The Trail of Daniel Boone
He certainly was a traveling gentleman, but
thanks to Col. J. Hampton Rich, his wander¬
ings in North Carolina have been marked
in such a manner that they'll never be
forgotten.
MY FRIEND and college class¬
mate, Major J. Hampton
Rich, of Winston, is one of
the most versatile of men. and is
quite at home under all circum¬
stances. Royalty does not faze him.
He delights in hobnobbing with the
British nobility and the dignitaries
of Parliament, he has edited a mag¬
azine, written sundry county histo¬
ries, organized divers historical
and genealogical societies, made
excavations of Indian mounds, and
engaged in a host of other activi¬
ties. But the serious business of his
life has been the study of Daniel
Boone, and he has marked the trail
of that elusive frontiersman at Bos¬
ton, Virginia Beach. Chapel Hill,
and scores of other places. I am
not certain just what Boone could
have been doing at Chapel Hill at
that early date, but my guess is that
he was hunting for the Davie pop¬
lar.
Born in Pennsylvania
Boone was born in 1746 in Penn¬
sylvania, but his father emigrated
to North Carolina when Daniel was
but a lad and settled near Hole-
man’s ford on the Yadkin, some
eight miles from Wilkesboro.
From hence he made excursions
into the wilderness, and the capi¬
tal of our beautiful mountain
county of Watauga is named in his
honor. Some of the irreverent
claim that Boone did not come east
much further than the Yadkin, but
they have not devoted themselves
to the study of Boone with the
assiduity of Major Rich. The Major
has devoted much of his time to a
scholarly and painstaking effort to
trace out the wanderings of Boone
over eastern Carolina, and to care¬
fully mark the trails for the infor¬
mation and guidance of posterity.
1 am quite prepared to believe that
Boone wandered all over the east.
He evidently knew a good thing
when he saw it, for he paid a visit
to my home town of Lumberton.
Some “lewd fellows of the baser
sort" may scoff at this, but we can
prove it, for upon the grounds of
our high school is located a marker
— and a very pretty one it is, too —
By H. C. LAWRENCE
which states quite plainly "Boone
Trail."
In 1769 with several compan¬
ions, he led an expedition into the
wilderness of Kentucky, and by
midsummer had penetrated as far
as the Cumberland River. In 1771
he returned to North Carolina, sold
his form on the Yadkin, and with
five families left again for Ken¬
tucky. Others joined him, but en
route his party was attacked by the
Indians and six were killed, includ¬
ing Boone’s oldest son. They were
forced to retreat to the Clinch
River, the territory now covered
by the waters of the lake formed
by the Norris dam of the Tennes¬
see Valley Authority.
Captured by Indians
In 1774 Boone was employed by
the Governor of Virginia to lead a
party of surveyors to the falls of
the Ohio, a feat which he accom¬
plished in sixty days. In 1778 he
was captured by the Miami Indians
and carried captive to other hunt¬
ing grounds, but they were so im¬
pressed with their captive that in¬
stead of scalping him they adopted
him into their tribe. He escaped
and returned to Boonesborough
which he had founded and which
was named after him. Skirmishes
with the Indians were of almost
daily occurrence.
In 1798 Boone left Kentucky say¬
ing it was too crowded and' that
he needed elbow room. He went to
Missouri, where he lived until 1813,
when his wife died. Thereafter he
lived with his son, Major Nathan
Boone until he died in 1818.
Judge Richard Henderson was a
towering figure in the life of Colo¬
nial Carolina, and one of his pres¬
ent-day descendants is something
of a figure himself — Dr. Archibald
Henderson of the University of
North Carolina. In 1775 Judge
Richard Henderson with several
associates formed the famous
Transylvania Company for the pur¬
pose of purchasing western lands
from the Indians. The word means,
in its native language I pardon my
display of scholarship) “across the
woods,” and the company was
quite properly named, as there
were several quite large stretches
of woods between Hillsboro and
Kentucky.
Conference with Indians
Knowing of Boone’s great influ¬
ence with the Indians, his aid was
sought and obtained, and a confer¬
ence and pow-wow was held with
the Cherokee Indians, at which
there was much smoking of the
pipe of peace, and possibly just a
little drinking of firewater on the
side. At any rate, as the result of
this pow-wow. the Indians ceded
to the Transylvania Company all
the land between the Cumberland
and the Kentucky rivers, a nice lit¬
tle tract embracing a considerable
part of Tennessee and Kentucky.
It is related that a daughter of
Boone and two of Colonel Calloway
were captured and carried off by
the Indians. The ladies had the
foresight to snap off twigs from the
bushes as they were carried along,
making it easy for a trained woods¬
man like Boone to follow them.
Here. I think, can be found a prece¬
dent for the trail-marking proclivi¬
ties of Major Rich. Boone finally
tracked down the raiding party,
killed two of the Indians and res¬
cued the ladies. This incident was
used by James Fennimore Cooper
in his “Last of the Mohicans." The
romance was fully completed too.
for in due course one of the rescued
ladies married a brother of Judge
Henderson.
The Transylvania Company had
acquired the lands from the In¬
dians, but the English king was
rude enough to contend that he
owned the land and that the In¬
dians had no title thereto. There¬
fore. the Royal governors of Vir¬
ginia and North Carolina issued
proclamations declaring the trans¬
action void. In September 1775, the
Transylvania Company sent one of
( Continued on page 22)
THE STATE. NOVEMBER 2. 1946
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