Daniel Boone: Pioneer and Trailblazer Name __________________ (1) The most famous scout of the American forest, Daniel Boone (1734-1820), became known while still young as a mighty hunter and woodsman. He believed that God had chosen him to lead America westward. (2) But until he was 35, Boone was just one more farmer who plowed his Carolina fields. Yet people said his gray-blue eyes had the look of aim and discovery in them. He had a dream of a rich land and a happy people – the future Bluegrass State. Kentucky, however, lay beyond a virtually unexplored wilderness. Few people had even been there and most had not made it back to tell of it. Those who had returned spoke of a rich black soil, clover meadows for grazing, and of deer and buffalo past counting.

(3) On a May morning in 1769, Boone set out to reach Caintuck, as the land was called by the Native Americans. The word meant “among the meadows.” With Boone went six men – in all, seven “Long Hunters.” They were so called because they were long absent from home. Behind him Boone left a failing farm, a wife, Rebecca, a crop of barefoot children, and all his cares. Ahead of him lay adventure and discovery. Boone also hoped to gain wealth and freedom while avoiding danger. (4) The way led over the Blue Ridge and the Great Smokies to the last outpost of the colonists in Tennessee. Then began a region of sharp tossing ridges and of rivers that howled in their deep gorges like wildcats. Trees were so thick they could not fall but leaned dead against each other, while vines as wide as a man’s leg wound up the timber in unbreakable cables. The only way through it all was what was called the Warriors’ Path. (5) The Long Hunters set their feet upon the Warriors’ Path. The trail was the Native Americans’ secret, the settlers’ dread. To walk it unaware was to risk death.

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(6) Rebecca Boone did not see her husband again for nearly two years. And when Daniel returned, he was empty-handed. He had lost everything, even his horses. But in the wilderness he had learned to walk as the Native Americans did, along fallen trees or over rocks and up streams. He knew how to break his trail by swinging on the great ropes of wild grapes. (7) He learned to make friends with those he had thought were his enemies. Instead of his rifle he learned to use his care and cleverness. Once, the story goes, he was surrounded as he slept. He saved his life by sitting up with a laugh and shaking hands all around with the Indians. They let him go. (8) Boone had got out of Kentucky alive that time, but the Native Americans he befriended advised him not to return. He now knew too much: he knew the course of the Warriors’ Path through the Cumberland Gap; he knew the bison herds and springs and salt licks of the Great Meadows. But in September of 1773 six families decided to head to Caintuck. They chose Boone as guide.

(9) This was the opening he had been looking for and he took his own family with him. On the Warriors’ Path, however, there was a battle in which several of the men died. Among them was Dan’s son James, 16 years old. The frightened families turned back to safety. But Boone was fixed in his purpose: “to make a way in the wilderness.” (10) Boone’s next chance came in 1775. Then he swung his ax for the first blow in the breaking of the Wilderness Trail across Kentucky. At the end of the Trail, Daniel Boone founded a new settlement: Boonesborough. For 20 years this village was a place of rest for pioneers after the long hard Trail. It was the fitting-outplace for further settlement. (11) Beyond Boonesborough lay another wilderness. So close was the breath of danger that when Dan’s 14-year-old daughter Jemima and two other girls crossed the green river in a canoe one day they were kidnapped by the Shawnees and taken far into the forest. But the girls stamped heel-marks as they were dragged along, broke the bushes, and left

George Caleb Bingham painted “Daniel Boone Escorting Settlers through the Cumberland Gap” in 1851. This painting, completed years after Boone’s death, helped establish the mythical legend of Daniel Boone and tries to show the glory of western expansion His wife Rebecca Boone, atop the horse, is meant to symbolize the courageous spirit of pioneer women.

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scraps of red petticoats. And Dan, with three companions right beside him, read the signs as he rode two days in pursuit. (12) Rescue was a ticklish business – at the first alarm the girls might be killed or taken further away. But Dan’s rifle did not miss in the battle, and the other guns cracked in unison with it. In a few moments Jemima was in her father’s arms and safe. (13) After years of back and forth fighting with the Native Americans, the two sides decided to stop killing each other and fly the white flag of peace. But peace on the land brought little peace of mind to Daniel Boone. He had opened a green kingdom yet still lived in poverty. Years after the Bluegrass State grew rich, Daniel and Rebecca Boone were still very poor. (14) Daniel Boone, nearly 70, felt that it was time to find a new frontier. At the little settlement of St. Louis, in Spanish Missouri, he was given 8,500 acres. No sooner was he settled than hundreds came pouring after him from Kentucky. Better still, his sons and daughters and their families all settled near him. (15) The last years were quiet years, though he still looked ahead toward the blue skies of the West. In the War of 1812 he volunteered and was disappointed to be turned down because he was 78. At age 80 he longed to get to the Rockies and even talked of golden California. One after another the great exploring expeditions passed his way – young men, strong men, rolling back the frontier. Sometimes they recognized Boone as he sat watching them from the riverbank, cradling his long silver rifle in his hands. (16) Boone spent his last days carrying his grandchildren on his shoulders, playing with pet otter and beaver cubs, and woodworking. In 1820 he drew a peaceful final breath and was buried, beside his wife Rebecca, in a cherry red casket of his own making. (17) Daniel Boone’s body now lies in the state capital of Kentucky, under a monument faced with white marble. But the real Daniel Boone does not rest there. You find him in all things brave and free. He is in the spirited running of a doe and the bright coming of a day. He is the wind in the bluegrass, the path like a shaft of light in the wilderness, the Trail, and the red, white, and blue of the American dream. Exercise A: Underline the correct answer to each of these questions. (RI.6.1)

1) What made Kentucky especially attractive for settlement?

A) good water B) minerals

C) rich soil D) large trees

2) Why did Boone and his companions choose the Warriors’ Path?

A) They loved danger. B) It was the only way through.

C) It led to a settlers’ outpost. D) Boone had made friends with the Indians.

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3) To what does the word long refer to in the phrase Long Hunters?

A) time B) distance

C) height D) appearance

4) Through what well-known opening in the mountains did the Warriors’ Path lead?

A) Rocky Mountain Pass B) Tennessee Break

C) Boonesborough D) Cumberland Gap

5) What did Boone bring back from his first trip to Kentucky?

A) gold and silver B) valuable furs

C) fame and glory D) knowledge and experience only

6) How was Boonesborough useful to other pioneers during the 20 years after it was

settled?

A) as an army fort B) it was where expeditions could be outfitted

C) as the capital of Kentucky D) as the place where Boone’s family gathered

7) When Boone went to St. Louis, to what country did it belong?

A) France B) the United States

C) Spain D) England

8) Why did Boone not fight in the War of 1812?

A) He was busy with grandchildren. B) He felt that he had had enough adventures.

C) He did not support the Americans. D) He was too old.

Exercise B: Read the article again to appreciate the author’s choice of words. Write ten different examples of phrases where the author used color words on the lines below.(RI.5.1) Example: gray-blue eyes

____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ ____________________

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Exercise C: This text was written as a non-fiction article. With Daniel Boone, it is hard to know what is fact and what is legend. One historian has called Boone “an American hero who lived to enjoy life ……unafraid of exploring new territory and making new connections.” In the 1850s, however, Boone’s own granddaughter said of his earliest biographers: “….they have none of them taken much pains to find particulars (facts), and I find in them all inaccuracies.” Do you believe all of the stories from Boone’s life in this text? There are some that certainly seem more likely to be true than others. Use the organizational boxes below and then write your conclusion about the accuracy of the article when you are done. (RI.6.3)

Likely True Likely Exaggerated Conch Union

My Conclusion: _________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Exercise D: In each paragraph indicated in parenthesis, find a fourth synonym for each group of words. Write the word on the line that follows. (L.4.5.C)

1) purpose, goal, intention (paragraph 2) ___________________________

2) opportunity, chance, occasion (par. 9) ___________________________

3) determined, set, resolved (par. 9) ___________________________

4) established, settled, started (par. 10) ___________________________

5) offered, enlisted, signed up (par. 15) ___________________________

   

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ANSWERS

Exercise A 1) C 2) B 3) A 4) D 5) D 6) B 7) C 8) D Exercise B The article has many phrases with color words. Examples include:

gray-blue eyes Bluegrass black soil

Blue Ridge green river white flag

blue skies golden California silver rifle

cherry red casket white marble green kingdom

red, white, and blue of the American dream red petticoats

Exercise C **The parts of the article that are most likely to be true and entirely factual are those involving dates, numbers, and names. For example, leaving for Caintuck in May, 1769, leaving again as a guide in September, 1773 with six families, Dan’s son dying at age 16, the founding of Boonesborough, being given 8,500 acres in St. Louis, his death in 1820, and his gravesite in the state capital of Kentucky. **The parts of the article that may be exaggerated involve heroism and things that make Boone seem superhuman in some way. These include “people said his gray-blue eyes had the look of aim and discovery in them.” “To walk it unaware was to risk death.“ Also the tales of heroism in paragraphs 7 and 11, 12 as well as the story of him sitting watching explorers and drawing a peaceful last breath in paragraphs 15 and 16 seem likely examples of exaggeration. Exercise D 1) aim 2) opening 3) fixed 4) founded 5) volunteered

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