William R. Sanford - Daniel Boone. Courageous Frontiersman

Blazing the Wilderness Road!

Through the untamed wilderness, Daniel Boone marched forward. He was leading a group of workers to carve out the Wilderness Road. Over hills, through dense forests, along stony paths, and fending off American Indian attacks, Boone never quit. He opened the way for thousands of settlers to move west, establishing the settlement of Boonesborough in 1775. He had many jobshunter, scout, soldier, surveyorand performed them all with the same courage and determination. Authors William R. Sanford and Carl R. Green examine the life of this American legend.

About the Author

William R. Sanford and Carl R. Green are the authors of more than one hundred books for young people. They bring over sixty years of teaching experience to the many projects they have created.

For more than a hundred years, the lands west of the Appalachians lay beyond the reach of Americas early colonists. The original thirteen colonies held fast to the Atlantic coast. Strict laws, rugged mountains, and fierce American Indian tribes blocked movement beyond the Appalachians. Only trappers and traders ventured into what was then the colonies Wild West. Daniel Boone helped break the barriers by opening Kentucky to settlement. This is the true story of how one strong-willed woodsman helped tame a wild and rugged frontier.

In July 1776, the American colonies were focused on gaining their freedom. Patriots clashed with British redcoats in battles all along the East Coast. In the wilds of Kentucky, settlers faced a different foe. The Cherokee and Shawnee were determined to evict the white man from their hunting grounds.

Daniel Boones settlement at Boonesborough was a prime target. However, a string of calm summer days gave a false sense of peace. On Sunday, July 7, three teenage girls slipped away to go canoeing. Daniels thirteen-year-old daughter, Jemima, handled the steering. Betsey and Fanny Callaway did the paddling. Back at the settlement, Daniel was taking a nap.

On the far side of the river, a Cherokee chief named Hanging Maw kept watch. Little by little, the current swept the girls canoe closer to the shore. Suddenly, a Shawnee warrior jumped in and held it fast.

The girls screamed. Fanny, a tiny thirteen-year-old, hit out with her paddle. Betsey, the oldest of the trio at sixteen, joined in. More warriors jumped into the fray. They yanked the paddles away and dragged the girls into the woods. The screaming finally stopped when a Shawnee threatened to take Betseys scalp.

Like her father, Jemima was a quick thinker. Pointing to a cut on one bare foot, she told Hanging Maw she could not walk another step. Fanny, too, was barefoot. Hanging Maw told his men to give the two some moccasins. Next, the braves cut off the girls long dresses at the knees. They did not want their escape to be slowed by skirts catching in the brambles.

Back at Boonesborough, the screams had aroused the settlement. Daniel ran barefoot to the riverbank. For the moment, pursuit was delayed. The only canoe lay on the far side of the river. Twelve-year-old John Gass swam across to retrieve it.

Once he had crossed the river, the trail was easy to follow. The girls had dropped bits of cloth and twigs as they trudged along. While Daniel studied the signs, Richard Callaway and a party of horsemen joined him. The riders were eager to chase after the kidnappers. Daniel shook his head. The Shawnee, he said, would kill the girls the moment they heard hoofbeats.

In July 1776, Daniel Boones daughter Jemima was kidnapped by the Shawnee in the Kentucky wilderness. In this dramatized illustration, Boone rescues his daughter from the raiding party.

Callaway agreed that Daniel was right. He and his men struck out for the Licking River to lay an ambush. In camp that night, Daniel saw that his men were not equipped for a long chase. He sent young Gass back to Boonesborough for buckskins, food, powder, and shotand Daniels moccasins.

By Tuesday, Hanging Maw was forty miles from the river. He was sure he was safe. His warriors killed a buffalo and stopped to cook the meat. They did not know that Daniel had outguessed them. As the Shawnee prepared their meal, the rescue party closed in.

The woodsmen were thirty yards away when a lookout spotted them. The men opened fire at once. The Shawnee fled, too startled to think of harming the girls. Daniel fired and saw one of the Shawnee go down. Run, gals, run! the men yelled.

A tomahawk whizzed by Betseys head. A moment later, one of the rescuers mistook her for a Shawnee. He was about to hit her with his rifle butt when Daniel grabbed his arm. Dont kill her when weve traveled so far to save her, Daniel yelled. A moment later, Jemima was safe in his arms.

A month later, the people of Boonesborough gathered to celebrate Betseys marriage. Daniel had blazed the trail into Kentucky only one year earlier. Now he was an honored guest at the settlements first wedding.

Daniel Boones love of the wilderness was inborn. His grandfather, George Boone, brought the family to America in 1717. From his home in western England, Boone had heard about William Penns colony. Like Penn, Boone was a member of the Society of Friendsthe Quakers. Pennsylvania, reports said, offered cheap land and religious freedom.

At first, the Boones settled twelve miles north of Philadelphia. Within a short time, they were on the move again. As historian John Bakeless writes: The Boones were wanderers born. They had the itching foot. They heard of distant lands and knew that they must go there. George Boones first move took him only a few miles. In 1718, he settled on four hundred acres in Oley Township. The town of Reading grew up nearby.

Boones son Squire married Sarah Morgan in 1720. Squire was a weaver, but he also hungered to own land. By 1730, he was farming almost four hundred acres of land in Oley. There, on November 2, 1734, Sarah gave birth to her sixth child. The Boones called him Daniel, after Sarahs brother.

The Boone farm lay at the edge of the wilderness. American Indian hunters were frequent visitors. Young Daniel made friends with them. Unlike most boys of his time, he studied the American Indians way of life. Those early lessons paid off later. Daniels ability to think like an Indian saved his life more than once.

When Daniel was six, smallpox struck the township. Sarah kept her children at home, hoping they could avoid the dreaded disease. According to one old story, the confinement did not please young Daniel. The answer, he thought, was to catch smallpox. Once he recovered, he again would be free to wander. One night, he sneaked off to a neighbors farm. There, he crawled into bed with a child who was blotched with smallpox sores. As he had planned, the same blotches soon showed up on his skin. Luckily, he and the other Boone children survived the outbreak.

When Daniel was ten, his father bought twenty-five acres of wooded pasture. The land lay some miles from the main farm. Daniel spent the next six summers there with his mother. Their job was to tend the Boones cattle. Squire stayed home to manage his looms and his blacksmith shop. Daniels oldest sister cared for the younger children.