Daniel Boone ─ An American Life

The name Daniel Boone evokes an image of the quintessential American hero: a man of action, a pathfinder, an emblem of the great adventure of his age - the westward movement of the American people.
Early in life Boone showed a hunger for adventure, using his extraordinary skill as a woodsman to guide his family's migration down the valley of Virginia to North Carolina. Too restless for the life of a farmer, he was eager to penetrate the wilderness in search of better hunting and boundless profit through speculation in rich and fertile lands. After his first historic explorations of Kentucky in 1769, Boone brought back tales of a hunters' paradise that stirred the imagination. A natural leader, Boone helped open the trans-Appalachian West, clearing trails, guiding settlers, founding forts, and reluctantly fighting in Indian wars in which he saw the plight of both sides all too clearly.
His exploits and consequent fame, however, could not help him navigate America's increasingly complex legal system. Spurred by the loss of his considerable land holdings and crowded by the expansion into Kentucky that he had made possible, Boone set out again at the age of sixty-five, heading to Missouri. There he would repeat the joy and despair of the boom and bust cycle as Americans continued to migrate on the trail he blazed.

Michael A. Lofaro is professor of American studies and American literature at the University of Tennessee.