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Daniel Boone (1734-1820), the pathfinder and politician, has had much written about him. It is not the intent here to duplicate much of that well known information, but to relate a few experiences during the time when Boone was under the employ of the Transylvania Company. These experiences attempt to show a relationship between Boone and Hart. |
The time that Boone was captured by the Shawnee Indians, which later resulted in Boone being tried for treason is related on the Fort Boonesborough page and will not be repeated here.
"On July 14, 1776, a narrow escape from tragedy drew attention to the need for more adequate protection for Kentucky settlements. That afternoon Betsy and Frances Callaway, the daughters of Richard Callaway, and Jemima, the second daughter of Daniel Boone, went for a boat ride on the Kentucky River in the only canoe at Boonesborough. At the bend in the river below the station the current carried them to the opposite shore and they were captured by six Indians." (Rice)
"The girls knew they would be pursued and devised all manners of excuses for leaving a plainly marked trail. They broke twigs and bushes. Betsey secretly shredded her linen handkerchief and dropped pieces of it strategically near their path. Until she had her heels knocked off her shoes by the Indians, she dug them deeply into every soft spot she could find." (Lofaro)
It took two days for the rescue party to catch up with the Indians and their captives. They "overtook the Indians before they reached the Licking River. The pursuers killed three of the six Indians, the remaining three escaping through the brush.: (Rice)
"In the spring of 1776, David Hart went to Kentucky and spent some time there with his brother, Nathaniel, near Boonesborough; and assisted, along with Nathaniel, in the rescue of Elizabeth and Frances Callaway and Jemima Boone who had been kidnapped by the Indians, July 7, 1776." (Henderson)
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The
rescue of Jemima Boone and Betsey and Fanny Callaway, kidnapped from Boonesborough
by Indians in July 1776. A. Crafts, Pioneers in the Settlement of America (Boston, 1877) |
"The adventure of the three girls caused a sensation of the frontier. The story was as eagerly received on the seaboard and further heightened Daniel Boone's reputation as a wilderness scout and Indian fighter. Years later, James Fenimore Cooper used the episode as the basis for the captivity and rescue of Alice and Cora in The Last of the Mohicans, and the main character of his Leatherstocking Tales always seemed to bear a strong general resemblance to Boone." (Loforo)
"Following the acquisition of a number of settlements and pre-emptions, granted by the Virginia Commissioners in 1779 and 1780, Daniel Boone was dispatched by a number of Kentuckians to Williamsburg to pay the fees at the Virginia land office for the warrants."(Henderson)
"From his land sales Boone had raised about $20,000, and had been given additional money to purchase warrants by the Harts. Boone had between forty and fifty thousand dollars in cash in his saddlebags when he began his journey." (Loforo)
There are conflicting stories as to exactly what happened with this great some of money. Here's one version: "At the inn in James City, Virginia, described as Painter's Fork, Boone while asleep was robbed of the entire amount. The incident caused much criticism and injured his reputation".(Henderson)
Over the years, Boone paid this lost money back to the contributors, except for the Harts. "The Hart brothers, who had lost the most, saw the matter differently. In a letter dated August 3, 1780, Thomas Hart summed up their position on the robbery: 'I feel for the poor people who perhaps are to loose even their preemptions by it, but I must say I feel more for poor Boone whose character I am told suffers by it.' Hart praised Boone as a 'Just' and 'Upright' person, who even in the most 'Wretched Sircumstances' was 'a Noble and generous soul.' He concluded his comments by stating that 'therefore I will freely grant him a discharge for whatever sums of mine he might be possest of at the time.' "(Loforo)
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A
tree carving by Daniel Boone: |