How well do you know your folklore heroes? Part 2: Daniel Boone

"I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks." ~Daniel Boone

When most people think of Daniel Boone, they think of Davy Crockett. Almost everyone I interviewed openly acknowledged that they got the two characters and stories mixed up (Note the "killed the bar" rumor, the coonskin cap, and the Cumberland gap uncertainty). Even the basic image that springs to mind is the same for both characters, for many people. And as my dad pointed out, I would imagine that a large part of this is due to Fess Parker, who played both roles as the same basic "tough guy in leather" character in films in the 1950s and 1960s. But this would not explain how I or my siblings would confuse the two, seeing as none of us has ever seen a movie of Davy Crockett or Daniel Boone. For proof that this mix-up carries "continuity over time and space," I suggest you check out this link. It also has really great side by side pictures of Fess Parker as Boone and Crockett.

What does he look like?

Dad: Also like Fess Parker. Pretty young. Coonskin cap.
Mom: 30s. Looks the same as Davy Crockett. Not big or muscular. Carries rifle.
Sarah: 30. He has a beard. Wears a coonskin cap. Carries canteen and a rifle. Wears Indian clothes and leather.
Hannah: He has long white hair and he's an old man.

Why is he famous?

Dad: The "quintessential" frontiersman. One of the earliest settlers. Killed a bear. Got to know the Indians and get their respect.
Mom: Something to do with Kentucky. He worked with Indians. He was an outdoorsman.
Sarah: A guide in the West.
Hannah: Did something in Congress. Rescued girls from Indians. Might have blazed Cumberland Gap trail.

Was he real?

All: Yes.

Daniel Boone was a real person. He was born October 2, 1734 (which became November 2 under the Gregorian calendar) and died in Missouri on September 26, 1820, at the age of 85. He was a hunter, explorer, and frontiersman, and is most famously associated with exploring and settling the state of Kentucky. He helped clear a trail through Cumberland Gap in 1769. There are several trees in the South bearing his initials (D. Boon), and noting that he "kilt" or "cilled" a "bar" in this place and such and such a year. In 1776, his daughters were captured by Indians outside of Boonesborough, Kentucky, and he and a group of men rescued them two days later. Most accounts state that he was kidnapped by Indians at one time, and even adopted into a Shawnee tribe. He actually wore a black felt cap instead of a coonskin cap. The song "I sing the pioneer: Daniel Boone" portrays Boone as anti-industrialization, uncomfortable in society, and always seeking to live in open, wild, untamed lands:

Peace! And the settlers flocked anew,

The farm lands spread, the town lands grew;

But Daniel Boone was ill at ease

When he saw the smoke in his forest trees.

"There'll be no game in the country soon.

Elbowroom!" cried Daniel Boone.