FRONTIERSMEN Ep. 2 | Daniel Boone: “Battle For Boonesborough”

Interactive Transcript

spk_0 4.

spk_0 Forty-year-old Daniel Boone was no stranger to frontier violence.

spk_0 But in early 1774 reports swirled throughout the British colonies that startled even the

spk_0 most intrepid frontiersmen.

spk_0 Ambushes, massacres, and mutilations by Shawnee warriors and their allies occurred up and

spk_0 down the Appalachian mountain range.

spk_0 Boone was well aware of the tenacity of frontier warfare.

spk_0 He was born into a Quaker family in Pennsylvania, but most of his life was spent traversing the

spk_0 forests of North Carolina and Virginia colonies.

spk_0 His passion for the woods earned him a reputation as a skilled marksman and ferocious hunter.

spk_0 Even when he married and started a family, Boone always itched for new adventures.

spk_0 During the French and Indian War in which he served as a militiaman, Boone learns tales

spk_0 of an uncharted region called Kentucky which was supposed to be a hunter's paradise.

spk_0 For years Boone dreamed of seeing Kentucky, and when he finally did, he had visions of

spk_0 leading settlers to create a new community.

spk_0 Unfortunately, events throughout the colonies constantly delayed his plans, which was what

spk_0 was happening again in 1774.

spk_0 Tensions between settlers and the indigenous people in the Ohio River Valley had simmered

spk_0 for years.

spk_0 The river itself would eventually help form the boundaries of five American states, and

spk_0 the River Valley as a whole was enormous.

spk_0 It encompassed half of Pennsylvania, most of Ohio and Indiana, parts of Illinois and

spk_0 Virginia, and all of West Virginia and Kentucky.

spk_0 In Kentucky, Boone had already had dangerous and deadly dealings with Ashani.

spk_0 In 1767 during a long hunting expedition, he was captured and held captive by the Shani

spk_0 before he escaped to reunite with his group.

spk_0 Five years later in 1773, while Boone led prospective settlers from North Carolina to

spk_0 Kentucky, his eldest son James died during a Shani attack.

spk_0 That attack essentially ended Boone's first attempt to establish a permanent settlement

spk_0 in Kentucky.

spk_0 He sent his family and many of the 50 potential settlers back home to North Carolina.

spk_0 Now in early 1774, Boone heard of renewed troubles between colonists and Native Americans

spk_0 in the borderlands between Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

spk_0 At a time when the current states of West Virginia and Virginia were one big colony.

spk_0 In the area around what is now the panhandle of West Virginia, the narrow strip of land

spk_0 that is sandwiched between Ohio and Pennsylvania, the previously sporadic back and forth killings

spk_0 became more concentrated.

spk_0 In mid-April, groups of Cherokee stole horses and killed colonists in at least two separate

spk_0 attacks.

spk_0 In response, colonial men launched raids against any Native Americans they could find.

spk_0 On April 27 and 28, the colonists attacked two separate groups of peaceful Native Americans,

spk_0 one of which had recently arrived at a fort to trade for goods.

spk_0 On April 30, many of the same colonial men assembled at a spot on yellow creek in what

spk_0 is now the northernmost tip of the West Virginia panhandle.

spk_0 There are numerous versions of the story of the events that followed, but the most common

spk_0 is that the men gathered to defend the family of a man named Baker.

spk_0 Baker ran a tavern on yellow creek, and he had heard that a party of Mingo were coming to

spk_0 kill him and his family.

spk_0 The Mingo were sometimes identified as a singular tribe and sometimes as a collection of people

spk_0 who came from other tribes in the Iroquois Confederation.

spk_0 And the name Mingo is common in West Virginia today.

spk_0 That day in April 1774, the story says that a group of Mingo arrived at Baker's tavern

spk_0 and started drinking heavily, without knowing that more than 20 colonial men were hiding

spk_0 in a back room.

spk_0 The colonial men attacked the Mingo and killed nearly all in the group.

spk_0 Then the attackers rushed outside and saw more Mingo crossing yellow creek into canoes.

spk_0 The attackers shot and killed most of the Mingo in the first canoe, which caused the people

spk_0 in the second canoe to frantically turn around and paddle back across the creek.

spk_0 There's no reliable figure for the number of dead, but it was likely in the double digits.

spk_0 And in the most gory versions of the story, at least one of the colonial men subjected

spk_0 some of the Native American victims to gruesome and horrifying mutilations.

spk_0 Regardless of the details, the attack became known as the yellow creek massacre.

spk_0 When word spread, the Mingo and their formidable allies, the Shawnee, responded by attacking

spk_0 colonial settlers.

spk_0 Before long, the conflict known as Lord Dunmore's War was underway, and Daniel Boone would

spk_0 once again answer the call to arms.

spk_0 From Black Barrel Media, this is an American Frontier series on Legends of the Old West.

spk_0 I'm your host Chris Wimmer, and this season we're telling the stories of two of America's

spk_0 most famous frontiersmen, Daniel Boone and Davey Crockett.

spk_0 This is Episode 2, Daniel Boone Part 2.

spk_0 Battle for Boone's Girl.

spk_0 In the days following the yellow creek massacre, the Mingo and their Shawnee allies were

spk_0 hell-bent on vengeance, and they began attacking settlers with impunity.

spk_0 The violence got so bad that the Virginia House of Burgesses declared war on the Shawnee

spk_0 and the Mingo.

spk_0 The conflict was called Lord Dunmore's War, named after Lord Dunmore, John Murray, the

spk_0 governor of Virginia, and it had wider implications than back and forth reprisals by both sides.

spk_0 For Governor Dunmore, the war was a chance to finally establish a firm and protected

spk_0 border for his colony.

spk_0 For many settlers, the war was an opportunity to acquire more land, and for some, the

spk_0 war gave settlers a reason to avenge those who died at the hands of the Shawnee.

spk_0 In the opening stages of the war, Governor Dunmore knew that there were numerous land

spk_0 surveyors along the Virginia-Kentucky border who were examining land for future settlements.

spk_0 Realizing the men had no clue that war had broken out, Dunmore called on his militia

spk_0 leaders to find two of the best woodsmen who could quickly venture out and warn the

spk_0 surveyors.

spk_0 The leaders put forth Daniel Boone's name right away.

spk_0 The second woodsman was a German-American hunter named Michael Stoner.

spk_0 The militia leaders found Boone in Western Virginia while he was on a trip to visit the grave

spk_0 of his son James.

spk_0 Boone and Stoner set out on June 26.

spk_0 As they began their journey, they realized that most of the surveyors had moved deep into Eastern Kentucky.

spk_0 Instead of being on the Virginia border, the men were in the heart of Shawnee territory.

spk_0 For 61 grueling days, Boone and Stoner traversed more than 800 miles.

spk_0 They managed to find multiple surveyor parties, and they relayed the news about the war.

spk_0 But the woodsmen also discovered the dead and mutilated bodies of surveyors who had been

spk_0 unlucky to run into the Shawnee.

spk_0 Boone and Stoner instructed the lucky ones to return to Virginia as quickly as possible.

spk_0 Finally, in August, the two woodsmen headed home.

spk_0 By some miracle, they themselves did not come into conflict with the Shawnee.

spk_0 And when they returned to Virginia, they were heralded as heroes.

spk_0 And after reporting to his superiors, Daniel Boone became a lieutenant in the militia

spk_0 and was given command of Fort Blackmore and Fort Cowan, located in Southern Virginia

spk_0 near the North Carolina border.

spk_0 In the months that followed, Boone and his militia men kept Shawnee incursions at bay,

spk_0 brief but ferocious attacks took place, and the militia repulsed the warriors.

spk_0 Unfortunately, few details of the skirmishes survived, but for his leadership in combat,

spk_0 Boone was promoted to Captain. He had learned how to defend important strategic locations

spk_0 without any formal military training. It quickly became obvious that Daniel Boone was a natural leader.

spk_0 While Boone kept Fort Blackmore and Fort Cowan on alert, the Virginia militia scored a major

spk_0 victory at the Battle of Point Pleasant, located in modern-day West Virginia on October 10, 1774.

spk_0 While the first continental congress met in Philadelphia to discuss the future of the American colonies,

spk_0 375 miles to the west, the militia men forced the Shawnee to concede that continuing the war was

spk_0 pointless. While some allied tribes refused to negotiate, chief cornstock of the Shawnee,

spk_0 as he was known to white settlers, agreed to terms with Virginia. The Shawnee gave up some land

spk_0 in Kentucky and agreed to stop harassing settlers. Lord Dunmore's war was officially over,

spk_0 and Daniel Boone believed he had a new opportunity to settle Kentucky. At the start of 1775,

spk_0 he began recruiting settlers who were willing to take the risk.

spk_0 Daniel Boone believed his new venture would be different from his first journey two years earlier.

spk_0 This time, he thought the Shawnee were committed to peace. Thanks to chief cornstock,

spk_0 there was now an agreement between colonists and at least some of the Shawnee.

spk_0 While still a dangerous expedition, Boone assumed the territory was no longer hostile.

spk_0 In addition, Boone had a wealthy sponsor. Richard Henderson was a prosperous former judge in North

spk_0 Carolina, and he wanted to help establish a colony in eastern Kentucky called Transylvania.

spk_0 Henderson and Boone met with Cherokee leaders to purchase 20 million acres of land that

spk_0 overlapped with Shawnee claims. Before Boone dared to bring any women and children to Kentucky,

spk_0 he decided to clear a road through the Cumberland gap to make it easy for future pioneers.

spk_0 On the morning of March 10, 1775, Boone and more than 30 men,

spk_0 shouldered axes and began cutting a trail through the hilly terrain.

spk_0 Unfortunately, the promised peace between settlers and the Shawnee didn't hold.

spk_0 And as the so-called wilderness road crossed into Kentucky, Boone's company was ambushed by Shawnee warriors.

spk_0 During the melee, two of Boone's company, an enslaved man named Sam and Sam's owner,

spk_0 were killed before the rest of the company were able to drive their attackers off.

spk_0 When the fight was done, Boone gave both dead men proper burials.

spk_0 Mercifully for the company, the attack was an isolated incident.

spk_0 After three grueling weeks of work, Boone's company completed the wilderness road into eastern

spk_0 Kentucky along the Kentucky River. The wilderness road, or Boone's trace as it was also known,

spk_0 became the first major route for Americans to venture westward into Kentucky.

spk_0 In April, Boone established a fort to serve as the first attempt to create a permanent settlement.

spk_0 Unsurprisingly, the stockade was named after the man who was responsible for blazing the trail.

spk_0 The fort and the subsequent town constructed at the site was called Boone's Burrow.

spk_0 Today, it's a small community about 15 miles southeast of Lexington.

spk_0 In 1775, it was a compound which featured a giant rectangular perimeter fence

spk_0 with four block houses guarding the corners.

spk_0 When Boone's Burrow was finished, Boone sent for his family to join him in Kentucky.

spk_0 By the time Rebecca Boone arrived with their seven children in May 1775, Boone's Burrow had been joined

spk_0 by two neighboring settlements, Logan's Station and Herod's Burg.

spk_0 Together, the settlements became a triumvirate of fortified locations to welcome settlers.

spk_0 Now that Boone was settled with his family, he was starting to see his dream in Kentucky realized.

spk_0 And while Daniel Boone was, at last, enjoying the fruits of his labor in Kentucky,

spk_0 much was changing in the North American colonies.

spk_0 Many of his fellow settlers in the colonies were exasperated with the British government over

spk_0 laws, taxes, and perceived mistreatment. In the years after the French and Indian War,

spk_0 colonists had increasingly become tired of being treated like second-class citizens.

spk_0 During the years while Boone was fixated on settling Kentucky,

spk_0 there was growing sentiment around the colonies toward the prospect of seeking independence.

spk_0 In the spring of 1775, around the time Boone's Burrow was established,

spk_0 the simmering tension between the colonists and the crown boiled over.

spk_0 The first shots of war were fired at Lexington and Concord on April 19.

spk_0 Two months later, colonial troops fought valiantly at Bunker Hill.

spk_0 As American militiamen clashed with British soldiers, several Native American nations on the

spk_0 frontier saw the brewing war as an opportunity. If they threw in their lot with the British,

spk_0 they could reclaim lands surrendered in treaties with colonial governors.

spk_0 Two of the nations looking to reclaim their lost land, or the Shawnee and the Cherokee,

spk_0 and they had their sights set on Kentucky.

spk_0 The Shawnee and Cherokee sought to stamp out any and all incursions into their territory

spk_0 by colonial settlers. When war broke out between the British and the American colonists,

spk_0 the Shawnee and Cherokee allied with the British.

spk_0 Soon, warriors from both tribes began to attack American settlers whenever they could.

spk_0 The biggest challenge was Boone's Burrow. Daniel Boone's long-time dream of a settled Kentucky,

spk_0 and the immediate urgency of the safety of his family were under threat.

spk_0 Over the course of a year of sporadic fighting from the spring of 1775 to the spring of 1776,

spk_0 Boone became increasingly worried. The settlers hunkered down in the fortified compound of Boone's

spk_0 Burrow, but as Daniel Boone would painfully experience, kids will be kids. They don't always

spk_0 listen to their parents even in times of danger and crisis.

spk_0 On July 14, 1776, Boone's 13-year-old daughter, Jamima, and two friends, Elizabeth and Francis

spk_0 Callaway decided to take a canoe out onto the Kentucky River. As the girls paddled away from

spk_0 Boone's Burrow, they were unaware they were being watched, hidden in the trees, five warriors,

spk_0 three Shawnee and two Cherokee, spied the canoe. When the canoe neared the river bank,

spk_0 one of the warriors jumped out of the brush and grabbed the boat.

spk_0 The girls started to scream, but one of the warriors grabbed a girl and made a gesture of scalping

spk_0 which silenced all of them. Jamima told the warrior that she was Daniel Boone's daughter and

spk_0 claimed that the Callaway sisters were also Boone's children. Jamima assumed that if the warrior

spk_0 knew she was related to Boone, it might save them from mistreatment. The warrior believed

spk_0 Jamima, but that did nothing to stop the abduction. With their captives in tow, the warriors dragged

spk_0 the girls into the woods. As fate would have it, the girl's screams had reverberated across the

spk_0 creek and reached the ears of a few Boone's Burrow residents who were working outside of the

spk_0 settlement's walls. Realizing people were in danger, nine men grabbed their rifles, mounted

spk_0 horses and rode off to investigate. Daniel Boone decided he should go too, having no idea his

spk_0 daughter had been taken. Boone led a small party across a nearby stream and they instantly saw

spk_0 the abandoned canoe and signs of the abduction. Boone and his men raced into the woods and

spk_0 easily picked up the warrior's trail. Part of it was Boone's experience as an expert woodsman

spk_0 and tracker, but the girls also helped. The warriors had horses, but they forced the girls to walk,

spk_0 so the girls dragged their feet to leave marks on the ground. They snapped branches and dropped

spk_0 small bits of cloth from their clothes. Jamima Boone made life especially difficult for the warriors.

spk_0 Like the Callaway sisters, when the warriors made Jamima walk, she dragged her feet. When they

spk_0 put her on a horse, she harassed the animal to the point that it refused to carry her.

spk_0 Boone's search party followed the trail throughout the night. At dawn the next day,

spk_0 Boone made a calculated decision. He feared that if they all followed the trail,

spk_0 the warriors might hear them approach. If the warriors saw the settlers coming,

spk_0 they might kill the captives immediately. Boone proposed they abandoned the trail and

spk_0 head to a nearby river crossing which he believed the warriors planned to use.

spk_0 It was a risk to leave the trail, but it was a risk worth taking if it meant saving the girls.

spk_0 As night fell on the third day of pursuit, Daniel Boone and his company approached the river

spk_0 crossing and he discovered his prediction was right. Near the crossing, eight people

spk_0 huddled around an open flame as meat from a dead buffalo calf cooked over the fire.

spk_0 Boone and his men could see the five warriors and the three young girls. As quietly as possible,

spk_0 Boone's group circled around the camp and waited to strike.

spk_0 Through the leaves, Boone saw and heard the Callaway girls crying. Boone turned and saw one of the

spk_0 warriors the warrior by the fire would be the easiest target. Boone levelled his rifle and the

spk_0 other men with him did the same. Francis Callaway was kneeling near her sister when she looked up

spk_0 at the warrior standing by the fire. As she did, she heard a loud bang and saw blood spurt from the

spk_0 warriors chest. Boone's opening shot had hit its mark. Jemima shouted, quote, that's daddy

spk_0 and the rest of Boone's company opened fire. Jemima and Francis dropped down to avoid the

spk_0 musket balls which tore through the camp. Elizabeth Callaway didn't hit the ground most likely because

spk_0 she was in shock. One of the warriors swung a club at her head. One of the rescuers, Daniel Boone,

spk_0 according to his autobiography, fired a shot before the warrior's club hit its mark.

spk_0 The warrior fell and Boone and his men burst out of the trees. The frontiersman blitzed the

spk_0 camp from multiple angles. Taken a back, the three surviving warriors ran away and left behind almost

spk_0 everything they had. In the confusion, gun smoke and dim lighting, one of the rescuers nearly shot

spk_0 Elizabeth Callaway. She rushed toward one of the men and all he could see was a dark shape

spk_0 hurrying toward him. The man aimed his weapon at Elizabeth, but Boone shouted, quote, for God's sake,

spk_0 don't kill her when we've traveled so far to save her.

spk_0 With the girls now safe, the party returned to Boone's burrow. When they got back, Boone learned

spk_0 that another band of warriors had burned outlying cabins and crops. Thankfully, no one had died,

spk_0 but the people of Boone's burrow and the neighboring communities would need to be extra vigilant

spk_0 because there seemed to be no sign that the fighting would end anytime soon.

spk_0 As war began to grip the colonies in the north and slowly extended south, the story of Daniel Boone's

spk_0 rescue mission to save the three girls grew into legend. 50 years later, it inspired author James

spk_0 Phenomore Cooper's famous novel The Last of the Mohicans. At one point in the story, the daughters

spk_0 of a British officer were kidnapped by a Shearan war chief and the protagonist, a frontiersman,

spk_0 set out to rescue them. 166 years after the novel was published, that sequence of a frontiersman

spk_0 leading a small group to rescue an officer's daughter became one of the greatest sequences in

spk_0 cinematic history in the 1992 film adaptation of The Last of the Mohicans, starring Daniel Day Lewis.

spk_0 In July of 1776, Daniel Boone's leadership inspired confidence in those around Boone's burrow.

spk_0 His bravery was infectious, which was important because the war for American independence was about

spk_0 to expand beyond the epicenter of Boston and New York. While British forces planned to press

spk_0 General George Washington in New York, they were debating how to handle colonists on the frontier.

spk_0 Lieutenant Governor Henry Hamilton, the British superintendent of Indian affairs, stationed at Fort

spk_0 Detroit in modern-day Michigan, was responsible for crafting frontier war policy. Initially, Hamilton

spk_0 was encouraged to keep Native American tribes neutral, but as the war progressed, the policy changed.

spk_0 Instead of keeping Native American nations away from the war, Hamilton received orders to make

spk_0 them a central part of it. The objective was to convince tribes, but the best way to retain their

spk_0 territory was to defeat the American rebels. The Shawnee and Cherokee were two nations of many

spk_0 who supported the British, while others, like Boone's friends in the Kataba nation,

spk_0 mostly sided with the American colonists. After the British instituted a new policy of enlisting

spk_0 help from Native American nations, their followed a period on the frontier called the Bloody Sevens.

spk_0 Named after the year the raids began, 1777. Henry Hamilton sanctioned Shawnee and Cherokee

spk_0 raids across the frontier. Hundreds of men, women and children on the western boundaries of Pennsylvania,

spk_0 Virginia and North Carolina were killed and scouted. One of the colonial leaders on the frontier in

spk_0 Kentucky wrote to the governor of Virginia in February 1777 and told him, quote,

spk_0 We are surrounded with enemies on every side and our fort is filled with widows and orphans.

spk_0 At the same time, Hamilton's biggest fear with the plan came true. Warriors also attacked colonists

spk_0 who were loyal to Britain, whether on purpose or because it was likely hard for warriors to tell

spk_0 the difference between colonists who were loyal to Britain and those who were loyal to the new American

spk_0 nation, the raids which killed loyalists ended up pushing other loyalists to switch sides.

spk_0 But even though sentiment on the colonial frontier was slowly shifting in favor of the American

spk_0 colonists, that didn't mean settlements like Boonsboro were safe. In fact, Daniel Boon knew it

spk_0 wasn't, at least in terms of a large-scale attack. If a large force of Shawnee concentrated an

spk_0 attack on Boonsboro, Boon feared the settlement would fall.

spk_0 Major George Rogers Clark, an American officer in the Virginia militia,

spk_0 realized the importance of Boon's Kentucky settlements. Clark successfully navigated Boon's

spk_0 wilderness road in order to help resupply Kentucky outposts with gunpowder and to recruit men to

spk_0 fight. When Clark arrived, he conferred with Boon. Boon was ready and willing to help defend

spk_0 Kentucky and Clark made Boon a militia captain. To Boons' dismay, he and the militia were never on

spk_0 the offensive. They defended settlements, which meant they were forced to deal with ambushes.

spk_0 On March 5, 1777, Shawnee leader, chief blackfish, and 70 warriors attacked settlers who were

spk_0 crafting maple syrup. The Shawnee mutilated their bodies and drank the syrup before racing

spk_0 away through the woods. On April 24, a larger attack erupted. The day started with two men leaving

spk_0 Boon's burrow to drive some horses which were grazing near the fort. Before rounding up the horses,

spk_0 the two men were shot by Shawnee warriors. One of the two was overtaken and scouted. A nearby

spk_0 settler, Simon Kenton, just so happened to be hunting in the area. Kenton saw the Shawnee attack

spk_0 and hurled himself into the fray. He shot the warrior who was hoisting the scout.

spk_0 Inside Boon's burrow, Daniel Boon heard the shots. Expecting a small ambush, Boon gathered

spk_0 some men and raced outside the fort to investigate, which was when Boon realized they had fallen into a

spk_0 trap. More than 100 Shawnee warriors emerged from the woods around the compound. Including Boon

spk_0 and Simon Kenton, who had just killed a Shawnee warrior, the settlers numbered 14 men who now faced

spk_0 more than 100 warriors. Almost immediately, both sides began to fire. In roughly a minute,

spk_0 Simon Kenton had killed a pair of warriors, but the two kills and the shots from other front

spk_0 hearsmen did little to hold back the flood as the bulk of the Shawnee warriors rushed toward the

spk_0 fort's entrance. The warriors blocked the only route for Boon and his men to make it back inside,

spk_0 but the warriors did not try to enter the compound. They were intent on destroying the defenders

spk_0 first, then they could raid the helpless community. As Boon reloaded his long rifle, he said to the

spk_0 men, quote, boys we are gone, but let us sell our lives as dearly as we can. If the defenders couldn't

spk_0 survive the fight, they would take as many Shawnee warriors with them as possible. The front

spk_0 hearsmen charged the Shawnee and the real battle for Boon's burrow began.

spk_0 Daniel Boon and the other 13 defenders of Boon's burrow fired a volley from their muskets as they

spk_0 ran toward the Shawnee warriors who blocked the entrance to the compound. When the rifles were

spk_0 empty, the defenders raised the weapons to use as clubs. Both sides screamed as they engaged in

spk_0 brutal hand-to-hand combat. The gates of Boon's burrow were a swarm of sickening thuds,

spk_0 anguished cries, and sprays of blood. Early in the battle, Boon felt a horrific pain in his

spk_0 lower leg. He looked down and saw blood pouring from his ankle. He had been shot and the round

spk_0 broke the bone. Boon crashed to the ground and as he looked up, he saw a Shawnee warrior rush

spk_0 toward him with a tomahawk. Boon braced for the blow which would crush his head, but it never came.

spk_0 Before the warrior reached Boon, the warrior's chest exploded. Boon looked around and saw a

spk_0 smoke billowing from Simon Kenton's rifle. When a second Shawnee warrior raced toward Boon,

spk_0 Kenton swung his rifle and clubbed the man. That made at least four warriors Simon Kenton had

spk_0 killed during the day's work. He was a one-man wrecking crew and now he was a one-man rescue

spk_0 party. Kenton grabbed Boon and used every ounce of his strength to hoist the injured man.

spk_0 Kenton carried Boon into the fort where Rebecca Boon and her daughters rushed to Boon's aid.

spk_0 The battle was still raging but not for long. Three more defenders were wounded but none were killed.

spk_0 Miraculously, the 14 frontiersmen managed to survive and retreat into the fort. The Shawnee lost 22

spk_0 men in the fight. They never breached the gates and then they faded back into the forest where

spk_0 they decided the price for in-bidance was too high. In the days that followed, Boon powered

spk_0 through his broken leg. Although he needed to rest, he refused to stay in bed. He hobbled around

spk_0 Boon's burrow to prepare the fort for future attacks. He also helped establish an intelligence

spk_0 network between the scattered settlements in Kentucky. From Boon's burrow to Herod's Burg,

spk_0 Boon sent scouts to spy on Shawnee movements in a 50-mile radius. The situation was precarious.

spk_0 None of the settlements could spare men to assist the others and each settlement essentially

spk_0 became imprisoned in its own stockade. In late May 1777, as general George Washington and the

spk_0 continental army prepared to break their winter camp at Morris Town, New Jersey,

spk_0 Daniel Boon organized a man of Boon's burrow into two groups. One would tend crops and the other

spk_0 would guard the workers. Boon instructed the guards to watch for the glint of sunlight off of

spk_0 gun barrels. That would be the tell-tale sign of Shawnee attackers lurking in the trees.

spk_0 Boon didn't want the men to fire at every twitch of a bush or snap of a twig. The Shawnee were

spk_0 too smooth to give themselves away by moving recklessly and the wasted ammunition could be a

spk_0 costly mistake. But that didn't mean the Shawnee weren't out there. They were and everyone knew it.

spk_0 It was only a matter of time before they masked for another attack. And if roughly 100 warriors

spk_0 couldn't get the job done the first time, they would surely bring more the second time.

spk_0 On May 23rd, 1777, that was exactly what happened. More than 200 Shawnee warriors

spk_0 crept through the brush toward the compound and the people of Boon's burrow were about to find

spk_0 themselves under siege.

spk_0 Next time on Legends of the Old West, somehow Daniel Boon's life becomes even more crazy.

spk_0 He helps defend Boon's burrow against numerous attacks. He gets captured and nearly killed by the

spk_0 Shawnee. He faces a shocking court martial for treason. And, as a frontier'sman to the end,

spk_0 he continues his adventures to the expanding western frontier of the new American nation.

spk_0 That's next week on the end of the Daniel Boon story, here on Legends of the Old West.

spk_0 Music

spk_0 Members of our BlackBerrow Plus program receive each new season to binge all at once with no commercials,

spk_0 as well as exclusive bonus episodes. Sign up now through the link in the show notes or on our

spk_0 website blackbarromedia.com or subscribe directly on Apple podcasts through the podcast show page.

spk_0 This series was written and researched by Michael Meaglisch. It was produced by Joe Garrow,

spk_0 original music by Rob Faleer. I'm Chris Wimmer. Thanks for listening.

FRONTIERSMEN Ep. 2 | Daniel Boone: “Battle For Boonesborough”

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