Daniel Boone played a crucial role in the exploration and settlement of
Kentucky
and the American west. By
the time of is death, Boone had become a legend, and so he remains.
But much of what Americans think they know about
Dan
iel Boone is off the mark. Neither
a backwoods bumpkin nor an epic slayer of Indians, Boone was an intrepid
explorer and natural leader whose actual exploits amply justify his
larger-than-life reputations.
Boone
first seriously explored
Kentucky
in 1769.
In 1775 he led the expedition that founded Boonesborough in
present-day
Madison
County
.
John Vardeman was one of the original twenty “experienced
backwoodsmen” to accompany Boone on this epic journey from the
starting point at Sycamore Shoals on the
Watauaga
River
.
Boone and his company of men were instrumental in defending Fort
Boonesborough against the Indians.
But
by 1783 he was in Limestone (now Maysville) running a trading post.
He moved east to the
Kanawha
Valley
(now
West Virginia
), then back to
Kentucky
.
Finally, in 1799 his land lost due to legal technicalities, Boone
moved to
Missouri
.
He died there in 1820. What
are believed to be the bodies of Boone and his wife were removed to
Kentucky
and re-interred in
Frankfort
Cemetery
in 1845.
