Daniel Boone: A Hero Or Hero?

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One of America’s most famous mountain man, Daniel Boone, was Court Marshalled in 1778, due to his actions during an expedition. Earlier that year, in 1778, Boone lead a handful of Boonesborough settlers on an expedition to acquire salt for their town. During the journey, Boone left the group to hunt for food and was captured by the British allied, Native American tribe called the Shawnee. After he was captured he learned that the Natives were going to attack his crew and his Kentucky settlement Boonesborough. To avoid bloodshed, he convinced his men to surrender as he knew they could not withstand an attack from the Natives. After his men surrendered, Boone gained the Natives trust and convinced them to delay their attack on Boonesborough. …show more content…

They stated that Boone and the Native Americans were ten miles away from his expedition members and that the Natives were not interested in them until Boone piped up to inform them that his crew could be persuaded to surrender. In this fashion, he eagerly agreed to give the Natives Boonesborough. He is viewed as a traitor because he had ties with Britain; his wife and her family supported the British. Boone also appears guilty because he was friendly with the Shawne tribe before and during his captivity. Everyone in the tribe, including the chief treated him as a friend. The chief even adopted Boone as his son, gave him the Native name, Sheltowee, and, some say, allowed him to marry a Shawnee woman. His dissenters also said he purposefully gave his townspeople harmful advice to get them to leave the fort loosely guarded and to get the officials captured by proposing they meet with the Natives outside the protection of their …show more content…

The article says that in order to save the lives of his men he told them that his crew was full of strong courageous men, and if they were attacked, his men would not hesitate to kill them. He offered, instead, to persuade his crew to surrender bloodlessly, only if the Natives would treat his men well. He boasted about his abilities to persuade the expeditioners to surrender, so the Natives would not massacre his friends. Boone was not a traitor said the article, but a loyal American man who was attempting to save

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