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Daniel Boone

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Visitors come here to hike, camp, picnic, rockclimb, boat, hunt, fish, ride, target shoot and relax. The forest contains three large lakes ( Cave Run Lake, Laurel River Lake and Lake Cumberland), many rivers and streams, Clifty Wilderness, Beaver Creek Wilderness, Red River Gorge and the Sheltowee Trace National Recreation Trail that extends across the length of the forest.

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Go on Britannica.com to learn more about Daniel Boone

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Daniel Boone, (born c. November 2, 1734, Berks county, Pennsylvania [U.S.]-died c. September 26, 1820, St. Charles county, Missouri, U.S.), early American frontiersman and legendary hero who helped blaze a trail through Cumberland Gap, a notch in the Appalachian Mountains near the juncture of Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky.

Boone had little formal schooling but learned to read and write. As a youth, he moved with his family (English Quakers) to the Yadkin River valley region on the North Carolina frontier. Most of his life was spent as a wandering hunter and trapper. He reached as far south as Florida and at least as far west as present-day Missouri and possibly Nebraska during his travels.

Many white people had traversed Kentucky before Boone; hence, the legend that he was its discoverer needs qualification. Boone first went a short way through Cumberland Gap to hunt in the fall of 1767, and he and several companions returned to Kentucky to trap and hunt in 1769-71. He returned to North Carolina with little material gain, but he had acquired considerable knowledge of the Kentucky and north-central Tennessee region in his explorations. In 1773 Boone undertook to lead his own and several other families to Kentucky, but the group was attacked by Cherokee Indians just beyond the last settlement. Two of the party, including Boone's son James, were captured, tortured, and murdered, whereupon the survivors turned back.

In March 1775 Boone and 28 companions were employed by Richard Henderson's Transylvania Company to blaze a trail through Cumberland Gap. The company planned to establish Kentucky as a 14th colony. Despite Indian attacks, the party built the Wilderness Road, which ran from eastern Virginia into the interior of Kentucky and beyond and became the main route to the region then known as the West. It helped make possible the immediate opening of the first settlements in Kentucky: Boonesborough, Harrod's Town, and Benjamin Logan's. In August 1775 Boone brought his wife Rebecca and their daughter to Boonesborough. They were, except for a few women who had been captured by Indians, the first white women in Kentucky, and their arrival may be said to mark the first permanent settlement there. The plan to establish the 14th colony failed, however, and Kentucky was made a county of Virginia.

Boone became a captain in the county's militia during the American Revolution and a leader in defending Boonesborough against the Indians. In July 1776 he led a group of settlers who were able to rescue, unharmed, his daughter and two other girls who had been captured by Indians three days earlier. News of that incident greatly enhanced his reputation. He was captured by Indians in early 1778 and was adopted as a son by the Shawnee chief, Blackfish. After five months he escaped to warn Boonesborough settlers of an impending attack. When the attack by Indians came (September 1778), the vastly outnumbered defenders of the settlement successfully withstood an 11-day siege.

Although a courageous and resourceful leader, Boone did not prosper. He established extensive land claims but could rarely make good on them. After the revolution he worked as a surveyor along the Ohio River. He settled for a few years in Kanawha county, Virginia (now in West Virginia). Then, in 1799, he and members of his family (including son Nathan Boone) followed another son, Daniel Morgan Boone, to Missouri, in Louisiana Territory (then belonging to Spain), where he continued to hunt and trap. He died at Nathan's home west of St. Louis and not far from the Missouri River.

The fame of Daniel Boone, a legendary hero even at the time of his death, spread worldwide when in 1823 Lord Byron devoted seven stanzas to him in his long satiric poem Don Juan. Boone has been the subject of other works of literature (fiction and biography), paintings, and dramatic productions, including a long-running (1964-70) television series. His name has been preserved in a variety of geographic names in the United States in addition to Boonesborough, including Boone, North Carolina. The Daniel Boone Homestead in southeastern Pennsylvania, about 9 miles (14 km) southeast of Reading, preserves structures associated with Boone's birthplace, and Nathan Boone's house in Missouri is also a historical site.

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Daniel Boone: Daniel Boone, early American frontiersman and legendary hero who helped blaze a trail through Cumberland Gap, a notch in the Appalachian Mountains near the juncture of Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Boone had little formal schooling but learned to read and write. As a youth, he moved with his

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Daniel Boone was an American frontiersman who became legendary for his role in leading settlers from the eastern states through a gap in the Appalachian Mountain range to Kentucky. Boone did not discover the passage through the mountains, known as the Cumberland Gap, but he demonstrated that it was a feasible way for settlers to travel westward.

By marking the Wilderness Road, the collection of trails heading westward across the mountains, Boone assured his place in the settlement of the American West. The road, one of the first practical paths westward, made it possible for many settlers to reach Kentucky and helped spark the spread of America beyond the East Coast.

Fast Facts: Daniel Boone

Despite his reputation as a trailblazer, the reality of his life was often difficult. He had led many settlers to new lands, but eventually his lack of business experience, and the aggressive tactics of speculators and lawyers, led to him losing his own lands in Kentucky. In his final years, Boone had moved to Missouri and lived in poverty.

Boone's status as an American hero grew in the decades following his death in 1820 as writers embellished his life story and made him something of a folk legend. He has lived on dime novels, movies, and even a popular television series of the 1960s.

Daniel Boone was born November 2, 1734 near present day Reading, Pennsylvania. As a child he received a very basic education, learning to read and do arithmetic. He became a hunter at the age of 12, and during his teens he learned the skills necessary to live on the frontier.

In 1751 he moved with his family to North Carolina. Like many Americans of the time, they were in search of better farming land. Working with his father, he became a teamster and learned some blacksmithing.

During the French and Indian War Boone served as a wagoner on the ill-fated march General Braddock led to Fort Duquesne. When Braddock's command was ambushed by French troops with their Indian allies, Boone was lucky to escape on horseback.

In 1756, Boone married Rebecca Bryan, whose family lived near his in North Carolina. They would have ten children.

During his time serving with the military, Boone had become friends with John Findley, who regaled him with stories of Kentucky, a land beyond the Appalachians. Findley convinced Boone to accompany him on a hunting trip to Kentucky. They spent the winter of 1768-69 hunting and exploring. They collected enough hides to make it a profitable venture.

Boone and Findley had passed through the Cumberland Gap, a natural passage in the mountains. For the next few years Boone spent much of his time exploring and hunting in Kentucky.

Moving Westward

Fascinated by the rich lands beyond the Cumberland Gap, Boone became determined to settle there. He convinced five other families to accompany him, and in 1773 he led a party along the trails he had used while hunting. His wife and children traveled with him.

Boone's party of about 50 travelers attracted the notice of Indians in the region, who were becoming angry about encroaching whites. A group of Boone's followers who had become separated from the main party were attacked by Indians. Several men were killed, including Boone's son James, who was captured and tortured to death.

The other families, as well as Boone and his wife and surviving children, returned to North Carolina.

A land speculator, Judge Richard Henderson, had heard about Boone and recruited him to work for a company he had started, the Transylvania Company. Henderson intended to settle Kentucky and wanted to make use of Boone's frontier skills and knowledge of the territory.

Boone worked to mark a trail that could be followed by families headed westward. The trail became known as the Wilderness Road, and it eventually proved to be the main path for many settlers moving from the East Coast into the North American interior.

Boone eventually succeeded in his dream of settling in Kentucky, and in 1775 founded a town along the banks of the Kentucky River, which he called Boonesborough.

Revolutionary War

During the Revolutionary War, Boone saw action fighting against Indians who had allied themselves with the British. He was taken prisoner by the Shawnees at one point, but managed to escape when he discovered the Indians were planning an attack on Boonesborough.

The town came under attack by Indians who were being advised by British officers. The residents survived a siege and eventually fought off the attackers.

Boone's wartime service was marred by the loss of his son Israel, who died fighting Indians in 1781. Following the war, Boone found adjustment to a peaceful life difficult.

Struggles in Later Life

Daniel Boone was widely respected on the frontier, and his reputation as a revered figure extended to the cities in the East. As more settlers moved into Kentucky, Boone found himself in difficult circumstances. He had always been careless about business, and was particularly negligent in registering his land claims. Though he was directly responsible for many settlers arriving in Kentucky, he was unable to prove legal title to land he believed he rightfully owned.

For years Boone would battle with land speculators and lawyers. His reputation as a fearless Indian fighter and tough frontiersman did not help him in local courts. Though Boone would always be associated with Kentucky, he became so frustrated and disgusted with his newly arrived neighbors that he moved onward to Missouri in the 1790s.

Boone had a farm in Missouri, which was Spanish territory at the time. Despite his advanced age, he continued to embark on long hunting trips.

When the United States acquired Missouri as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Boone again lost his land. His hardships had become public knowledge, and the U.S. Congress, during the administration of James Madison, passed an act restoring his title to his lands in Missouri.

Boone died in Missouri on September 26, 1820, at the age of 85. He was virtually penniless.

The Daniel Boone Legend

Boone had been written about life as a frontier hero as early as the 1780s. But in the years following his death, Boone became a larger than life figure. In the 1830s writers began churning out stories that portrayed Boone as a fighter on the frontier, and the Boone legend endured through the era of the dime novels and beyond. The stories bore little resemblance to reality, but that didn't matter. Daniel Boone, who had played a legitimate and important role in America's move westward, had become a figure of American folklore.

"Boone, Daniel." Westward Expansion Reference Library, edited by Allison McNeill, et al., vol. 2: Biographies, UXL, 2000, pp. 25-30. Gale Ebooks.

"Daniel Boone." Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed., vol. 2, Gale, 2004, pp. 397-398. Gale Ebooks.

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Biography of Daniel Boone, Legendary American Frontiersman

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Daniel Boone was an American frontiersman who became legendary for his role in leading settlers from the eastern states through a gap in the Appalachian Mountain range to Kentucky. Boone did not discover the passage through the mountains, known as the Cumberland Gap, but he demonstrated that it was a feasible way for settlers to travel westward.

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Benjamin Banneker, (born November 9, 1731, Banneky farm [now in Oella], Maryland [U.S.]-died October 19? [ see Researcher's Note], 1806, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.), mathematician, astronomer, compiler of almanacs, inventor, and writer, one of the first important African American intellectuals.

Banneker, a freeman, was raised on a farm near Baltimore that he would eventually inherit from his father. Although he periodically attended a one-room Quaker schoolhouse, Banneker was largely self-educated and did much of his learning through the voracious reading of borrowed books. Early on he demonstrated a particular facility for mathematics. While still a young man (probably about age 20), he built a wooden clock that kept precise time. Banneker was encouraged in the study of astronomy by George Ellicott, a Quaker and amateur astronomer whose family owned nearby mills. As early as 1788, Banneker began to make astronomical calculations, and he accurately predicted a solar eclipse that occurred in 1789. In 1791, while working with Andrew Ellicott and others in surveying the land that would become Washington, D.C., Banneker made other astronomical observations.

As an essayist and pamphleteer, Banneker opposed slavery and advocated civil rights. In 1791 he sent Thomas Jefferson, then U.S. secretary of state, a letter asking Jefferson's aid in bringing about better conditions for African Americans. With the letter, Banneker also sent a handwritten copy of the manuscript for his 1792 Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia Almanack and Ephemeris, which he continued to publish annually through 1797.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Jeff Wallenfeldt.

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Benjamin Banneker | Letter to Jefferson, Clock, Almanac, & Facts

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Benjamin Banneker, African American mathematician, astronomer, compiler of almanacs, inventor, and writer who helped survey Washington, D.C. He was also noted for essays and pamphlets in which he opposed slavery and supported civil rights. Learn more about Banneker's life and career.

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Facts about Benjamin Banneker

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Photo: MPI/Getty Images

Quick Facts

"The colour of the skin is in no way connected with strength of the mind or intellectual powers."

Ellicott's Mills, Maryland

Benjamin Banneker was a largely self-educated mathematician, astronomer, compiler of almanacs and writer.

Who Was Benjamin Banneker?

A free Black man who owned a farm near Baltimore, Benjamin Banneker was largely self-educated in astronomy and mathematics. He was later called upon to assist in the surveying of territory for the construction of the nation's capital. He also became an active writer of almanacs and exchanged letters with Thomas Jefferson, politely challenging him to do what he could to ensure racial equality.

Early Years

Born on November 9, 1731, in Ellicott's Mills, Maryland, Banneker was the son of an ex-slave named Robert and his wife, Mary Banneky. Mary was the daughter of an Englishwoman named Molly Welsh, a former indentured servant, and her husband, Bannka, an ex-slave whom she freed and who asserted that he came from tribal royalty in West Africa.

Because both of his parents were free, Benjamin escaped the wrath of slavery as well. He was taught to read by his maternal grandmother and for a very short time attended a small Quaker school. Banneker was primarily self-educated. His early accomplishments included constructing an irrigation system for the family farm and a wooden clock that was reputed to keep accurate time and ran for more than 50 years until his death. In addition, Banneker taught himself astronomy and accurately forecasted lunar and solar eclipses. After his father's passing, he ran his own farm for years, cultivating a business selling tobacco via crops.

Interests in Astronomy and Surveying

Banneker's talents and intelligence eventually came to the attention of the Ellicott family, entrepreneurs who had made a name and fortune by building a series of gristmills in the Baltimore area in the 1770s. George Ellicott had a large personal library and loaned Banneker numerous books on astronomy and other fields.

In 1791, Andrew Ellicott, George's cousin, hired Banneker to assist in surveying territory for the nation's capital city. He worked in the observatory tent using a zenith sector to record the movement of the stars. However, due to a sudden illness, Banneker was only able to work for Ellicott for about three months.

Popular Almanacs

Banneker's true acclaim, however, came from his almanacs, which he published for six consecutive years during the later years of his life, between 1792 and 1797. These handbooks included his own astronomical calculations as well as opinion pieces, literature and medical and tidal information, with the latter particularly useful to fishermen. Outside of his almanacs, Banneker also published information on bees and calculated the cycle of the 17-year locust.

Letter to Jefferson

Banneker's accomplishments extended into other realms as well, including civil rights. In 1791, Jefferson was secretary of state and Banneker considered the respected Virginian, though a slaveholder, to also be open to view African Americans as more than slaves. Thus, he wrote Jefferson a letter hoping that he would "readily embrace every opportunity to eradicate that train of absurd and false ideas and opinions which so generally prevail with respect to us." To further support his point, Banneker included a handwritten manuscript of an almanac for 1792, containing his astronomical calculations.

In his letter, Banneker acknowledged he was "of the African race" and a free man. He recognized that he was taking "a liberty" writing to Jefferson, which would be unacceptable considering "the almost general prejudice and prepossession which is so prevalent in the world against those of my complexion." Banneker then respectfully chided Jefferson and other patriots for their hypocrisy, enslaving people like him while fighting the British for their own independence.

Jefferson quickly acknowledged Banneker's letter, writing a response. He told Banneker that he took "the liberty of sending your almanac to Monsieur de Condorcet [secretary of the French Academy of Sciences]...because I considered it as a document to which your whole colour had a right for their justification against the doubts which have been entertained of them." Banneker published Jefferson's letter alongside his original piece of correspondence in his 1793 almanac. Banneker's outspokenness with regard to the issue of slavery earned him the widespread support of the abolitionist societies in Maryland and Pennsylvania, both of which helped him publish his almanac.

Below is a letter from Jefferson to Banneker dated August 30, 1791, from the Library of Congress:

I thank you sincerely for your letter of the 19th. instant and for the Almanac it contained. no body wishes more than I do to see such proofs as you exhibit, that nature has given to our Black brethren, talents equal to those of the other colours of men, and; that the appearance of a want of them is owing merely to the degraded condition of their existence both in Africa &amp; America. I can add with truth that no body wishes more ardently to see a good system commenced for raising the condition both of their body &amp; mind to what it ought to be, as fast as the imbecillity of their present existence, and other circumstance which cannot be neglected, will admit. I have taken the liberty of sending your almanac to Monsieur de Condorcet, Secretary of the Academy of sciences at Paris, and member of the Philanthropic society because I considered it as a document to which your whole colour had a right for their justification against the doubts which have been entertained of them. I am with great esteem, Sir, Your most obedt. humble servt. Th. Jefferson

Later Life and Death

Never married, Banneker continued to conduct his scientific studies throughout his life. By 1797, sales of his almanac had declined and he discontinued publication. In the following years, he sold off much of his farm to the Ellicotts and others to make ends meet, continuing to live in his log cabin.

On October 9, 1806, after his usual morning walk, Banneker died in his sleep, just a month short of his 75th birthday. In accordance with his wishes, all the items that had been on loan from his neighbor, George Ellicott, were returned by Banneker's nephew. Also included was Banneker's astronomical journal, providing future historians one of the few records of his life known to exist.

On Tuesday, October 11, at the family burial ground a few yards from this house, Benjamin Banneker was laid to rest. During the services, mourners were startled to see his house had caught on fire, quickly burning down. Nearly everything was destroyed, including his personal effects, furniture and wooden clock. The cause of the fire was never determined.

Banneker's life was remembered in an obituary in the Federal Gazette of Philadelphia and has continued to be written about over the ensuing two centuries. With limited materials having been preserved related to Banneker's life and career, there's been a fair amount of legend and misinformation presented. In 1972, scholar Sylvio A. Bedini published an acclaimed biography on the 18th-century icon- The Life of Benjamin Banneker: The First African-American Man of Science. A revised edition appeared in 1999.

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"The colour of the skin is in no way connected with strength of the mind or intellectual powers." Ellicott's Mills, Maryland Benjamin Banneker was a largely self-educated mathematician, astronomer, compiler of almanacs and writer. A free Black man who owned a farm near Baltimore, Benjamin Banneker was largely self-educated in astronomy and mathematics.

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Paul Revere | Biography, Midnight Ride, Boston Massacre, & Facts

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Paul Revere, folk hero of the American Revolution whose dramatic horseback ride on the night of April 18, 1775, warning Boston-area residents that the British were coming, was immortalized in a ballad by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Learn more about Revere’s life in this article.

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