7Many dark and sleepless nights have I been a companion for owls, separated from the cheerful society of men, scorched by the summer's sun and pinched by the winter's cold -- an instrument ordained to settle the wilderness.
Motivated by a powerful sense of purpose, Daniel Boone blazed the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap. Thousands followed, settling in Boonesborough, Kentucky, to form one of the first English-speaking communities west of the Appalachians. This two-part tale of the legendary frontiersman's life begins with a brief profile by Boone himself, covering his exploits in the Kentucky wilderness from 1769 to 1784. The second part chronicles Boone's life from cradle to grave, with exciting accounts of his capture and adoption by Shawnee Indians and his service as a militiaman during the Revolutionary War.