Daniel Boone Paper
By Madison Nef
Some people hate change. They are
terrified of not fitting in because of doing something weird that THEY want to
do. George Boone was not a person like this. Life was an open book to him. He
and his wife and their nine children crossed the dangerous waters of the
Atlantic to go to America. They were Quakers, and they had heard about free
life in Pennsylvania. Quakers were frowned upon in England for their beliefs.
Pennsylvania was their chance to live freely.
The Boone family settled down 50
miles from Pennsylvania and built a little cabin. George Boone was highly
respected among the Quakers in the area, as were his children, particularly his
middle son, Squire. Soon, Squire moved on to have his own children with his
wife Sarah. His sixth child was Daniel Boone. Daniel was a wild-child. He could
never stay in one place for longer than 5 minutes. He was walking, even running
before he was even one year old.
Daniel being so free was not a
problem at home, as there was plenty of roaming space in the cornfields and
farm fields. The only time Young Daniel was trouble was when his family
attended the meetings at the meetinghouse. The gatherings would go on for
hours, and poor Daniel could not let go of his mother’s hand lest he wander away
and not find his way back.
But direction was something that
Daniel also had at a very young age. No matter if he went deep into the woods,
he would always come out in time for dinner. He never once lost his way. He
always had the gift of direction. Once, his older brother quoted “Daniel is
like a wisp of chimney smoke on a windy day- even as you watch it, it disappears.”
As his father was a blacksmith,
Daniel learned about metal at a young age. At 7 years old he was already making
50-60 nails a day alongside his father. Daniel never minded work that took him
outside. The outdoors was his one and only school. But still, Daniel was a
child. He enjoyed having fun with his friends too. They would go out in the
woods together with their slingshots and bow and arrow, and have shooting
contests in clearings.
Daniel was very strong. He learned a
lot about pioneering that would guide him as he got older and went adventuring
and hunting. He learned to plant and hunt, and he never disappointed his family
in bringing back meat. He always managed to have enough for everyone to have
their fill. He was known as one of the best hunters in his town, even at his
young age.
One of Daniels secrets to success was
he had made friends with the Indians when he was very young. They liked Daniel,
because he treated them with respect as so many others did not. He frequently
asked them questions, and they were happy to teach him how to stalk animals
without being seen, heard, or smelled. Daniel
caught many animals just by using common sense and hanging around near water
and salt.
When Daniel was 13, his family bought
a plot of land 4 miles away for raising cows. The cows would stay there and grow
fat, and give milk to make cheese and butter. The only problem was the 4 miles.
How were the cows supposed to be fat if they had to walk 8 miles a day? The
only choice was to send Daniel and his mother out in a small shack to live near
the cows and make cheese and butter.
Every day, Daniel would bring the
cows out to graze. He would then milk them and his mother would make cheese and
butter. He would then take the goods to a cold natural spring and put them in
it to keep cold. One day, Daniel brought back the cows but never returned
himself. For 4 days he was missing.
Finally, his father found him out in
the woods in a small bark shack like that of the Indians with a large bearskin.
He explained that he was tracking a bear with his rifle and wanted to take him
home for his family. The bear kept going, and he kept going too. The family had
a pig out night on bear meat.
When Daniel was about 15, his family
decided that it was time to move away from Pennsylvania. There were so many
families crowding in, and it was starting to get unbearable. The family sold
everything that wouldn’t fit in a wooden traveling wagon, and set off for
Virginia. When the family reached Virginia, Daniel said his farewells and left
to become a hunter and trapper.
Boone served the British in the
French and Indian war. After sad defeat, he returned home. A few years later,
he married Rebecca Bryan. Initially they lived in a cabin on his father’s farm
land. They eventually had 10 children. Some Indians started getting out of
hand, and Daniel soon left his wife and joined the militia again. His stealth
helped him hunt in Cherokee land. The Cherokee Uprising kept him away from his
home and the ones he loved for close to 2 years.
His chosen profession also kept him
far from home. As a market hunter, he spent weeks, sometimes months at a time
out in the wilderness hunting, with just a few men with him. Rebecca raised the
children and took care of the farm almost all on her own. Frontiersmen often
carved their initials on trees, and one of the most famous carvings’ of Boone’s
was: “D. Boon Cilled a. Bar on this tree in year 1760.” A carving turned up
later that was almost the same, and because Boone always spelled his name with
an E, the carvings were thought to be fakes.
In 1776, Boone moved his family to
Kentucky. They had a happy life there, until the American Revolutionary War
brought violence to Kentucky. Boone went off to war again. His daughter and two
other teenage girls were captured in July. Boone and a group of soldiers went
after the Indians and attacked them as they stopped to eat. They rescued the
girls and became local heroes, Boone already being well-known for his excellent
hunting and pioneering.
After the Revolution was through,
Boone settled back in Limestone, Kentucky, a successful Ohio River post at the
time. He kept a little tavern and was a horse trader. He was elected to the
Virginia state assembly not long after.
Soon, people in Limestone began
booing at Boone for not being sophisticated. He soon lost his tavern and the
small business he had. Sick of legal troubles, he moved to Missouri. He died at
his house in Femme Osage Creek of natural causes just before his 86th
birthday. His last words were short and simple: “I’m going now, my time has
come.” He was buried next to his wife, who had died 7 years earlier. Boone may
have seemed like your average pioneer, but he died a hero, both of war and of
hunting.
