CHAPTER XV_Daniel Boone

A SERENE OLD AGE

Missouri's sparse population at that time consisted largely of

Frenchmen, who had taken easily to the yoke of Spain. For a people of

easy-going disposition, theirs was an ideal existence. They led a

patriarchal life, with their flocks and herds grazing upon a common

pasture, and practised a crude agriculture whose returns were eked out

by hunting in the limitless forests hard by. For companionship, the

crude log cabins in the little settlements were assembled by the banks

of the waterways, and there was small disposition to increase tillage

beyond domestic necessities. There were practically no taxes to pay;

military burdens sat lightly; the local syndic (or magistrate), the only

government servant to be met outside of St. Louis, was sheriff, judge,

jury, and commandant combined; there were no elections, for

representative government was unknown; the fur and lead trade with St.

Louis was the sole commerce, and their vocabulary did not contain the

words enterprise and speculation.

Here was a paradise for a man of Boone's temperament, and through

several years to come he was wont to declare that, next to his first

long hunt in Kentucky, this was the happiest period of his life. On the

eleventh of July, 1800, Delassus--a well-educated French gentleman, and

a good judge of character--appointed him syndic for the Femme Osage

district, a position which the old man held until the cession of

Louisiana to the United States. This selection was not only because of

his prominence among the settlers and his recognized honesty and

fearlessness, but for the reason that he was one of the few among these

unsophisticated folk who could make records. In a primitive community

like the Femme Osage, Boone may well have ranked as a man of some

education; and certainly he wrote a bold, free hand, showing much

practise with the pen, although we have seen that his spelling and

grammar might have been improved. When the government was turned over to

President Jefferson's commissioner, Delassus delivered to that

officer, by request, a detailed report upon the personality of his

subordinates, and this is one of the entries in the list of syndics:

"Mr. Boone, a respectable old man, just and impartial, he has already,

since I appointed him, offered his resignation owing to his

infirmities--believing I know his probity, I have induced him to remain,

in view of my confidence in him, for the public good."

[Illustration: BOONE'S CABIN IN ST. CHARLES COUNTY, MISSOURI.

From photograph in possession of Wisconsin State Historical Society.]

Boone's knowledge did not extend to law-books, but he had a strong sense

of justice; and during his four years of office passed upon the petty

disputes of his neighbors with such absolute fairness as to win popular

approbation. His methods were as primitive and arbitrary as those of an

Oriental pasha; his penalties frequently consisted of lashes on the bare

back "well laid on;" he would observe no rules of evidence, saying he

wished only to know the truth; and sometimes both parties to a suit were

compelled to divide the costs and begone. The French settlers had a

fondness for taking their quarrels to court; but the decisions of the

good-hearted syndic of Femme Osage, based solely upon common sense in

the rough, were respected as if coming from a supreme bench. His

contemporaries said that in no other office ever held by the great

rifleman did he give such evidence of undisguised satisfaction, or

display so great dignity as in this role of magistrate. Showing newly

arrived American immigrants to desirable tracts of land was one of his

most agreeable duties; when thus tendering the hospitalities of the

country to strangers, it was remarked that our patriarch played the

Spanish "don" to perfection.

In October, 1800, Spain agreed to deliver Louisiana to France; but the

latter found it impracticable at that time to take possession of the

territory. By the treaty of April 30, 1803, the United States, long

eager to secure for the West the open navigation of the Mississippi,

purchased the rights of France. It was necessary to go through the form,

both in New Orleans and in St. Louis, of transfer by Spain to France,

and then by France to the United States. The former ceremony took place

in St. Louis, the capital of Upper Louisiana, upon the ninth of March,

1804, and the latter upon the following day. Daniel Boone's authority as

a Spanish magistrate ended when the flag of his adopted country was

hauled down for the last time in the Valley of the Mississippi.

The coming of the Americans into power was welcomed by few of the people

of Louisiana. The French had slight patience with the land-grabbing

temper of the "Yankees," who were eager to cut down the forests, to open

up farms, to build towns, to extend commerce, to erect factories--to

inaugurate a reign of noise and bustle and avarice. Neither did men of

the Boone type--who had become Spanish subjects in order to avoid the

crowds, to get and to keep cheap lands, to avoid taxes, to hunt big

game, and to live a simple Arcadian life--at all enjoy this sudden

crossing of the Mississippi River, which they had vainly hoped to

maintain as a perpetual barrier to so-called progress.

Our hero soon had still greater reason for lamenting the advent of the

new _regime_. His sad experience with lands in Kentucky had not taught

him prudence. When the United States commission came to examine the

titles of Louisiana settlers to the claims which they held, it was

discovered that Boone had failed properly to enter the tract which had

been ceded to him by Delassus. The signature of the lieutenant-governor

was sufficient to insure a temporary holding, but a permanent cession

required the approval of the governor at New Orleans; this Boone failed

to obtain, being misled, he afterward stated, by the assertion of

Delassus that so important an officer as a syndic need not take such

precautions, for he would never be disturbed. The commissioners, while

highly respecting him, were regretfully obliged under the terms of the

treaty to dispossess the old pioneer, who again found himself landless.

Six years later (1810) Congress tardily hearkened to his pathetic

appeal, backed by the resolutions of the Kentucky legislature, and

confirmed his Spanish grant in words of praise for "the man who has

opened the way to millions of his fellow men."

By the time he was seventy years old, Boone's skill as a hunter had

somewhat lessened. His eyes had lost their phenomenal strength; he could

no longer perform those nice feats of marksmanship for which in his

prime he had attained wide celebrity, and rheumatism made him less

agile. But as a trapper he was still unexcelled, and for many years made

long trips into the Western wilderness, even into far-off Kansas, and at

least once (1814, when eighty years old) to the great game fields of the

Yellowstone. Upon such expeditions, often lasting several months, he was

accompanied by one or more of his sons, by his son-in-law Flanders

Calloway, or by an old Indian servant who was sworn to bring his master

back to the Femme Osage dead or alive--for, curiously enough, this

wandering son of the wilderness ever yearned for a burial near home.

Beaver-skins, which were his chief desire, were then worth nine dollars

each in the St. Louis market. He appears to have amassed a considerable

sum from this source, and from the sale of his land grant to his sons,

and in 1810 we find him in Kentucky paying his debts. This accomplished,

tradition says that he had remaining only fifty cents; but he gloried in

the fact that he was at last "square with the world," and returned to

Missouri exultant.

The War of 1812-15 brought Indian troubles to this new frontier, and

some of the farm property of the younger Boones was destroyed in one of

the savage forays. The old man fretted at his inability to assist in the

militia organization, of which his sons Daniel Morgan and Nathan were

conspicuous leaders; and the state of the border did not permit of

peaceful hunting. In the midst of the war he deeply mourned the death of

his wife (1813)--a woman of meek, generous, heroic nature, who had

journeyed over the mountains with him from North Carolina, and upon his

subsequent pilgrimages, sharing all his hardships and perils, a proper

helpmeet in storm and calm.

Penniless, and a widower, he now went to live with his sons, chiefly

with Nathan, then forty-three years of age. After being first a hunter

and explorer, and then an industrious and successful farmer, Nathan had

won distinction in the war just closed and entered the regular army,

where he reached the rank of lieutenant-colonel and had a wide and

thrilling experience in Indian fighting. Daniel Morgan is thought to

have been the first settler in Kansas (1827); A. G. Boone, a

grandson, was one of the early settlers of Colorado, and prominently

connected with Western Indian treaties and Rocky Mountain exploration;

and another grandson of the great Kentuckian was Kit Carson, the famous

scout for Fremont's transcontinental expedition.

[Illustration: NATHAN BOONE'S HOUSE IN ST. CHARLES COUNTY, MISSOURI.

Herein Daniel Boone died.]

It was not long before the Yankee _regime_ confirmed Boone's fears. The

tide of immigration crossed the river, and rolling westward again passed

the door of the great Kentuckian, driving off the game and monopolizing

the hunting-grounds. Laws, courts, politics, speculation, and

improvements were being talked about, to the bewilderment of the French

and the unconcealed disgust of the former syndic. Despite his great age,

he talked strongly of moving still farther West, hoping to get beyond

the reach of settlement; but his sons and neighbors persuaded him

against it, and he was obliged to accommodate himself as best he might

to the new conditions. In summer he would work on the now substantial

and prosperous farms of his children, chopping trees for the winter's

wood. But at the advent of autumn the spirit of restlessness seized him,

when he would take his canoe, with some relative or his Indian servant,

and disappear up the Missouri and its branches for weeks together. In

1816, we hear of him as being at Fort Osage, on his way to the Platte,

"in the dress of the roughest, poorest hunter." Two years later, he

writes to his son Daniel M.: "I intend by next autumn to take two or

three whites and a party of Osage Indians to visit the salt mountains,

lakes, and ponds and see these natural curiosities. They are about five

or six hundred miles west of here"--presumably the rock salt in Indian

Territory; it is not known whether this trip was taken. He was greatly

interested in Rocky Mountain exploration, then much talked of, and

eagerly sought information regarding California; and was the cause of

several young men migrating thither. A tale of new lands ever found in

him a delighted listener.

In these his declining years, although he had suffered much at the hands

of the world, Boone's temperament, always kindly, mellowed in tone.

Decay came gradually, without palsy or pain; and, amid kind friends and

an admiring public, his days passed in tranquillity. The following

letter written by him at this period to his sister-in-law Sarah (Day)

Boone, wife of his brother Samuel, is characteristic of the man, and

gives to us, moreover, probably the only reliable account we possess of

his religious views:

"october the 19th 1816

"Deer Sister

"With pleasuer I Rad a Later from your sun Samuel Boone

who informs me that you are yett Liveing and in good

health Considing your age I wright to you to Latt you know

I have Not forgot you and to inform you of my own

Situation sence the Death of your Sister Rabacah I Leve

with flanders Calaway But am at present at my sun Nathans

and in tolarabel halth you Can gass at my feilings by your

own as we are So Near one age I Need Not write you of our

satuation as Samuel Bradley or James grimes Can inform you

of Every Surcomstance Relating to our famaly and how we

Leve in this World and what Chance we shall have in the

next we know Not for my part I am as ignerant as a Child

all the Relegan I have to Love and fear god beleve in

Jeses Christ Don all the good to my Nighbour and my self

that I Can and Do as Little harm as I Can help and trust

on gods marcy for the Rest and I Beleve god neve made a

man of my prisepel to be Lost and I flater my self Deer

sister that you are well on your way in Cristeanaty gave

my Love to all your Childran and all my frends fearwell my

Deer sister

"DANIEL BOONE

"Mrs. Sarah Boone

"N B I Red a Later yesterday from sister Hanah peninton by

hir grand sun Dal Ringe she and all hir Childran are Well

at present

"D B"

[Illustration: BOONE'S RELIGIOUS VIEWS.

Reduced facsimile from original MS. in possession of Wisconsin State

Historical Society.]

Many strangers of distinction visited him at Nathan's home near the

banks of the Missouri, and the public journals of the day always

welcomed an anecdote of the great hunter's prowess--although most of the

stories which found their way into print were either deliberate

inventions or unconsciously exaggerated traditions. From published

descriptions of the man by those who could discriminate, we may gain

some idea of his appearance and manner. The great naturalist Audubon

once passed a night under a West Virginia roof in the same room with

Boone, whose "extraordinary skill in the management of a rifle" is

alluded to. He says: "The stature and general appearance of this

wanderer of the Western forests approached the gigantic. His chest was

broad and prominent; his muscular powers displayed themselves in every

limb; his countenance gave indication of his great courage, enterprise,

and perseverance; and when he spoke the very motion of his lips brought

the impression that whatever he uttered could not be otherwise than

strictly true. I undressed, whilst he merely took off his hunting-shirt

and arranged a few folds of blankets on the floor, choosing rather to

lie there, as he observed, than on the softest bed."

Timothy Flint, one of his early biographers, knew the "grand old man" in

Missouri, and thus pictures him: "He was five feet ten inches in

height, of a very erect, clean-limbed, and athletic form--admirably

fitted in structure, muscle, temperament, and habit for the endurance of

the labors, changes, and sufferings he underwent. He had what

phrenologists would have considered a model head--with a forehead

peculiarly high, noble, and bold--thin and compressed lips--a mild,

clear, blue eye--a large and prominent chin, and a general expression of

countenance in which fearlessness and courage sat enthroned, and which

told the beholder at a glance what he had been and was formed to be."

Flint declares that the busts, paintings, and engravings of Boone bear

little resemblance to him. "They want the high port and noble daring of

his countenance.... Never was old age more green, or gray hairs more

graceful. His high, calm, bold forehead seemed converted by years into

iron."

Rev. James E. Welch, a revivalist, thus tells of Boone as he saw him at

his meetings in 1818: "He was rather low of stature, broad shoulders,

high cheek-bones, very mild countenance, fair complexion, soft and

quiet in his manner, but little to say unless spoken to, amiable and

kind in his feelings, very fond of quiet retirement, of cool

self-possession and indomitable perseverance. He never made a profession

of religion, but still was what the world calls a very moral man."

In 1819, the year before the death of Boone, Chester Harding, an

American portrait-painter of some note, went out from St. Louis to make

a life study of the aged Kentuckian. He found him at the time "living

alone in a cabin, a part of an old blockhouse," evidently having escaped

for a time from the conventionalities of home life, which palled upon

him. The great man was roasting a steak of venison on the end of his

ramrod. He had a marvelous memory of the incidents of early days,

although forgetful of passing events. "I asked him," says Harding, "if

he never got lost in his long wanderings after game? He said 'No, I was

never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.'" The portrait is

now in the possession of the painter's grandson, Mr. William H. King, of

Winnetka, Ill. Harding says that he "never finished the drapery of the

original picture, but copied the head, I think, at three different

times." It is from this portrait (our frontispiece), made when Boone was

an octogenarian, emaciated and feeble--although not appearing older than

seventy years--that most others have been taken; thus giving us, as

Flint says, but a shadowy notion of how the famous explorer looked in

his prime. There is in existence, however, a portrait made by Audubon,

from memory--a charming picture, representing Boone in middle life.[18]

Serene and unworldly to the last, and with slight premonition of the

end, Daniel Boone passed from this life upon the twenty-sixth of

September, 1820, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. The event took

place in the home of his son Nathan, said to be the first stone house

built in Missouri. The convention for drafting the first constitution of

the new State was then in session in St. Louis. Upon learning the news,

the commonwealth-builders adjourned for the day in respect to his

memory; and as a further mark of regard wore crape on their left arms

for twenty days. The St. Louis Gazette, in formally announcing his

death, said: "Colonel Boone was a man of common stature, of great

enterprise, strong intellect, amiable disposition, and inviolable

integrity--he died universally regretted by all who knew him.... Such is

the veneration for his name and character."

Pursuant to his oft-repeated request, he was buried by the side of his

wife, upon the bank of Teugue Creek, about a mile from the Missouri.

There, in sight of the great river of the new West, the two founders of

Boonesborough rested peacefully. Their graves were, however, neglected

until 1845, when the legislature of Kentucky made a strong appeal to the

people of Missouri to allow the bones to be removed to Frankfort, where,

it was promised, they should be surmounted by a fitting monument. The

eloquence of Kentucky's commissioners succeeded in overcoming the strong

reluctance of the Missourians, and such fragments as had not been

resolved into dust were removed amid much display. But in their new

abiding-place they were again the victims of indifference; it was not

until 1880, thirty-five years later, that the present monument was

erected.

[Illustration: BOONE'S MONUMENT AT FRANKFORT, KENTUCKY.]

We have seen that Daniel Boone was neither the first explorer nor the

first settler of Kentucky. The trans-Alleghany wilds had been trodden by

many before him; even he was piloted through Cumberland Gap by Finley,

and Harrodsburg has nearly a year's priority over Boonesborough. He had

not the intellect of Clark or of Logan, and his services in the defense

of the country were of less importance than theirs. He was not a

constructive agent of civilization. But in the minds of most Americans

there is a pathetic, romantic interest attaching to Boone that is

associated with few if any others of the early Kentuckians. His

migrations in the vanguard of settlement into North Carolina, Kentucky,

West Virginia, and Missouri, each in their turn; his heroic wanderings

in search of game and fresh lands; his activity and numerous thrilling

adventures during nearly a half-century of border warfare; his

successive failures to acquire a legal foothold in the wilderness to

which he had piloted others; his persistent efforts to escape the

civilization of which he had been the forerunner; his sunny temper amid

trials of the sort that made of Clark a plotter and a misanthrope; his

sterling integrity; his serene old age--all these have conspired to make

for Daniel Boone a place in American history as one of the most lovable

and picturesque of our popular heroes; indeed, the typical backwoodsman

of the trans-Alleghany region.

FOOTNOTE:

[18] The story of the original Harding portrait, as gathered from

statements to the present writer by members of the painter's family,

supplemented by letters of Harding himself to the late Lyman C. Draper,

is an interesting one. The artist used for his portrait a piece of

ordinary table oil-cloth. For many years the painting was in the capitol

at Frankfort, Ky., "from the fact that it was hoped the State would buy

it." But the State had meanwhile become possessed of another oil

portrait painted about 1839 or 1840 by a Mr. Allen, of Harrodsburg,

Ky.--an ideal sketch, of no special merit. Harding's portrait,

apparently the only one of Boone painted from life, was not purchased,

for the State did not wish to be at the expense of two paintings. Being

upon a Western trip, in 1861, Harding, then an old man and a resident of

Springfield, Mass., rescued his portrait, which was in bad condition,

and carried it home. The process of restoration was necessarily a

vigorous one. The artist writes (October 6, 1861): "The picture had been

banged about until the greater part of it was broken to pieces.... The

head is as perfect as when it was painted, in color, though there are

some small, almost imperceptible, cracks in it." The head and neck, down

to the shirt-collar, were cut out and pasted upon a full-sized canvas;

on this, Harding had "a very skilful artist" repaint the bust, drapery,

and background, under the former's immediate direction. The picture in

the present state is, therefore, a composite. The joining shows plainly

in most lights. Upon the completion of the work, Harding offered to sell

it to Draper, but the negotiation fell through. The restored portrait

was then presented by the artist to his son-in-law, John L. King, of

Springfield, Mass., and in due course it came into the possession of the

latter's son, the present owner.

INDEX

Abingdon (Pa.), Boones in, 4.

Alleghany Mountains, bound French claims, 19, 60;

border Valley of Virginia, 14;

pioneers on eastern foot-hills, 27, 35, 69;

barrier to Western advance, 13;

Berkeley's exploration, 85, 86;

crossed by Americans, 20;

in Dunmore's War, 105;

first government west of, 122, 123.

Allen, ----, paints Boone's portrait, 238.

Amherst, Gen. Jeffrey, of British Army, 44.

Appalachian Mountains, troughs of, 13-15.