Frontiersman: Daniel Boone and the Making of America

Images

Birthplace of Daniel Boone. Largely rebuilt in 1750s after the Boone family left for North Carolina. Photograph c. 1860. Courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Society (WHi 4531) Engraving of the Cumberland Gap by H. Fenn (D. Appleton & Co., 1872) From an engraving in the possession of the author Artist unknown, sketch purporting to be of John Floyd Filson Historical Society, Louisville Certificate, signed by Boone, of military service in and discharge from Fincastle County Militia, for James McCushin [sic], Nov. 25, 1774. Earliest known document written and signed by Boone. Filson Historical Society, Louisville Sketch of Boonesborough Filson Historical Society, Louisville Portrait of Lt. Gov. Henry Hamilton. Hamilton, the British commandant at Detroit, instigated and supplied the Indian attacks on Boonesborough and other frontier settlements during the Revolution. Hamilton Papers (pfMS Eng 509.2,), courtesy of the Houghton Library, Harvard University Henry Hamilton’s line drawing of Pacanné, or Pecan, a Miami chief who accompanied Hamilton’s expedition from Detroit to Vincennes Hamilton Papers (pfMS Eng 509.2), courtesy of the Houghton Library, Harvard University Karl Bodmer, Capture of the Daughters of D. Boone and Callaway by the Indians, 1852. Lithograph, 17 ⅛" x 22 ⅛". Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis. Transfer from Special Collections, Olin Library, Washington University, 1988. James B. Longacre, line-and-stipple engraving of Simon Kenton, from National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans (1835) Photograph courtesy of Richard Taylor Charles Bird King (1785–1862), Payta-kootha, a Shawanoe Warrior, from McKenney and Hall, History of the Indian Tribes of North America (Philadelphia: Frederick W. Greenough, 1838–44). Paytakootha, or Flying Clouds, representing the Shawnees, signed several treaties ceding Shawnee lands, including the 1795 Treaty of Greenville. The Shawnees proposed to cut Boone’s ears in similar fashion when Boone was a Shawnee captive. Courtesy of University of Cincinnati Digital Press Charles Bird King (1785–1862), Kish-Kal-Wa, a Shawanoe Chief, from McKenney and Hall, History of the Indian Tribes of North America (Philadelphia: Frederick W. Greenough, 1838–44). Kish-Kal-Wa’s ears have been cut like those of Paytakootha. Courtesy of University of Cincinnati Digital Press Matthew Harris Jouett, George Rogers Clark, based on a portrait by John Wesley Jarvis painted after Clark’s death. Clark captured Vincennes, and Lt. Col. Henry Hamilton, from the British. Filson Historical Society, Louisville Eighteenth-century surveying instruments from the Smithsonian Museum of American History—theodolite, chain, compass, Jacob’s staff, chaining pins, and drafting instruments Photograph by Adam Jones John Filson’s purported self-portrait. Collector and Filson biographer Reuben T. Durrett “discovered” this sketch in a book believed to have once been owned by Filson. Filson Historical Society, Louisville Title page of John Filson’s The Discovery, Settlement and Present State of Kentucke (1784), which included as an appendix “The Adventures of Col. Daniel Boon.” Boone vouched for the accuracy of Filson’s book. Filson Historical Society, Louisville Charles Balthazar Julien Fevret de Saint-Mémin (1770–1852), Le Soldat du Chêne, an Osage Chief, from McKenney and Hall, History of the Indian Tribes of North America (Philadelphia: Frederick W. Greenough, 1838–44) Courtesy of University of Cincinnati Digital Press “Col. Daniel Boon.” Daniel Boone. Stipple engraving by J. O. Lewis after Chester Harding, 1820. Missouri Historical Society Photographs and Prints Collections. NS 34096. Scan © 2006, Missouri Historical Society. The home of Nathan Boone in St. Charles County, Mo., in which Boone died in 1820 Photograph by the author Thomas Cole, Daniel Boone at His Cabin at Great Osage Lake, c. 1826. Oil on canvas, 38 ¼" x 42⅝". Courtesy of Mead Art Museum, Amherst College. Accession number AC P.1939.7. George Caleb Bingham, Daniel Boone Escorting Settlers through the Cumberland Gap, 1851–52. Oil on canvas, 36½" x 50¼". Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis. Gift of Nathaniel Phillips, 1890. Daniel Boone Protects His Family. Color lithograph by H. Schile, 1874. Based on Horatio Greenough’s monumental sculpture The Rescue (1836–53). Missouri Historical Society Photographs and Prints Collection. NS21599. Scan© 2007, Missouri Historical Society. [18.117...