania Trail of History Guide: Daniel Boone Homestead
(Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2000)*
|
Chronology |
|
1734
|
Daniel
Boone born in Exeter Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, October
22, Old Style (November 2, New Style) |
Scott New, portrayer
of Daniel Boone |
|
1744 |
Tends
family's cattle; often wanders through the woods. |
|
1747
|
Acquires first gun |
|
1748 |
Squire
Boone expelled from Exeter Friends Meeting |
|
1750 |
Boone
family leaves Pennsylvania |
|
1755 |
Family
settles in North Carolina on the Yadkin River |
|
1755 |
Boone
serves in Braddock's army during defeat near Pittsburgh in French
and Indian War |
|
1756 |
Marries
Rebecca Bryan August 14 |
|
1759 |
Cherokee raids force Boones out of
North Carolina. They move to Culpeper County, Virginia |
|
1760 |
First crosses the Blue Ridge during
winter hunt |
|
1761 |
Participates in campaigns against
the Cherokee |
|
1762 |
Boones return to North Carolina |
|
1765 |
Squire Boone dies; Boone explores
Florida, rejects moving there |
|
1766 |
Family moves up the Yadkin River |
|
1769 |
Leaves for long hunt May 1; captured
by Shawnee December 22 |
|
1771 |
Returns home to North Carolina;
plans to move to Kentucky |
|
1773 |
Attempts to settle Kentucky; son
James killed at Cumberland
Gap by an Indian attack October 9; settlers turn back |
|
1774 |
Sent by Virginia authorities to warn
Kentucky survey crew of impending war with Shawnee |
|
1775
|
For the Transylvania Company, leads
party blazing the Wilderness Road to Kentucky, March; founds
Boonesborough, May; brings family to Kentucky, September |
|
1776 |
Leads rescue of daughter, Jemima,
and Fanny and Betsy Callaway, from Shawnee, July |
|
1777 |
Wounded in the ankle during Shawnee
attack on Boonesborough, April
|
|
1778 |
Captured by Shawnee at Lower Blue
Licks February 8; adopted by Shawnee, March; escapes June 16;
siege of Boonesborough September 7-18;
Boone acquitted of charges of collaboration with British, October;
rejoins family in North Carolina |
|
1779 |
Leads settlers from North Carolina
to Kentucky, September;
establishes Boone's Station December 25 |
|
1781 |
Appointed Fayette County Coroner
April 7; represents Fayette County in Virginia legislature;
captured, then released, by British rangers;
returns to Exeter Township, Pennsylvania, to visit relatives |
|
1782 |
Son Israel killed in the Battle of
Blue Licks August 19
|
|
1784 |
John Filson's The Discovery;
Settlement and Present State of Kentucky ... Containing the
Adventures of Col. Daniel Boon published |
|
1786 |
Suffers lawsuits over land claims;
joins Ohio campaign against Shawnee, October |
|
1787 |
Mediates a prisoner exchange between
Americans and Shawnee August; joins Virginia assembly, October |
|
1788 |
Returns to Pennsylvania to visit
relatives; relocates to what is now West Virginia |
|
1791 |
Serves in Virginia legislature |
|
1792 |
Kentucky becomes fifteenth state,
June 1 |
|
1794 |
Testifies in land claims cases |
|
1795 |
Moves to what is now Nicholas
County, Kentucky |
|
1796 |
Official opening of Wilderness Road
October 15 |
|
1798 |
Refuses to testify in a lawsuit over
land claims; sheriff of Mason County, Kentucky, issues warrant for
his arrest; much of Boone's land
put up for sale |
|
1799 |
Moves to Femme Osage, Missouri |
|
1800 |
Receives appointments from Spanish
governor in Femme Osage territory
|
|
1802 |
Briefly captured by Osage during
spring hunt |
|
1804 |
Land holdings removed; Daniel and
Rebecca move to son Nathan's farm |
|
1807 |
Appointed justice of Femme Osage
township by Meriwether Lewis, governor of Louisiana Territory |
|
1809 |
Petitions Congress to reinstate
Spanish land titles |
|
1812 |
At age seventy-eight, volunteers for
War of 1812, but turned down |
|
1813 |
Rebecca Boone dies March 18 |
|
1815 |
Explores the upper Missouri |
|
1817 |
Goes on last long hunt |
|
1820 |
Dies September 26 |
Suggested
Reading
Bakeless, John. Daniel Boone:
Master of the Wilderness (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,
1989).
Draper, Lyman C. The Life of Daniel Boone (Mechanicsburg, PA:
Stackpole Books, 1999).*
Faragher, John Mack. Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American
Pioneer (New York: Henry Holt and Co.,1992).*
Pendleton, Phillip. Oley Valley Heritage (Kutztown: PA German
Society, 1994).*
Spraker, Ella Hazel. The Boone Family (Baltimore: Geneaological
Publishing Co., Inc., 1999).
Wallace, Paul A. W. Daniel Boone in Pennsylvania (Harrisburg, PA:
Pennsylvania Historical And Museum Commission,2002).*
Hammon, Neal O. and Taylor, Richard. Virginia's Western War, 1775-1786
(Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2002)*
Silverman, Sharon Hernes. Pennsylvania Trail of History Guide: Daniel
Boone Homestead (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2000)*
Lafaro, Michael A. Daniel Boone, An
American Life ( Lexington, Kentucky, The University Press of
Kentucky)
For the Younger
Reader
Streissguth, Tom. Daniel Boone (On
My Own Biography) (Minneapolis, MN, Lerner Publishing Group 2002)
Raphael, Elaine and Bolognese, Don.
Daniel Boone, Frontier Hero (Drawing America) (New York, NY,
Scholastic Inc. 1996)
Stevenson, Augusta. Daniel Boone,
Young Hunter and Tracker (Childhood of Famous Americans) (New
York, NY, Aladdin Paperbacks, 1986)*
Brandt, Keith. Daniel Boone,
Frontier Adventures (USA, Troll Associates, 2002)
Chambers, Catherine E. Daniel
Boone and the Wilderness Road (Adventures in Frontier America)
(USA, Troll Associates, 2001)
* These books are available in the Bookstore at the Daniel Boone
Homestead.
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