Daniel Boone and the Wilderness Road

This lively and detailed biography of Daniel Boone celebrates his pioneering spirit as a frontiersman in colonial-era America, and soldier during the Revolutionary War.

Famous for embodying the enterprising spirit of the American colonists, Boone’s life was somewhat mythologized in the years following his death. Keen to establish the facts behind the man’s existence, biographer H. Addington Bruce takes us from his earliest beginnings through his youth, and his early adulthood as a hunter and provider to his young family. We see the frontier culture as a time of unprecedented freedom, but steeped in circumstances requiring grit and dedication.

Though Boone is frequently remembered for his martial spirit as a soldier, the facts of his life reveal a more nuanced portrait. In one encounter with Native Americans, Boone leads their scouts to an overlook and shows them the superior force of the colonists; in doing so, he persuaded the tribesmen to lay down their arms, avoiding bloodshed. On multiple occasions Boone faced down accusations of treason or misconduct, emerging every time as a person with conviction in their actions and a wish to do right by his countrymen.

A committed outdoorsman, Daniel Boone embarked on wilderness treks well into old age, eventually retiring to his log cabin in rural Missouri.