What do you think?
Rate this book
Daniel Boone: The Pioneer of Kentucky
Daniel Boone is regarded as the first real American folk hero. Without his cunning bravery, settlement west of the Appalachians may not have been made possible for years. Boone’s Wilderness Road, which is still used today, helped bridge the Cumberland Gap, granting access to the state of Kentucky from Pennsylvania.
Thanks to the writing of John S. C. Abbot, the life and genius of Boone can truly be appreciated through Daniel Boone: The Pioneer of Kentucky. Find out just how Boone crafted his Wilderness Trail, what he did to make it happen, and how he overcame the struggles of life in late eighteenth century America.
All of Boone’s greatest achievements can be found in Abbott’s words, including:
• The birth of Wilderness Road
• Boone’s time served in the Revolutionary War
• How he managed to live among the Shawnee Native American warriors
• His time in the Virginia General Assembly
Daniel Boone lived a modest life in his later years, settling down in St. Louis, where he managed land for the rest of his life. If it were not for Abbott’s book, the real story of Daniel Boone may never have been told.
Excerpt :
The name of Daniel Boone is a conspicuous one in the annals of our country. And yet there are but few who are familiar with the events of his wonderful career, or who have formed a correct estimate of the character of the man. Many suppose that he was a rough, coarse backwoodsman, almost as savage as the bears he pursued in the chase, or the Indians whose terrors he so perseveringly braved. Instead of this he was one of the most mild and unboastful of men; feminine as a woman in his tastes and his deportment, never uttering a coarse word, never allowing himself in a rude action. He was truly one of nature's gentle men. With all this instinctive refinement and delicacy, there was a boldness of character which seemed absolutely incapable of experiencing the emotion of fear. And surely all the records of chivalry may be searched in vain for a career more full of peril and of wild adventure.
This narrative reveals a state of society and habitudes of life now rapidly passing into oblivion.
Thanks to the writing of John S. C. Abbot, the life and genius of Boone can truly be appreciated through Daniel Boone: The Pioneer of Kentucky. Find out just how Boone crafted his Wilderness Trail, what he did to make it happen, and how he overcame the struggles of life in late eighteenth century America.
All of Boone’s greatest achievements can be found in Abbott’s words, including:
• The birth of Wilderness Road
• Boone’s time served in the Revolutionary War
• How he managed to live among the Shawnee Native American warriors
• His time in the Virginia General Assembly
Daniel Boone lived a modest life in his later years, settling down in St. Louis, where he managed land for the rest of his life. If it were not for Abbott’s book, the real story of Daniel Boone may never have been told.
Excerpt :
The name of Daniel Boone is a conspicuous one in the annals of our country. And yet there are but few who are familiar with the events of his wonderful career, or who have formed a correct estimate of the character of the man. Many suppose that he was a rough, coarse backwoodsman, almost as savage as the bears he pursued in the chase, or the Indians whose terrors he so perseveringly braved. Instead of this he was one of the most mild and unboastful of men; feminine as a woman in his tastes and his deportment, never uttering a coarse word, never allowing himself in a rude action. He was truly one of nature's gentle men. With all this instinctive refinement and delicacy, there was a boldness of character which seemed absolutely incapable of experiencing the emotion of fear. And surely all the records of chivalry may be searched in vain for a career more full of peril and of wild adventure.
This narrative reveals a state of society and habitudes of life now rapidly passing into oblivion.
183 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1872
134 people are currently reading
257 people want to read
About the author
John S.C. Abbott
283 books25 followersJohn Stevens Cabot Abbott (Andover Theological Seminary; Bowdoin College, 1825) was a historian, Congregationalist pastor, and pedagogical writer. With his brothers, including Gorham and Jacob Abbott, he was a co-founder of Abbott Collegiate Institute for Young Ladies in New York City.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
January 22, 2023
Daniel Boone was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. I learned a lot from this book. Most of what I thought I knew about Daniel Boone apparently was from the myths of movies and TV shows. I had no idea he was born in Pennsylvania, lived in North Carolina a long time before and after Kentucky then ended up in Missouri. I always thought he was 100% Kentuckian. Daniel Boone has stood the test of time as a historical figure and his most remarkable accomplishment was mere survival. In fact, learning of his life is an intertwining fascination with the time period of the mid and late 1700's. The book goes into the battling the elements, the native Americans, and disease made mortality commonplace. The book jumps around a lot in fact the first 1/3 of the book details how America was discovered and the different lands that were ceded to America from Spain and France. The author seems to be setting the stage for the adventures that Boone will encounter as he discovers these new lands. This book is well researched and well thought out. It can be dry, at times, but is informative, and brings down the barriers of legend versus fact, and paints a clearer picture of the myth and the legend.
January 5, 2020
Took over two years to read this book, but I’m glad I completed it.
What an inspiring, visceral, despairing, and worthy of cinema—book.
I grew up watching Walt Disney’s version of Boone’s adventures, and hope to see it on cinema in modern day once more.
What an inspiring, visceral, despairing, and worthy of cinema—book.
I grew up watching Walt Disney’s version of Boone’s adventures, and hope to see it on cinema in modern day once more.
September 6, 2016
I really like learning about Daniel Boone, his role in settling Kentucky and the challenges he faced. I felt this was a well researched book and presents an authentic picture of the times and of Boone's life. At time the historical setting got bogged down for me, but I did not give up and I am glad that I did not. I have learned that Boone was a quite, earnest, honorable man with a passion for the peace of frontier, even with all of the challenges presented. The Kindle formating left some to be desired, but it did not deter significantly from the story. I was torn between rating this 3, 4, or 5 stars. I wish it has a little more of a historical fiction writing style (without the fiction), but I understand the author was committed to accurate reflection of Boone's life.
March 24, 2013
This was an easy to read and enjoyable overview of Daniel Boone's life. Having family history that overlaps in a minor way with Boone's story, it was interesting to hear about this adventures and about the pioneering work that he did as opened up the mid-west to settlement. In spite of his legendary status, his personal circumstances were very dark and depressing with the loss of so many of his children and his failure to procure land.
November 2, 2017
Ok, I'm a little bummed that all the versions for this book listed are for the 2010s. This book is older than dirt. Abbott died in the 1870s, if I remember correctly.
I read a lot of these old biographies when I was a kid. They were often written in the style of a true biography -- none of this nonsense of the author inserting him/herself into the narrative4 as if his/her writing the story is the most interesting thing about the book. The old biography's were linear: they started at the beginning and marched toward the end, detailing the subject's life as s/he lived it. Oh, right, and many of them inserted a subtext of moral teaching and Good Christian Pontificating along the way. Never waste a chance to cram a little moral teaching into the reader lest reading be decried as frivolity serving the Devil. Got it. Also? Build up the Great American Hero myth as much as possible. Role models are important. That's why we all grew up believing Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison were righteous geniuses whose success was due to hard work and persistence. You'll find no mention of supporting eugenics or shady business dealings or stolen patents or....
But I digress.
The Abbott family must have been one intersting bunch. Three of the brothers were writers. John was a minister as well as a writer of biographies and histories for adults while brother Jack geared his books more toward children. (I can't remember what the third brother's niche was.) Their stuff would likely bore the short attention span reader of today, but for their time, they were writing exciting stuff.
I read a lot of these old biographies when I was a kid. They were often written in the style of a true biography -- none of this nonsense of the author inserting him/herself into the narrative4 as if his/her writing the story is the most interesting thing about the book. The old biography's were linear: they started at the beginning and marched toward the end, detailing the subject's life as s/he lived it. Oh, right, and many of them inserted a subtext of moral teaching and Good Christian Pontificating along the way. Never waste a chance to cram a little moral teaching into the reader lest reading be decried as frivolity serving the Devil. Got it. Also? Build up the Great American Hero myth as much as possible. Role models are important. That's why we all grew up believing Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison were righteous geniuses whose success was due to hard work and persistence. You'll find no mention of supporting eugenics or shady business dealings or stolen patents or....
But I digress.
The Abbott family must have been one intersting bunch. Three of the brothers were writers. John was a minister as well as a writer of biographies and histories for adults while brother Jack geared his books more toward children. (I can't remember what the third brother's niche was.) Their stuff would likely bore the short attention span reader of today, but for their time, they were writing exciting stuff.
February 21, 2024
If you expected a book on only Daniel Boones life don’t read this. Way too much time spent on history before Daniel Boone. I found the authors writing style very irritating as in way too much detail on everything not related to Boones life.Some people might like this style but not for me!
October 9, 2018
A short biography, just giving the highlights.
May 13, 2013
I read this on a nook, not a kindle, and every time that is true, I will say so in my reviews as a small protest to the notion that amazon has already cornered e-readers. Not yet, not yet.
Okay, so the book. I was torn as to how to rate this. First, you can see from the description that it is very brief as biographies go, just over 150 pp. The information up front was really interesting, one more bit that I wish I'd had before I taught history instead of after (though my students would probably say I was already giving them tmi). WHO KNEW that the entire eastern seaboard of the current USA was once considered "Florida"? There are all sorts of meaty tidbits like this nestled into the text.
Point of view is also useful. Though, being a period piece, American Indians are constantly referred to as "savages" and given such unfair descriptions as "hideous" and so forth, one does get an in-the-moment feeling for what it would be like to be an ambitious Euro-American going forth on the government's promise of 400 acres of lush, fertile farmland ABSOLUTELY FREE, for being among the first hardy souls to shove your way through the wilderness and clear the ground, start a settlement. You haven't been told that there are Cherokees already farming this land. You are merely told that a fort nearby, along with government treaties, will see to it that the Indians don't bother you, but to keep a sharp lookout anyway. So off you go.
The whole modern day stereotype of the stealthy Indian who sneaks up on someone and scalps them in less than thirty seconds really, really happened back then. Natives had figured out that by the time one tried to figure out which Caucasians were going to be fair and honest, and which would lie, that they would lose their land and starve to death when the settlers scared away the game, was true too, but these settlers did not know, and so it helps a bit when examining the history of the North American continent to look at that side of it, and it is laid out very descriptively here.
The irritating part: for 150-some pages, I expected all of them to be about Boone. Instead, for no fathomable reason, forty pages or so are abruptly directed at the Lewis and Clark expedition, which deserves, and has, many many books of its own. I was already well versed on L&C; I live in the NW part of the USA, and it is the bread and butter of both the tourist industry and local history taught in our schools. I'm tired of it, to be honest, and would not have paid money to read it.
So if you buy this biography, know you are paying for 110 pages of Boone. I got a bargain rate, so it was not so bad. Had I paid full hard cover price, this would be a two-star review at best, and I would be really crabby.
Okay, so the book. I was torn as to how to rate this. First, you can see from the description that it is very brief as biographies go, just over 150 pp. The information up front was really interesting, one more bit that I wish I'd had before I taught history instead of after (though my students would probably say I was already giving them tmi). WHO KNEW that the entire eastern seaboard of the current USA was once considered "Florida"? There are all sorts of meaty tidbits like this nestled into the text.
Point of view is also useful. Though, being a period piece, American Indians are constantly referred to as "savages" and given such unfair descriptions as "hideous" and so forth, one does get an in-the-moment feeling for what it would be like to be an ambitious Euro-American going forth on the government's promise of 400 acres of lush, fertile farmland ABSOLUTELY FREE, for being among the first hardy souls to shove your way through the wilderness and clear the ground, start a settlement. You haven't been told that there are Cherokees already farming this land. You are merely told that a fort nearby, along with government treaties, will see to it that the Indians don't bother you, but to keep a sharp lookout anyway. So off you go.
The whole modern day stereotype of the stealthy Indian who sneaks up on someone and scalps them in less than thirty seconds really, really happened back then. Natives had figured out that by the time one tried to figure out which Caucasians were going to be fair and honest, and which would lie, that they would lose their land and starve to death when the settlers scared away the game, was true too, but these settlers did not know, and so it helps a bit when examining the history of the North American continent to look at that side of it, and it is laid out very descriptively here.
The irritating part: for 150-some pages, I expected all of them to be about Boone. Instead, for no fathomable reason, forty pages or so are abruptly directed at the Lewis and Clark expedition, which deserves, and has, many many books of its own. I was already well versed on L&C; I live in the NW part of the USA, and it is the bread and butter of both the tourist industry and local history taught in our schools. I'm tired of it, to be honest, and would not have paid money to read it.
So if you buy this biography, know you are paying for 110 pages of Boone. I got a bargain rate, so it was not so bad. Had I paid full hard cover price, this would be a two-star review at best, and I would be really crabby.
October 1, 2012
In a James Michener tradition and style, Daniel Boone by John S.C. Abbott begins his history from the beginning; literally. The first few chapters of this biography outline the discovery and exploration of North and South America. In long and interesting chapters the development and settlement of the New World is relayed. The biography of this well known folks-hero starts with the first written record of his father Squire Boone. Daniel was the sixth of eleven children and took easily to frontier life. The book strays from its biographical subject to describe how the social and political climate changed with the expansion into new territories and the break from England. This latter doesn’t seem to have affected either him or his way of life as he was far away from the political and social turmoil along the eastern Atlantic coast. Boone was both respected and feared by the Indians in the areas in which he explored and helped settle. I feel sure that some of the stories written of him and other frontiersmen are slightly blown out of proportion but the work, as a whole, is both interesting and informative. I am looking forward to reading more of Abbott’s work.
April 10, 2025
A popular-format story of American frontier explorer and adventurer Daniel Boone.
Mostly covers the settling of Kentucky and the Indian wars.
The events described took place during the American war for independence. The slimy British were helping and supporting the Indians to attack the colonists in Kentucky.
This book is available for free at Project Gutenberg.
Mostly covers the settling of Kentucky and the Indian wars.
The events described took place during the American war for independence. The slimy British were helping and supporting the Indians to attack the colonists in Kentucky.
This book is available for free at Project Gutenberg.
November 17, 2012
This biography of Daniel Boone goes all over the place. It tells brief tales of how the North American continent was explored then tells a little of Daniel Boone then all of a sudden veers off and tells the story of some random settler in Kentucky before heading back to Daniel Boone.
October 6, 2016
Abbott once again uses amazing description, of not just his main character, but also of the life and times surrounding them. Anyone with an adventurous heart and love of an independent spirit will appreciate the story of this British, Indian, Spanish, French and American citizen.
January 30, 2018
Tough as nails
Daniel Boone put up with a lot of crazy shenanigans from a lot of different people and groups while settling KY. The writing is ok, but not stellar. However, it should not deter one from reading this boom. There are so many things to learn from his life.
Daniel Boone put up with a lot of crazy shenanigans from a lot of different people and groups while settling KY. The writing is ok, but not stellar. However, it should not deter one from reading this boom. There are so many things to learn from his life.
Read
August 22, 2012Really convaded the history of nota only Daniel Boone but the times hewas living in. Written with energy and adventure found in most great westerns but with all the truth of a great man's life.
August 15, 2014
Great book. I learned a lot about Daniel Boone I did not know.
September 4, 2015
Wow, these pioneers were some tough folks! Next time I feel I've got it rough I need to read this last third of this book
May 4, 2020
There were some interesting facts and stories about Daniel Boone; however, there was a lot of the stories that had nothing to do with the man.
February 23, 2021
Great book
May 3, 2017
Fact Is Better Than Fiction
Before I read this all I knew of Daniel Boone came from the television series of the 60s. Now that I've read this his life was more interesting than what I saw on tv.
Before I read this all I knew of Daniel Boone came from the television series of the 60s. Now that I've read this his life was more interesting than what I saw on tv.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews