Daniel Boone

Reuben Gold Thwaites

Jul 2022 · DigiCat

About this ebook

Poets, historians, and orators have for a hundred years sung the praises of Daniel Boone as the typical backwoodsman of the trans-Alleghany region. Despite popular belief, he was not really the founder of Kentucky. Other explorers and hunters had been there long before him; he himself was piloted through Cumberland Gap by John Finley; and he was not even the first permanent settlement in Kentucky, for Harrodsburg preceded it by nearly a year; his services in defense of the West, during nearly a half-century of border warfare, were not comparable to those of George Rogers Clark or Benjamin Logan; as a commonwealth builder, he was surpassed by several. Nevertheless, Boone's picturesque career possesses a romantic and even pathetic interest that can never fail to charm the student of history. He was great as a hunter, explorer, surveyor, and land pilot—probably he found few equals as a rifleman; no man on the border knew Indians more thoroughly or fought them more skilfully than he; his life was filled to the brim with perilous adventures. He was not a man of affairs, he did not understand the art of money-getting, and he lost his lands because, although a surveyor, he was careless of legal forms of entry. He fled before the advance of the civilization which he had ushered in: from Pennsylvania, wandering with his parents to North Carolina in search of broader lands; thence into Kentucky because the Carolina borders were crowded; then to the Kanawha Valley, for the reason that Kentucky was being settled too fast to suit his fancy; lastly to far-off Missouri, in order, as he said, to get "elbow room." Experiences similar to his have made misanthropes of many another man—like Clark, for instance; but the temperament of this honest, silent, nature-loving man only mellowed with age; his closing years were radiant with the sunshine of serene content and the dimly appreciated consciousness of world-wide fame; and he died full of years, in the heart a simple hunter to the last—although he had also served with credit as magistrate, soldier, and legislator. At his death, the Constitutional Convention of Missouri went into mourning for twenty days, and the State of Kentucky claimed his bones, and has erected over them a suitable monument.

About the author

Reuben Gold Thwaites (1853–1913) was a distinguished American historian, journalist, and editor, noted for his contributions to the understanding of early American history. An authority on the history of the Northwest Territory and the trans-Allegheny West, Thwaites is particularly renowned for his biographical work on American pioneer and explorer, Daniel Boone, published in 1902. His book 'Daniel Boone' shed light on the life of the legendary frontiersman and provided an insightful view of the expansion of the United States frontier during the late 18th century. Scholarly in his approach, Thwaites was known for his meticulous research and engaging narrative style that made history accessible to both academics and general readers. His own literary style often involved the use of first-hand accounts, personal letters, and diaries to reconstruct historical eras with vivid detail and authenticity. Beyond his work on Boone, Thwaites served as the secretary and superintendent of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, where he authored numerous papers and monographs, enriching the historical literature of the early United States. His editorial acumen was also visible in his role in the publication of seminal documentary histories, including 'The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents', a valuable collection of missionary reports from the French era in North America. Thwaites' contributions to the field of history have cemented his reputation as a vital figure in the documentation and interpretation of America's past.