Daniel Boone: famed Hunter, Pioneer & Explorer

American Minute ^ | September 26, 2019 | Bill Federer

[Perseverando]

Daniel Boone's Quaker family had pioneered North Carolina's Yadkin River Valley.

The Boone family lived four miles from Mordecai Lincoln, the great-great grandfather of Abraham Lincoln.

The sixth of eleven children, Daniel Boone was given his first rifle at age 12 and began to hunt and explore.

Boone once exclaimed:

"I can't say I was ever lost, but I was bewildered once for three days."

During the French and Indian War, 20-year-old Daniel Boone, and his cousin - future General Daniel Morgan, served as wagon drivers for the British in the Battle of Monongahela, July 9, 1755.

Also in that battle, 23-year-old George Washington served as a Colonel under British General Edward Braddock. Out of 1,400 British troops, 900 were killed.

In 1756, Daniel married Rebecca Bryan.

Together they had ten children, and had all of them baptized as Christians.

In 1765, at age 30, Daniel Boone explored British controlled western Florida. A family story is that he bought land around Pensacola, but his wife refused to move so far from her family.

In 1767, Boone began exploring Kentucky.

In 1769, he traveled through the Cumberland Gap in the mountains and spent two years hunting and trapping in eastern Kentucky with his friend, John Stewart.

Indians captured and separated them, Unfortunately, Boone later found John Stewart's body shot dead.

In 1773, Daniel Boone and Captain William Russell were ordered by Virginia's Governor, Lord Dunmore, to settle an area called Castle Woods.

Boone's 17-year-old son, James Boone, and Captain Russell's 17-year-old son, Henry Russell, were bringing supplies to Castle Woods when they were ambushed by Indians and brutally massacred.

[minnesota_bound]

I am bewildered as I have thought the indians were peace loving who were one with nature.