These are but a few of Boone’s dangerous adventures. From them all he came out safe and for years continued to be the able leader of the settlers at Boonesborough.
There he remained until after Kentucky was admitted as a State into the Union (1791). Four years later he moved still farther west, led on by love for the wild, lonely life of the forest, a life which never lost its charm for him, even down to his last days.
He died in 1820, eighty-five years old, his long life covering a period of very great change in the growth of our country. By that time we had become a nation with broadly expanded boundaries.
It has been said that but for Daniel Boone the settlement of Kentucky could not have been made for several years. However this may be, we know that he was one of those fearless and daring men whose courage helped to establish that part of our country long known as “the West.”
Some Things to Think About
- What kind of boyhood had Daniel Boone?
- Imagine yourself to have been in his place during the weeks when he was alone in the Kentucky forests; give an account of what happened.
- Tell about his second capture by the Indians and his escape. Why did they admire him?
- What did he do for Kentucky? What kind of man was he?
CHAPTER VIII
JAMES ROBERTSON
Another pioneer who lived in Boone’s day was James Robertson. Like Boone, he came from North Carolina, and he led the way for the settling of Tennessee very much as Boone did for Kentucky. The story of those days shows that he was one of the most forceful and successful of the early English pioneers who led out settlements west of the Alleghanies.