Daniel Boone

Overview

Daniel Boone (1734–1820) was an American frontiersman whose exploration of Kentucky made him one of the earliest U.S. folk heroes. He blazed the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap in 1775, founded Boonesborough, and helped open the West to more than 200,000 settlers. Boone served as a militia officer during the Revolutionary War, was captured and adopted by the Shawnee before escaping, and later moved to Missouri, where he lived out his final years.