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Biographical Notes
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Daniel Boone
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In the spring of 1769 Daniel Boone together with John Findley, and John Stewart, set out for Kentucky and there is some indication that the expedition was financed by Richard Henderson. It was on this trip that Boone first crossed through Cumberland Gap and discovered the so-called "Bluegrass" region of Kentucky. In December 1769 a group of Shawnee captured and robbed the Boone party of everything that they had, except for one musket and a little powder and lead. After the Indians departed Boone and Stewart followed them and recaptured a couple of horses. A few days later they were recaptured by the Indians and this time they were not released. A week later Boone and Stewart again escaped and, after walking about one hundred miles, managed to rejoin their other companions. Shortly after that Daniel's brother, Squire Boone, managed to find them in the wilderness with new supplies. Although there is no evidence to prove it, it is suspected that Richard Henderson had outfitted Squire and dispatched him to resupply Daniel's party. Daniel, Squire, John Stewart and Alexander Neely (who had accompanied Squire) remained in Kentucky while Findley returned to the Yadkin. Stewart subsequently disappeared and his mysterious disappearance unerved Neely who decided to return to civilization. Squire and Daniel stayed on until spring 1770 when Squire took their furs out to market. Daniel remained in Kentucky alone and explored it throughly. On July 20, 1770 Squire returned to Kentucky with new supplies and several horses. In March 1771 Daniel and Squire headed home with the furs that they had collected. On the way they were robbed of their horses, rifles, and furs by a party of Indians.
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Even though he returned home without any tangible benefit from his two years in Kentucky he was a mine of information about the place. Henderson, then developing a plan to buy land in Kentucky from the Cherokee Indians and then settle it as a personal colony, was particularly hungry for Daniel's information. Again hounded by his creditors Boone decided to move further west to Sycamore Shoals in the Watauga Valley in eastern Tennessee. This settlement was not sactioned by either the Virginia nor the North Carolina colonial governments and Lord Dunsmore, the governor of Virginia, saw it as a dangerous precedent whereby settlers were outside of the King's authority. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was still in effect and settlement west of the mountains was banned. In 1773 Daniel was part of William Russell's abortive effort to settle in Kentucky. A group of Indians attacked the party, killed a number of people in it including one of Boone's sons, and forced the remainder of the party to abandon the effort. Boone and his family settled in on the Clinch River and. in 1774, attempted unsuccessfully to mount another Kentucky settlement effort. Hostile Indian activity in the region stimulated Lord Dunsmore to send Daniel into Kentucky in 1774 to warn surveyors working there of the danger. He returned to the Clinch River on August 26, 1774, after traveling eight hundred miles in two months.
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On his return he was appointed a lieutenant in the Virginia militia with a commission signed by Lord Dunsmore and placed in charge of Moore's Fort on the Clinch River. He remained in that position during the hostilities known as Lord Dunsmore's War and was promoted to captain. With the new rank came additional reponsibilities. He was given command of three forts on the Clinch - Moore's, Russell and Blackmore's. The war ended with the Battle of Point Pleasant and the Treaty of Camp Charlotte, but sporadic hostilities continued. On August 27, 1774 Henderson formed the Louisa Company in Hillsborough. Boone was released from militia service on November 20, 1774, and at roughly the same time was hired by the Louisa Company to assist in the purchase of land in Kentucky from the Cherokee Tribe. Although both Virginia and Pennsylvania had forbidden the settlement of land across the mountains, Henderson argued that the Treaty of Hard Labor had recognized Cherokee ownership and argued that he could legally purchase land in Kentucky from the Indians. Other speculators also poured into the area and established claims. Boone went into Cherokee country and invited the tribal leaders to come to Sycamore Shoals for a meeting with Henderson. Over 1200 Cherokees assembled there in March 1775 and agree to the transfer of lands in Kentucky to the Transylvania Company (previously Louisa Company). The deed of sale was signed on March 17, 1775. At the same time Henderson purchased a path deed for the land that would be needed for the road through the Cumberland Gap into the new Transylvania lands. Immediately after the signing ceremonies were completed Boone and a party of twenty-five began chopping out "Boone's Trace" which created a rough trail from the Clinch River to Kentucky. Hostile Indians attacked them on March 27 and killed several in the party, but the rest pushed on and reached the Kentucky River (also called the Louisa River).
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Boone and his party immediately set about building shelters. Henderson and the main party of immigrants arrived on April 20, 1775. Formalities establishing the Transylvania Colony soon followed and the new community took the name Boonesborough. On June 13 Boone returned to the Clinch River for his family. Delayed by the birth of their ninth child, Boone and Rebecca did not get to Boonesborough until September 8, 1775. Rebellion against Great Britain was gathering momentum and hostile Indians threatened Boonseborough, but more settlers continued to arrive in Kentucky. Many opposed the Transylvania Company and lobbied in the Virginia legislature against it. George Rogers Clark was elected to the Virginia legislature and strongly opposed Henderson and his colony. On June 24, 1776, the Virginia Convention ruled against the Transylvania Company's right to exist and proclaimed that the claims of individual settlers would be dealt with at a later date by a special commission. In July 1776, one of Boone's daughters along with two of Richard Callaway's daughters were kidnapped from Boonsborough by a party of Shawnee and Cherokee Indians. After a three day chase, the girls were successfully rescued. In the process several of the Indians were killed. The story of the kidnapping and rescue made it into the newspapers and quickly became part of the developing worldwide Daniel Boone legend. Revolutionary conflict spread across the mountains and down the Ohio Valley and during 1777 Indian attacks on settlers in Kentucky intensified. Many pioneers abandoned their land and fled to Virginia. Only Harrodsburg and Boonsborough remained occupied.
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Boone was again commissioned a captain in the Virginia Militia. On April 24, 1777, he was wounded in the ankle during a Shawnee Indian attack on Boonsborough. That winter, after recovering from his wound, Boone led a group of thirty men to the Lower Blue Licks to boil mineral water for salt. In February 1778, Boone was captured by a Shawnee war party and negotiated the surrender of the rest of his party to avoid their being killed by the Shawnees. The leader of the Shawnee was Cottawamago, called Blackfish by the settlers. Blackfish intended to attack Boonesborough, but was talked into postponing the attack by Boone, who offered to negotiate the surrender of Boonesborough in the spring thus avoiding many needless deaths. Blackfish agreed and took Boone and his party north to Chillicothe - his principal village. Seventeen of the settlers were adopted into Shawnee families and Boone was adopted by Chief Blackfish. His Shawnee name was Sheltowee (Big Turtle). In March 1778, the ten men not adopted into Shawnee families were taken to Detroit where they were sold to British Governor Henry Hamilton for one hundred dollars each. Boone showed Hamilton his militia commission, signed by Dunsmore, and led him to believe that he was sympathetic with the Tory cause. Hamilton gave Boone a horse and some trading goods to use with the Shawnee. Meanwhile, back in Chillicothe, Andrew Johnson managed to escape and make it back to Harrodsburg where he recounted the story of their capture and Boone's actions. A suspicion arose that Boone was a traitor. In June 1778, Boone managed to escape from Blackfish and made it back to Boonesborough. In July William Hancock escaped from Blackfish and confirmed that Boone had saved their lives, but complained that Boone seemed all too friendly and happy while living with the Indians.
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