Daniel Boone

                Daniel Boone was born on November 2, 1734, in Berks County, Pennsylvania.  He learned to read and write but received little formal education.  He was an expert rifleman, hunter, and trapper by age twelve.  He married Rebecca Bryan about 1755.

                Boone was part of the unsuccessful mission to capture Fort Duquesne in 1755 and escaped from the bloody ambush.  He later led an expedition into Kentucky where he eventually settled and endured many hardships.  Boone and twenty-seven of his men were captured by Indians in 1778; he was taken to the Indian village and adopted by Flack Fish, a distinguished Shawnee Chief, to replace his deceased son.  Boone was honored and respected by the members of the tribe.  He escaped by traveling one hundred and sixty miles on foot in four days while being pursued by several hundred Indians. 

                Daniel Boone had great influence in opening the wilderness beyond the Alleghenies to millions of Americans.  He died on September 26, 1820, in Missouri at the age of eighty-six years.