Biographical Notes
Daniel Boone

Knowing that it was only a matter of time before Blackfish attacked, Boone concentrated on strengthening Boonesborough's defenses. Opinion as to his motivations were divided within the community, but he had a few stout defenders who believed in him and he managed to get the work done before Blackfish arrived on September 7, 1778. He had with him over four hundred warriors and a company of British militia from Detroit. Antoine de Quindre and James and George Girty were also in the party. Blackfish and Boone parlayed for several days before hostilities began on September 9. Blackfish laid siege to Boonsborough through the night of September 17, but was unable to gain entry. Following Blackfish's departure Boone faced a court martial for treason. He was acquitted and promoted to major. Rebecca had taken the family back to the Yadkin while Daniel was living with Blackfish. In November 1778 he rejoined Rebecca and devoted his time to hunting and recruiting families to migrate to Kentucky. A number of the people who decide to move to Kentucky at that time were Tory sympathizers who wanted to get out of the way of the revolution. In October 1779, Boone led a large party back to Kentucky and settled his own family in a new cabin six miles away from Boonesborough. It became known as Boone's Station. In 1780 Boone scouted for George Rogers Clark when he led an expedition into Shawnee country and destroyed the Shawnee village of Piqua. Also in 1780 he was elected to the Virginia legislature. He attended the opening session in Richmond on May 7, 1781, but the British Army under General Cornwallis soon forced the legislature to flee. Boone was captured while attempting to save some horses from the British. He was paroled soon after and that act served to further fuel rumors that he was disloyal.

Rebecca and Daniel's last child, Nathan, was born on March 2, 1781. (Nathan would live well into the nineteenth century and would provide much of the information that historians would have regarding his father.) Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown on October 17, 1781, but hostilities continued in the Ohio Valley and in Kentucky. Boone was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1782 and participated in the Battle at Blue Licks in August of that year. That battle went against the Kentucky militia and seventy-seven were killed including Boone's son Isaac. Following the battle Boone was promoted to full colonel and in October participated in General George Rogers Clark's expedition into the Ohio Valley before returning to Boone's Station. Overlapping land claims, poor surveying work, claim jumping, poor record keeping, and a multitude of other problems created a legal morass in Kentucky. Boone had several claims to land in Kentucky, but never managed to keep any of them. At the same time he continued to be in debt. In 1783 he was forced to give up his cabin at Boone's Station and move on a few miles to Marble Creek. That same year he met John Filson and helped him write The Discovery, Settlement and Present State of Kentucky, one chapter of which was entitled "Adventures of Colonel Daniel Boon." Published in Delaware in 1784 the book was an instant success in the United States and soon became a best seller in England and in Europe. Filson's book made Daniel Boone the prototype of America's national hero. In 1785 he moved to the mouth of Limestone Creek on the Ohio River and established a tavern, store and warehouse servicing the flood of settlers moving into the Ohio Valley and Kentucky.

In September 1786 Boone participated in another foray against the Shawnee towns north of the Ohio River, but, following a series of atrocities committed by his fellow militiamen, swore that he would never again fight against Indians. From then on he would endeavor to protect them. He became the defacto Indian Agent in the region for the state of Virginia and negotiated a series of prisoner exchanges. In the fall of 1787 Boone was again elected to the Virginia legislature. In 1788 he returned to Oley, Pennsylvania to visit relatives and friends. While there he decided to move to Point Pleasant at the confluence of the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers. In 1789 he made the move and established a small store and fur trading post. He was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the local militia and in 1791 once again elected to the Virginia legislature. He served in that capacity in Richmond when Kentucky was separated from Virginia and became a state. He also served briefly as commissary to militia forces in western Virginia, but was unable to carry the project through and quit. Shortly thereafter he moved further up the Kanawha Valley and devoted himself full time to hunting and trapping. Hostilities with the Indians continued and on November 4, 1791, General Arthur St. Clair was killed when his force suffered a disastrous defeat at the hands of Little Turtle and Blue Jacket on the Wabash River. In 1793 "Mad" Anthony Wayne was appointed commander of the western forces and in 1794 he defeated the Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers.

Somewhere between 1794 and 1795 Boone moved back to Kentucky and eventually settled on Brushy Creek near the Blue Licks. In 1795 Spain signed the Treaty of San Lorenzo with the United States and established a policy that encouraged Americans to settle along the Mississippi River. In 1797, acting on behalf of Daniel Boone, Daniel Morgan contacted Spanish Lieutenant Governor Zenon Treudeau and negotiated conditions by which they would settle in Missouri. In 1798 Boone moved his family to the mouth of the Little Sandy on the Ohio River, preparatory to making the move to Missouri. Allegedly it was at this time that Boone was supposed to have said that Kentucky was too crowded and he needed more "elbow room." In 1799, when Boone arrived in St. Louis, he was met by Treudeau and his replacement Don Dehault Delassus. Boone was warmly received, given a grant to land at the confluence of Femme Osage Creek and the Missouri River, and made syndic (administrator) of the district in which he was to live. He returned to hunting and trapping for his livelihood and explored far and wide, probably as far west as the Rocky Mountains. Unfortunately he also managed to borrow more than he could pay and was continually in debt. In 1800 the Louisiana Territory passed from the Spanish to the French, but Delassus remained as lieutenant governor. As syndic Boone judged minor legal cases and he held court under the Justice Tree near the cabin in which he lived. On April 29, 1803 James Monroe agreed that the United States would pay France fifteen million dollars for the Louisiana Territory. In May 1804 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out on their Voyage of Discovery. They passed Boone's residence, but it is not known if they stopped to see the famous old man.