1 00:00:20,977 --> 00:00:24,920 Across thousands of brutal, untamed miles.. 2 00:00:32,722 --> 00:00:35,759 ...a different breed of founding fathers 3 00:00:35,799 --> 00:00:38,577 fight a revolution... all their own. 4 00:00:39,786 --> 00:00:40,951 Fire! 5 00:00:48,931 --> 00:00:51,919 For more than 70 years.. 6 00:00:51,965 --> 00:00:56,077 ...they push into the unknown. 7 00:00:56,125 --> 00:00:58,684 ...driven by the hope that this vast land 8 00:00:58,725 --> 00:01:02,937 holds a fortune that could be theirs.. 9 00:01:02,973 --> 00:01:05,483 ...if... they survive. 10 00:01:10,731 --> 00:01:13,589 They fight for a dream.. 11 00:01:13,634 --> 00:01:16,622 ...to transform a wilderness into a nation.. 12 00:01:19,442 --> 00:01:24,471 ...the United States of America. 13 00:02:49,197 --> 00:02:51,627 Deep in the vast, uncharted wilderness 14 00:02:51,668 --> 00:02:54,874 known as the Kentucky Territory 15 00:02:54,918 --> 00:02:58,125 Daniel Boone is running for his life. 16 00:03:03,587 --> 00:03:05,578 He's spent the last two years here 17 00:03:05,623 --> 00:03:09,218 hunting and fur trapping 18 00:03:09,264 --> 00:03:11,992 but he's on land claimed by the Shawnee Tribe. 19 00:03:14,031 --> 00:03:17,407 And now, their warriors are hunting him. 20 00:04:33,515 --> 00:04:35,338 By the early 1770s 21 00:04:35,379 --> 00:04:38,108 only a handful of non-natives have dared 22 00:04:38,153 --> 00:04:39,577 to venture this far west. 23 00:04:41,490 --> 00:04:45,782 Those that do find both danger... and opportunity. 24 00:04:48,121 --> 00:04:50,849 The allure of the frontier is it's a place 25 00:04:50,894 --> 00:04:53,105 where people who have nothing 26 00:04:53,149 --> 00:04:55,449 could go and make a lot of money 27 00:04:55,489 --> 00:04:58,098 trapping beaver and river otter 28 00:04:58,133 --> 00:05:01,638 and hunting for deer hides. 29 00:05:01,686 --> 00:05:04,454 Our term today, like, when you say a dollar or a buck 30 00:05:04,503 --> 00:05:07,192 a buck comes from the value of a deer hide. 31 00:05:10,310 --> 00:05:12,949 At the same time, you're in constant danger 32 00:05:12,997 --> 00:05:14,252 of being killed. 33 00:05:16,508 --> 00:05:18,460 And there's always a very good chance 34 00:05:18,502 --> 00:05:20,454 that you could fail catastrophically. 35 00:05:32,977 --> 00:05:35,317 Boone's lucky to be alive 36 00:05:35,361 --> 00:05:37,273 but every pelt he planned to sell 37 00:05:37,311 --> 00:05:39,999 to feed his family is gone 38 00:05:40,041 --> 00:05:43,646 and he returns home to North Carolina in debt. 39 00:05:46,802 --> 00:05:49,929 In 1773, North Carolina 40 00:05:49,967 --> 00:05:52,048 is one of 13 British colonies 41 00:05:52,090 --> 00:05:54,350 ruled by King George III. 42 00:05:56,467 --> 00:05:59,584 Ten years earlier, he made it illegal for colonists 43 00:05:59,631 --> 00:06:02,140 to permanently settle west of the Appalachians 44 00:06:02,188 --> 00:06:05,225 though hunting was permitted. 45 00:06:05,265 --> 00:06:08,950 That area is home to over two million Native Americans 46 00:06:08,992 --> 00:06:12,498 from over 300 competing tribes. 47 00:06:12,546 --> 00:06:15,443 And Britain wants no trouble with them. 48 00:06:16,923 --> 00:06:18,357 The crown's restriction 49 00:06:18,397 --> 00:06:21,255 infuriates colonists eager for land. 50 00:06:29,664 --> 00:06:30,879 And it doesn't stop men 51 00:06:30,922 --> 00:06:33,223 like North Carolina judge 52 00:06:33,262 --> 00:06:34,736 Richard Henderson. 53 00:06:37,206 --> 00:06:39,765 He's just bought 20 million acres 54 00:06:39,807 --> 00:06:43,710 nearly the whole area of modern Kentucky. 55 00:06:43,750 --> 00:06:46,399 He plans to profit by selling it to settlers 56 00:06:46,437 --> 00:06:49,643 and he doesn't care what law he breaks 57 00:06:49,687 --> 00:06:52,854 or if it's claimed by Native American tribes. 58 00:06:57,532 --> 00:06:59,135 I think people were tired 59 00:06:59,179 --> 00:07:03,123 of constant rules and regulations. 60 00:07:03,167 --> 00:07:05,805 Americans wanted to strike it rich. 61 00:07:05,853 --> 00:07:08,144 They wanted, uh, to make a killing 62 00:07:08,193 --> 00:07:09,707 in land and real estate. 63 00:07:12,484 --> 00:07:15,731 The American frontier always meant dollar signs. 64 00:07:15,778 --> 00:07:18,686 Some of the great famous names of the American Revolution 65 00:07:18,725 --> 00:07:20,508 Ben Franklin, George Washington 66 00:07:20,545 --> 00:07:24,539 were engaged in buying up land in the West. 67 00:07:24,575 --> 00:07:27,872 But you still have, of course, the Native American tribes 68 00:07:27,913 --> 00:07:29,905 who were not about to just accept 69 00:07:29,950 --> 00:07:32,678 all these Americans flooding over the Appalachian Mountains. 70 00:07:36,668 --> 00:07:38,918 If Henderson's going to settle his land 71 00:07:38,965 --> 00:07:42,560 he needs to find someone brave enough to lead the way. 72 00:07:54,480 --> 00:07:57,118 And by sheer coincidence 73 00:07:57,167 --> 00:07:58,900 he's about to meet him. 74 00:08:05,444 --> 00:08:08,482 'Mr. Boone promised to settle his debt' 75 00:08:08,522 --> 00:08:12,117 as soon as he returned, and yet here he is 76 00:08:12,162 --> 00:08:15,448 refusing to make good on his promise. 77 00:08:15,500 --> 00:08:17,970 After his recent disastrous hunting trip 78 00:08:18,014 --> 00:08:20,832 Boone is facing debtor's prison. 79 00:08:20,874 --> 00:08:24,737 Your Honor, I have every intention of settling my debts. 80 00:08:24,774 --> 00:08:27,552 When Boone returned from two years in the wilderness 81 00:08:27,591 --> 00:08:30,449 he was poorer than when he set out. 82 00:08:30,495 --> 00:08:32,566 There are tribes all over Kentucky. 83 00:08:32,619 --> 00:08:33,914 'I spent two years there.' 84 00:08:33,962 --> 00:08:35,386 But he lived on hope 85 00:08:35,436 --> 00:08:37,249 he lived on, on the sense 86 00:08:37,299 --> 00:08:39,460 that things were gonna break for him, you know? 87 00:08:39,510 --> 00:08:41,671 Tracked enough pelts to pay him back ten times over 88 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:43,273 before the Shawnee tracked me. 89 00:08:46,097 --> 00:08:49,174 Henderson sees a way to solve both of their problems. 90 00:08:51,297 --> 00:08:53,329 The meeting of Daniel Boone 91 00:08:53,379 --> 00:08:55,281 and Richard Henderson 92 00:08:55,329 --> 00:08:57,330 uh, is one of these coincidences 93 00:08:57,366 --> 00:08:59,397 that makes history. 94 00:08:59,446 --> 00:09:01,607 Henderson needs a guy like Daniel Boone 95 00:09:01,656 --> 00:09:03,389 the essential frontiersman. 96 00:09:03,433 --> 00:09:06,381 And he thinks Boone, who is down on his luck 97 00:09:06,424 --> 00:09:09,411 he's in serious debts, is so desperate 98 00:09:09,457 --> 00:09:12,713 that he would actually take on this crazy, uh, scheme. 99 00:09:14,268 --> 00:09:16,737 Mr. Boone.. 100 00:09:16,781 --> 00:09:20,595 ...I've recently purchased a rge parcel of land.. 101 00:09:20,639 --> 00:09:21,983 '...right around here.' 102 00:09:24,756 --> 00:09:26,797 The judge offers Boone a choice. 103 00:09:26,836 --> 00:09:30,172 Work off his debt in hard labor camp 104 00:09:30,217 --> 00:09:33,204 or blaze a trail into the Kentucky wilderness. 105 00:09:36,415 --> 00:09:37,978 For Daniel Boone 106 00:09:38,018 --> 00:09:41,145 it'll be the greatest challenge of his life. 107 00:09:41,182 --> 00:09:44,169 He'll defy British law and lead 30 settlers 108 00:09:44,216 --> 00:09:45,988 farther west than he's ever been. 109 00:09:47,769 --> 00:09:49,900 Straight into Shawnee territory. 110 00:09:54,444 --> 00:09:57,999 As Boone prepares to challenge the crown.. 111 00:09:58,041 --> 00:10:00,640 ...in New England, another rebellion is brewing. 112 00:10:07,965 --> 00:10:10,255 After nearly a decade of growing anger 113 00:10:10,306 --> 00:10:12,596 at repressive British taxes 114 00:10:12,646 --> 00:10:15,504 Boston rebels are throwing a tea party. 115 00:10:20,361 --> 00:10:23,488 The idea of freedom and liberty 116 00:10:23,524 --> 00:10:25,606 mattered to the colonists. 117 00:10:25,647 --> 00:10:29,163 And their concern was, they were on a slippery slope 118 00:10:29,201 --> 00:10:31,890 to having their rights and privileges eroded 119 00:10:31,932 --> 00:10:34,929 by a tyrannical government 120 00:10:34,965 --> 00:10:36,051 across the seas. 121 00:10:42,464 --> 00:10:45,760 Tensions between crown and colonies are escalating. 122 00:10:47,361 --> 00:10:49,781 As Boone sets out 123 00:10:49,831 --> 00:10:52,997 on a mission that will shape the future of America. 124 00:10:55,292 --> 00:10:57,891 Daniel Boone's foray into the backcountry 125 00:10:57,936 --> 00:10:59,489 at that time would be the equivalent 126 00:10:59,539 --> 00:11:01,092 of landing on the moon. 127 00:11:01,143 --> 00:11:04,001 It was opening up a whole new frontier. 128 00:11:04,047 --> 00:11:07,253 This is before anyone had any knowledge about how far 129 00:11:07,297 --> 00:11:09,767 and expansive this frontier truly was. 130 00:11:09,811 --> 00:11:11,374 It was an opportunity for Americans 131 00:11:11,414 --> 00:11:13,535 to move into this region and to discover 132 00:11:13,581 --> 00:11:15,791 in that process, great wealth 133 00:11:15,834 --> 00:11:17,786 and also, opportunity. 134 00:11:21,122 --> 00:11:22,944 To reach Henderson's claim 135 00:11:22,986 --> 00:11:25,506 Boone and his men must cut a trail through a notch 136 00:11:25,542 --> 00:11:28,490 in the Appalachian Mountains.. 137 00:11:28,533 --> 00:11:30,136 ...the Cumberland Gap. 138 00:11:43,832 --> 00:11:47,597 There were mountains that had to be gone around 139 00:11:47,645 --> 00:11:50,284 streams that had to be crossed. 140 00:11:50,333 --> 00:11:52,763 The woods were full of Shawnees 141 00:11:52,804 --> 00:11:54,188 and other Indians prowling. 142 00:12:11,222 --> 00:12:13,473 After a grueling 400-mile journey.. 143 00:12:14,907 --> 00:12:16,639 ...Boone arrives at the edge 144 00:12:16,683 --> 00:12:18,496 of an untapped wilderness. 145 00:12:26,045 --> 00:12:30,546 If I had access to a time machine 146 00:12:30,595 --> 00:12:32,885 I would go back and be with Boone 147 00:12:32,936 --> 00:12:35,794 the first time he went through the Cumberland Gap 148 00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:38,747 and dropped down into the Kentucky hunting grounds. 149 00:12:38,786 --> 00:12:40,957 I mean, this was the Promised Land 150 00:12:40,997 --> 00:12:43,078 that he had been striving for 151 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:45,550 as a frontiersman his entire life. 152 00:12:50,315 --> 00:12:51,878 The trail Boone blazes 153 00:12:51,918 --> 00:12:55,164 will come to be known as the Wilderness Road. 154 00:12:58,505 --> 00:13:00,198 And over the next four decades 155 00:13:00,239 --> 00:13:03,794 some 300,000 pioneers will follow it west. 156 00:13:06,610 --> 00:13:08,741 Daniel Boone really was an iconic figure 157 00:13:08,777 --> 00:13:10,679 even in his own time. 158 00:13:10,728 --> 00:13:12,759 I mean, these were individuals who could 159 00:13:12,808 --> 00:13:15,537 and had to do it all. 160 00:13:15,581 --> 00:13:17,573 There certainly is something about Americans 161 00:13:17,619 --> 00:13:20,825 that they were always striving forward 162 00:13:20,869 --> 00:13:24,165 relentlessly in search of land that they could own 163 00:13:24,206 --> 00:13:27,154 living by their own self-reliance. 164 00:13:27,196 --> 00:13:30,184 It was their idea of the American dream. 165 00:13:40,719 --> 00:13:44,493 It's an American dream that's about to be born in fire. 166 00:13:46,915 --> 00:13:49,993 Just two weeks after Boone's arrival 167 00:13:50,036 --> 00:13:52,157 colonial rage explodes.. 168 00:13:57,187 --> 00:14:00,264 ...in the small town of Lexington, Massachusetts. 169 00:14:05,508 --> 00:14:07,978 It's the shot heard round the world. 170 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:16,348 [ramatic music] 171 00:14:25,184 --> 00:14:29,865 1775, a new spirit of independence 172 00:14:29,909 --> 00:14:31,691 is sweeping across America. 173 00:14:45,207 --> 00:14:46,950 And on April 19th.. 174 00:14:50,235 --> 00:14:53,402 ...the battles of Lexington and Concord erupt 175 00:14:53,442 --> 00:14:55,573 leaving 49 colonists dead. 176 00:14:59,769 --> 00:15:02,975 The first casualties in what will soon be a revolution. 177 00:15:06,487 --> 00:15:08,618 The rebels that were fighting were ordinary people. 178 00:15:08,654 --> 00:15:10,954 They were farmers, just everyday folks 179 00:15:10,994 --> 00:15:12,726 that wanted freedom and they wanted liberty. 180 00:15:12,771 --> 00:15:14,554 And they were willing to fight for it 181 00:15:14,592 --> 00:15:16,583 against this great superpower 182 00:15:16,628 --> 00:15:18,181 and they were willing to die for this. 183 00:15:23,909 --> 00:15:27,116 Four hundred miles west on the Kentucky frontier 184 00:15:27,160 --> 00:15:30,764 that same patriotic spirit inspires Daniel Boone. 185 00:15:35,784 --> 00:15:38,344 He and his men are building a permanent settlement 186 00:15:38,384 --> 00:15:42,019 in defiance of the British crown. 187 00:15:42,069 --> 00:15:43,583 Keep those nice and tight as they go up, yeah? 188 00:15:43,628 --> 00:15:45,281 - 'Yeah, yeah, yeah.' - 'Alright.' 189 00:15:45,319 --> 00:15:46,614 'Good work, boys.' 190 00:15:49,133 --> 00:15:50,607 At the same time, Lexington 191 00:15:50,650 --> 00:15:52,691 and Concord is raging in the East 192 00:15:52,730 --> 00:15:56,195 here is Daniel Boone and this small ragtag group of men 193 00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:59,746 cutting through and establishing this settlement. 194 00:15:59,794 --> 00:16:01,696 These seemingly disconnected events 195 00:16:01,744 --> 00:16:03,875 in some sense are wedded 196 00:16:03,911 --> 00:16:07,426 as Americans are beginning to fight for independence. 197 00:16:07,465 --> 00:16:09,765 You also have this process of expanding 198 00:16:09,805 --> 00:16:11,628 what will become the American nation. 199 00:16:15,137 --> 00:16:17,736 Boone knows they're on Shawnee soil 200 00:16:17,780 --> 00:16:20,857 and throughout the spring of 1775 201 00:16:20,900 --> 00:16:22,982 he races to complete defenses. 202 00:16:25,408 --> 00:16:29,221 Living on the frontier was extremely dangerous. 203 00:16:29,265 --> 00:16:31,476 Daniel Boone's own son was tortured to death 204 00:16:31,519 --> 00:16:34,257 by Indians a couple years earlier. 205 00:16:34,292 --> 00:16:35,985 And they knew that if they were going to survive 206 00:16:36,026 --> 00:16:38,067 they needed to live in a fortified settlement. 207 00:16:47,468 --> 00:16:49,768 Well, just imagine, you've arrived 208 00:16:49,808 --> 00:16:51,710 in the woods of Kentucky. 209 00:16:51,758 --> 00:16:56,089 You have an axe, and you have a few crosscut saws. 210 00:16:56,135 --> 00:16:58,346 Every log has gotta be chopped. 211 00:16:58,389 --> 00:16:59,863 It's gotta be sawed, it's got to be notched 212 00:16:59,906 --> 00:17:01,599 it's got to be rolled. 213 00:17:01,639 --> 00:17:04,626 So, we're talking about real hard work. 214 00:17:12,171 --> 00:17:14,810 After four weeks of hard labor 215 00:17:14,858 --> 00:17:18,324 the fort is christened Boonesborough. 216 00:17:23,569 --> 00:17:26,038 The settlement is the largest ever established 217 00:17:26,083 --> 00:17:27,378 on the frontier.. 218 00:17:28,814 --> 00:17:30,377 ...and it quickly expands 219 00:17:30,417 --> 00:17:33,325 triggering a new wave of pioneers 220 00:17:33,364 --> 00:17:36,401 drawn west by the promise of owning land. 221 00:17:38,131 --> 00:17:41,418 America is the land of dreams. 222 00:17:41,468 --> 00:17:44,545 And you can just go out, and if you have your axe 223 00:17:44,588 --> 00:17:48,054 and your gun and some guts, alright, you go out there 224 00:17:48,100 --> 00:17:50,181 and maybe you're gonna get killed in the wilderness 225 00:17:50,223 --> 00:17:53,170 but you got a shot at making your claim. 226 00:17:54,731 --> 00:17:57,628 That did not exist in Europe. 227 00:17:57,677 --> 00:17:58,812 All the land was taken. 228 00:17:58,847 --> 00:18:00,749 It was all owned by these nobles 229 00:18:00,798 --> 00:18:03,656 and lords and rich guys. 230 00:18:03,702 --> 00:18:05,783 There was no opportunity. 231 00:18:05,825 --> 00:18:07,906 But in America, there was an opportunity. 232 00:18:16,834 --> 00:18:19,433 Among the new arrivals at Boonesborough 233 00:18:19,476 --> 00:18:21,468 are Boone's wife and eight children 234 00:18:21,514 --> 00:18:26,324 including his 14-year-old daughter, Jemima. 235 00:18:26,367 --> 00:18:30,092 Jemima Boone was Daniel Boone's favorite child. 236 00:18:31,309 --> 00:18:32,782 Boone took a personal hand 237 00:18:32,825 --> 00:18:35,643 in training Jemima as a marksman 238 00:18:35,686 --> 00:18:38,335 as a woodswoman. 239 00:18:43,140 --> 00:18:45,779 You might look at Boone's decision 240 00:18:45,828 --> 00:18:48,646 to move his family into the Kentucky wilderness 241 00:18:48,688 --> 00:18:50,380 now and think of it as 242 00:18:50,421 --> 00:18:52,333 this really reckless, dangerous thing. 243 00:18:54,105 --> 00:18:56,883 But I think he probably looked at it as 244 00:18:56,922 --> 00:19:01,343 this was his chance to have the American dream. 245 00:19:01,386 --> 00:19:06,066 Where here's his promise of acquiring a large chunk of land 246 00:19:06,110 --> 00:19:08,660 that not only that he could farm and settle 247 00:19:08,710 --> 00:19:11,090 but that future generations of Boones 248 00:19:11,137 --> 00:19:12,959 would be able to farm and settle 249 00:19:13,001 --> 00:19:14,385 and live off the fat of the land. 250 00:19:19,372 --> 00:19:22,021 By the end of 1775 251 00:19:22,059 --> 00:19:25,445 the number of settlers in Kentucky has tripled. 252 00:19:25,483 --> 00:19:26,996 And settlements now cover 253 00:19:27,043 --> 00:19:29,075 more than half a million acres of land. 254 00:19:34,627 --> 00:19:37,276 A move that alarms native tribes 255 00:19:37,315 --> 00:19:38,958 including the Shawnee. 256 00:19:43,858 --> 00:19:47,194 For the last century, they've been pushed relentlessly west. 257 00:19:50,576 --> 00:19:55,037 Now, they see each new settlement as an invasion.. 258 00:19:55,083 --> 00:19:57,433 ...one they're determined to stop. 259 00:19:59,938 --> 00:20:02,925 In Kentucky, the Shawnees were already thriving 260 00:20:02,971 --> 00:20:05,092 before the arrival of Europeans. 261 00:20:05,138 --> 00:20:06,661 In fact, they were one of the more 262 00:20:06,698 --> 00:20:08,043 kind of, influential 263 00:20:08,085 --> 00:20:10,864 powerful people in that region. 264 00:20:10,903 --> 00:20:13,243 When strange settlers 265 00:20:13,287 --> 00:20:15,806 begin to build lodges of their own 266 00:20:15,843 --> 00:20:17,665 cabins and such 267 00:20:17,707 --> 00:20:20,097 then native people began to realize 268 00:20:20,134 --> 00:20:22,952 this was more of a permanent situation. 269 00:20:22,994 --> 00:20:26,728 This is Shawnee territory, it had to be defended. 270 00:20:26,765 --> 00:20:28,717 And so, you go to war. 271 00:20:43,451 --> 00:20:46,528 Among the most powerful Shawnee leaders in Kentucky 272 00:20:46,570 --> 00:20:49,867 is a war chief named Blackfish. 273 00:20:49,907 --> 00:20:52,118 In 1776.. 274 00:20:52,162 --> 00:20:55,110 ...he decides to strike back. 275 00:20:55,152 --> 00:20:58,837 Blackfish was a well-known war leader 276 00:20:58,879 --> 00:21:03,081 of the Chillicothe group of the Shawnee nation. 277 00:21:03,127 --> 00:21:05,686 He was a very respected leader 278 00:21:05,727 --> 00:21:08,714 who drew people to him. 279 00:21:08,760 --> 00:21:12,704 From Blackfish's perspective, that land was Shawnee land. 280 00:21:12,747 --> 00:21:14,739 And so, Blackfish believed 281 00:21:14,785 --> 00:21:17,085 as many other Shawnees believed 282 00:21:17,125 --> 00:21:20,550 that a definitive stand had to be made 283 00:21:20,592 --> 00:21:23,022 to stop losing ground to the whites. 284 00:22:00,767 --> 00:22:02,759 Deep in the Kentucky wilderness.. 285 00:22:04,798 --> 00:22:06,790 ...a Shawnee war party abducts 286 00:22:06,836 --> 00:22:09,953 three young women near Boonesborough. 287 00:22:09,999 --> 00:22:13,027 Among them is Daniel Boone's 14-year-old daughter.. 288 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:16,801 ...Jemima. 289 00:22:18,580 --> 00:22:20,482 You three, with me. 290 00:22:20,530 --> 00:22:23,000 Ready your weapons and stay alert. Man the wall. 291 00:22:46,968 --> 00:22:50,702 As Americans expand beyond the Appalachians 292 00:22:50,738 --> 00:22:53,466 understandably, conflict is gonna erupt 293 00:22:53,511 --> 00:22:55,941 between the Native Americans 294 00:22:55,982 --> 00:22:58,023 and... these frontiersmen 295 00:22:58,062 --> 00:23:00,064 who have intruded upon their lands. 296 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:04,431 The warning is clear. 297 00:23:04,476 --> 00:23:06,298 No outsider who sets foot 298 00:23:06,340 --> 00:23:10,104 on Shawnee land is safe. 299 00:23:10,154 --> 00:23:13,789 But Jemima Boone is uniquely equipped to survive. 300 00:23:27,923 --> 00:23:29,178 Now, Boone's daughter starts 301 00:23:29,223 --> 00:23:31,384 tearing little bits of fabric 302 00:23:31,434 --> 00:23:32,947 from her apron or dress 303 00:23:32,994 --> 00:23:34,816 and leaving along a trail. 304 00:23:41,358 --> 00:23:43,658 So, here's someone, she's getting abducted 305 00:23:43,699 --> 00:23:45,910 and she knows that she's gonna be taken 306 00:23:45,953 --> 00:23:48,502 to these distant Indian villages 307 00:23:48,553 --> 00:23:51,231 and possibly tortured and killed 308 00:23:51,283 --> 00:23:52,886 and she has the presence of mind 309 00:23:52,930 --> 00:23:56,057 to be leaving evidence of their passage along the way. 310 00:24:01,294 --> 00:24:03,206 'We keep our distance till nightfall.' 311 00:24:03,245 --> 00:24:04,241 Come on. 312 00:24:32,932 --> 00:24:33,928 Spread out. 313 00:25:25,460 --> 00:25:27,193 Come on! 314 00:25:39,805 --> 00:25:41,278 'Watch the tree line.' 315 00:25:43,055 --> 00:25:44,529 Are you alright? Are you alright? 316 00:25:45,785 --> 00:25:46,871 Come here. 317 00:25:51,506 --> 00:25:54,235 The story of the abduction of Jemima 318 00:25:54,281 --> 00:25:57,358 went, as we would say, viral. 319 00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:00,388 Almost everything Daniel Boone did burnished his reputation. 320 00:26:00,435 --> 00:26:02,128 He was the kind of figure 321 00:26:02,168 --> 00:26:04,598 around whom stories collect. 322 00:26:04,638 --> 00:26:05,723 Come on, come on. 323 00:26:05,765 --> 00:26:06,970 People felt, how dumb 324 00:26:07,022 --> 00:26:08,446 could you be 325 00:26:08,496 --> 00:26:10,358 to kidnap the daughter of Daniel Boone. 326 00:26:16,903 --> 00:26:18,945 The Jemima story fits in 327 00:26:18,984 --> 00:26:22,579 with many stories of young women getting captured 328 00:26:22,624 --> 00:26:24,437 by Native Americans at the time. 329 00:26:24,487 --> 00:26:27,823 This, this was a, a kind of great fear and anxiety 330 00:26:27,868 --> 00:26:30,597 that just proliferated throughout every single colony. 331 00:26:32,246 --> 00:26:34,586 The idea that "We got her back 332 00:26:34,629 --> 00:26:36,013 thanks to Daniel Boone's heroism" 333 00:26:36,060 --> 00:26:38,828 is the kind of reassurance 334 00:26:38,876 --> 00:26:42,082 for women to go out there who would, of course, be part 335 00:26:42,127 --> 00:26:44,985 of the essential building blocks of any society 336 00:26:45,031 --> 00:26:46,375 and that was really important. 337 00:26:48,671 --> 00:26:50,065 Within weeks of Boone's return 338 00:26:50,102 --> 00:26:52,004 home to Boonesborough 339 00:26:52,051 --> 00:26:54,471 the colonies move past rebellion.. 340 00:26:56,818 --> 00:26:58,252 ...to revolution. 341 00:27:03,363 --> 00:27:05,355 '"When in the course of human events' 342 00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:07,442 "it becomes necessary for one people 343 00:27:07,481 --> 00:27:09,134 "to dissolve the political bands 344 00:27:09,170 --> 00:27:12,158 'which have connected them with another."' 345 00:27:12,205 --> 00:27:14,674 In July 1776 346 00:27:14,718 --> 00:27:17,885 the colonies declare independence. 347 00:27:17,926 --> 00:27:21,003 '"That among these, are life, liberty' 348 00:27:21,045 --> 00:27:23,386 and the pursuit of happiness." 349 00:27:23,429 --> 00:27:27,502 And the United States of America is born. 350 00:27:27,546 --> 00:27:30,882 It's built on the ideals of freedom and self-reliance.. 351 00:27:34,091 --> 00:27:36,829 ...values personified by frontiersmen. 352 00:27:39,508 --> 00:27:41,071 Within a month, copies 353 00:27:41,112 --> 00:27:43,323 of the Declaration of Independence 354 00:27:43,366 --> 00:27:46,184 reach remote outposts, like Boonesborough. 355 00:27:50,213 --> 00:27:52,125 When Daniel Boone gets word 356 00:27:52,164 --> 00:27:53,817 of the Declaration of Independence 357 00:27:53,853 --> 00:27:56,622 he had to be aware that in some sense 358 00:27:56,671 --> 00:27:58,622 he was on the advance guard 359 00:27:58,664 --> 00:28:01,612 the front edge of the movement for independence. 360 00:28:03,604 --> 00:28:05,686 Daniel Boone understood that liberty 361 00:28:05,728 --> 00:28:08,069 was the freedom to do exactly what he had been doing 362 00:28:08,112 --> 00:28:11,448 to traverse the West, to provide for his family 363 00:28:11,492 --> 00:28:14,529 to have a life independent of some dictatorial power. 364 00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:21,847 The colonists know the price of independence is war. 365 00:28:28,178 --> 00:28:29,821 But Britain's generals have no doubt 366 00:28:29,869 --> 00:28:31,512 they will crush the revolution. 367 00:28:34,072 --> 00:28:35,805 Their plan is simple 368 00:28:35,850 --> 00:28:38,409 hit eastern cities by sea 369 00:28:38,450 --> 00:28:40,182 then send troops down from Canada 370 00:28:40,226 --> 00:28:43,343 to attack northern forts. 371 00:28:48,374 --> 00:28:52,407 By November 1776, the British take New York.. 372 00:28:56,609 --> 00:28:59,427 ...then chase the Continental Army into Pennsylvania. 373 00:29:01,550 --> 00:29:03,501 Things were going very badly 374 00:29:03,543 --> 00:29:06,142 for the American cause. 375 00:29:06,187 --> 00:29:07,870 Great Britain entered the war 376 00:29:07,921 --> 00:29:10,998 believing that they could easily suppress us 377 00:29:11,041 --> 00:29:12,425 because at this point 378 00:29:12,472 --> 00:29:14,244 the United States military was small 379 00:29:14,291 --> 00:29:16,671 and generally not very efficient. 380 00:29:19,275 --> 00:29:22,531 And the British are the most powerful empire in the world. 381 00:29:24,649 --> 00:29:27,288 They had the most powerful army. 382 00:29:27,336 --> 00:29:30,971 It was well-trained, well-organized. 383 00:29:42,765 --> 00:29:44,717 With the Continental Army on the run 384 00:29:44,759 --> 00:29:47,188 the British devise a new trap. 385 00:29:47,229 --> 00:29:49,530 They'll open a western front in the war 386 00:29:49,569 --> 00:29:52,736 by attacking settlements, like Boonesborough. 387 00:29:58,454 --> 00:30:01,402 Their strategy relies on unlikely allies. 388 00:30:07,339 --> 00:30:08,982 Consider them a gift. 389 00:30:13,363 --> 00:30:14,787 The British allied with the Native Americans 390 00:30:14,836 --> 00:30:16,350 during the Revolutionary War 391 00:30:16,397 --> 00:30:18,219 because the native allies were useful 392 00:30:18,261 --> 00:30:20,820 in terms of scouting, providing information 393 00:30:20,861 --> 00:30:22,464 simply as a fighting force. 394 00:30:24,415 --> 00:30:27,452 Shawnees had conflict with white settlers 395 00:30:27,492 --> 00:30:28,667 coming into their land 396 00:30:28,705 --> 00:30:30,268 so they were fighting this war 397 00:30:30,309 --> 00:30:33,217 alongside the British. 398 00:30:33,256 --> 00:30:36,771 In 1777, Britain starts arming the Shawnee 399 00:30:36,810 --> 00:30:40,066 and other Native American tribes to fight the settlers. 400 00:30:43,224 --> 00:30:47,645 In exchange, they promised to return native lands. 401 00:30:47,688 --> 00:30:49,241 These native people 402 00:30:49,291 --> 00:30:51,362 they had no doubt what was in store for them 403 00:30:51,415 --> 00:30:53,755 if the Americans won. 404 00:30:53,798 --> 00:30:55,362 They faced removal. 405 00:30:57,785 --> 00:30:59,170 On the other hand 406 00:30:59,216 --> 00:31:02,293 the British promised rewards in land. 407 00:31:07,017 --> 00:31:09,098 Now the Shawnee.. 408 00:31:09,141 --> 00:31:11,043 ...and Daniel Boone 409 00:31:11,091 --> 00:31:12,515 are on a collision course.. 410 00:31:15,165 --> 00:31:18,063 ...that will help decide the new nation's future. 411 00:31:29,467 --> 00:31:31,459 By late 1777.. 412 00:31:33,368 --> 00:31:35,489 ...the Shawnee are British allies.. 413 00:31:38,612 --> 00:31:41,430 ...part of a strategy to open a western front 414 00:31:41,472 --> 00:31:44,110 in the Revolutionary War. 415 00:31:44,159 --> 00:31:47,196 The British, in the time of the revolution 416 00:31:47,236 --> 00:31:51,010 they were arming Indian tribes to attack settlements. 417 00:31:51,050 --> 00:31:53,440 They promised the Indians 418 00:31:53,477 --> 00:31:56,166 that once they drove the settlers out of Kentucky 419 00:31:56,208 --> 00:31:59,115 they could recover their territory. 420 00:31:59,154 --> 00:32:01,454 The British could then attack 421 00:32:01,494 --> 00:32:03,795 the colonies from the west. 422 00:32:03,834 --> 00:32:05,786 That was part of their plan 423 00:32:05,828 --> 00:32:08,039 to put down this rebellion. 424 00:32:17,790 --> 00:32:19,214 In Boonesborough 425 00:32:19,264 --> 00:32:21,385 Daniel Boone has no idea 426 00:32:21,430 --> 00:32:22,685 of the coming danger. 427 00:32:24,638 --> 00:32:27,894 And the settlement has a different problem. 428 00:32:27,932 --> 00:32:29,884 They're running dangerously low on salt. 429 00:32:32,049 --> 00:32:33,732 Salt was so important 430 00:32:33,782 --> 00:32:35,645 to the settlers at Boonesborough. 431 00:32:35,689 --> 00:32:38,946 The diet of the people was almost entirely game. 432 00:32:38,984 --> 00:32:40,756 It was hunted meat. 433 00:32:40,804 --> 00:32:44,658 Because Indians were attacking settlers regularly 434 00:32:44,703 --> 00:32:47,392 they stayed in that fort as much as possible. 435 00:32:47,434 --> 00:32:49,426 And there was very little farming going on. 436 00:32:49,471 --> 00:32:51,861 So, salt was the only way 437 00:32:51,898 --> 00:32:53,760 that settlers had to preserve meat. 438 00:33:04,380 --> 00:33:06,720 To get salt, Boone and two dozen of his men 439 00:33:06,764 --> 00:33:10,707 must head 50 miles from the safety of their fort 440 00:33:10,751 --> 00:33:13,609 to a distant river rich with mineral deposits. 441 00:33:32,638 --> 00:33:34,590 Today, we don't really spend a whole lot of time 442 00:33:34,631 --> 00:33:35,936 thinking about salt. 443 00:33:38,184 --> 00:33:40,266 But it was a big undertaking 'cause they wouldn't go 444 00:33:40,308 --> 00:33:42,220 to the store and buy it, they would go 445 00:33:42,258 --> 00:33:45,465 to, what they called a salt lake, and this was just a spring 446 00:33:45,509 --> 00:33:47,291 where the water coming up out of the spring 447 00:33:47,329 --> 00:33:48,982 has a high salt content. 448 00:33:52,140 --> 00:33:54,052 Keep that energy up, boys. 449 00:34:01,371 --> 00:34:04,408 You get to boil down five or six hundred gallons of water 450 00:34:04,448 --> 00:34:07,097 to end up with a 50-pound bushel of salt. 451 00:34:09,476 --> 00:34:10,870 Boone and his men can extract 452 00:34:10,906 --> 00:34:14,939 about 500 pounds of salt a day 453 00:34:14,980 --> 00:34:17,618 but they need 15,000 pounds before winter. 454 00:34:20,397 --> 00:34:22,737 The work leaves them exposed in the wilderness 455 00:34:22,781 --> 00:34:24,513 for nearly a month. 456 00:35:20,553 --> 00:35:22,285 Boone and all of his men 457 00:35:22,329 --> 00:35:24,888 are taken by the Shawnee. 458 00:35:24,929 --> 00:35:27,538 The British will pay a $100 bounty 459 00:35:27,573 --> 00:35:29,475 for each captured settler. 460 00:35:36,198 --> 00:35:39,574 The Shawnees and the settlers in Kentucky were at war. 461 00:35:39,621 --> 00:35:45,775 And when the Shawnees discovered Boone and his men making salt 462 00:35:45,819 --> 00:35:49,245 this was a sudden crime of opportunity. 463 00:35:49,287 --> 00:35:52,234 They took them as prisoners of war. 464 00:35:52,277 --> 00:35:54,916 These would've been valuable assets. 465 00:35:59,255 --> 00:36:00,948 First, they have to survive 466 00:36:00,987 --> 00:36:03,248 a brutal Native American rite 467 00:36:03,285 --> 00:36:05,147 called the gauntlet. 468 00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:17,199 Running the gauntlet was a test 469 00:36:17,240 --> 00:36:19,023 of one's strength and mettle. 470 00:36:21,444 --> 00:36:23,695 And the gauntlet was also a way 471 00:36:23,741 --> 00:36:26,210 of terrorizing your enemy. 472 00:36:26,255 --> 00:36:28,854 In fact, many people did not survive. 473 00:37:27,884 --> 00:37:29,009 Aah! 474 00:38:15,427 --> 00:38:17,896 Fighting as British allies 475 00:38:17,940 --> 00:38:20,758 the Shawnee have captured Daniel Boone and his men. 476 00:38:23,141 --> 00:38:25,432 To prove his worth 477 00:38:25,481 --> 00:38:27,602 Boone is forced to run the gauntlet. 478 00:38:59,156 --> 00:39:00,679 Boone running the gauntlet 479 00:39:00,716 --> 00:39:03,753 and kind of withstanding all these hits 480 00:39:03,793 --> 00:39:07,996 earns him, uh, the respect of, uh, Blackfish. 481 00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:10,819 And he's then able to convince Blackfish 482 00:39:10,857 --> 00:39:14,064 not to assault anybody else. 483 00:39:14,108 --> 00:39:17,225 And it certainly added to the legend of Daniel Boone. 484 00:39:35,085 --> 00:39:37,773 Boone and his men may be alive.. 485 00:39:37,815 --> 00:39:41,071 ...but they're prisoners of war.. 486 00:39:41,108 --> 00:39:43,628 ...in a rebellion that's on the brink of failure. 487 00:39:55,974 --> 00:39:58,403 By 1778.. 488 00:39:58,444 --> 00:40:01,949 ...the exhausted Continental Army is in full retreat. 489 00:40:06,636 --> 00:40:10,101 But it can't escape the most brutal winter in a century. 490 00:40:12,919 --> 00:40:16,425 In the winter of 1777-1778 491 00:40:16,473 --> 00:40:20,895 the British had occupied Philadelphia. 492 00:40:20,938 --> 00:40:22,760 Washington's Continental Army 493 00:40:22,801 --> 00:40:24,753 is starving and freezing to death 494 00:40:24,794 --> 00:40:26,786 at Valley Forge. 495 00:40:26,832 --> 00:40:28,644 It's a very dark time 496 00:40:28,695 --> 00:40:31,294 for the American revolutionary cause. 497 00:40:34,676 --> 00:40:38,151 By February, 2,500 continental soldiers 498 00:40:38,186 --> 00:40:39,919 die of exposure 499 00:40:39,963 --> 00:40:43,299 disease and starvation. 500 00:40:43,344 --> 00:40:46,640 More than double the casualties of any single battle. 501 00:40:51,752 --> 00:40:53,355 Back in Boonesborough.. 502 00:40:55,522 --> 00:40:57,812 ...Boone and his men have been missing for months. 503 00:41:00,290 --> 00:41:03,317 Most settlers fear the worst. 504 00:41:03,367 --> 00:41:06,046 Including Boone's wife, Rebecca. 505 00:41:09,261 --> 00:41:10,735 Say bye to your sister. 506 00:41:10,778 --> 00:41:12,122 - Bye. - Goodbye. 507 00:41:12,165 --> 00:41:13,121 Bye. 508 00:41:18,449 --> 00:41:20,181 The people of Boonesborough 509 00:41:20,226 --> 00:41:22,258 assumed the men had been killed. 510 00:41:22,306 --> 00:41:24,646 They had to. 511 00:41:24,689 --> 00:41:28,503 But Jemima stayed after Rebecca took the rest of the family 512 00:41:28,547 --> 00:41:30,369 back to North Carolina. 513 00:41:32,664 --> 00:41:36,348 She believed that her father 514 00:41:36,391 --> 00:41:37,686 would come back.. 515 00:41:39,468 --> 00:41:41,161 ...and she was going to be there to greet him. 516 00:41:57,757 --> 00:42:00,755 Hundreds of miles from home.. 517 00:42:00,791 --> 00:42:03,092 ...Boone has survived months of captivity. 518 00:42:05,385 --> 00:42:09,030 Now, Chief Blackfish is marching Boone's men 519 00:42:09,070 --> 00:42:12,196 to the British stronghold of Fort Detroit. 520 00:42:16,827 --> 00:42:20,989 It's the central staging ground for attacks from the west. 521 00:42:21,031 --> 00:42:23,800 Part of Britain's plan to work with their Native American 522 00:42:23,847 --> 00:42:27,363 allies to crush the colonies from all sides. 523 00:42:48,334 --> 00:42:49,947 The British established 524 00:42:49,981 --> 00:42:54,054 a majorheadquarters at Detroit. 525 00:42:54,099 --> 00:42:57,136 It became the most important fort in that region 526 00:42:57,176 --> 00:42:58,909 and it was out of Detroit 527 00:42:58,953 --> 00:43:02,109 that they sent the militias 528 00:43:02,160 --> 00:43:05,496 and the supplies for the Indians to attack. 529 00:43:05,540 --> 00:43:08,667 That would become a front in the war. 530 00:43:34,881 --> 00:43:38,128 These prisoners were valuable assets for the Shawnee. 531 00:43:38,175 --> 00:43:40,475 They could trade them with the British 532 00:43:40,515 --> 00:43:44,727 as a symbol of their support for the British side. 533 00:43:44,763 --> 00:43:46,844 Unfortunately, some of them actually were forced 534 00:43:46,886 --> 00:43:49,017 into the British military. 535 00:44:06,562 --> 00:44:09,211 What's going to happen to those men? 536 00:44:09,249 --> 00:44:11,290 - Where are you taking them? - To be questioned. 537 00:44:11,329 --> 00:44:12,892 Those men are not rebels. 538 00:44:12,933 --> 00:44:15,881 They're just hunters and farmers settled in Kentucky. 539 00:44:15,924 --> 00:44:19,051 - What's your name? - Daniel Boone. 540 00:44:19,087 --> 00:44:21,816 - Of Boonesborough? - Yes, sir. 541 00:44:21,861 --> 00:44:25,466 You think that's your land? 542 00:44:25,501 --> 00:44:29,226 Boonesborough has not declared loyalty to the crown. 543 00:44:29,272 --> 00:44:33,215 As such, I've been ordered to take it by force. 544 00:44:33,259 --> 00:44:36,854 'Blackfish will lead a war party to take the fort.' 545 00:44:36,899 --> 00:44:39,887 You will go with him to help negotiate the surrender. 546 00:44:39,934 --> 00:44:41,497 Please, let me... 547 00:44:41,537 --> 00:44:43,359 That is what's going to happen. 548 00:44:46,998 --> 00:44:50,852 Boonesborough is the most important frontier settlement. 549 00:44:50,899 --> 00:44:54,065 If it falls, the loss could be catastrophic 550 00:44:54,105 --> 00:44:55,888 to the American cause. 551 00:45:11,485 --> 00:45:13,218 Well, you could only imagine what was going through 552 00:45:13,261 --> 00:45:15,303 Boone's mind. 553 00:45:15,342 --> 00:45:18,329 He realizes that the Shawnee are going to 554 00:45:18,376 --> 00:45:20,885 uh, attack Boonesborough 555 00:45:20,932 --> 00:45:24,537 facing what seemed to be, insurmountable odds. 556 00:45:24,573 --> 00:45:27,909 Vastly outnumbered, his family is there 557 00:45:27,954 --> 00:45:30,722 so he decides that he's going to risk it all 558 00:45:30,771 --> 00:45:32,643 and try to escape. 559 00:46:37,297 --> 00:46:39,677 Daniel Boone is on the move 560 00:46:39,724 --> 00:46:42,801 making a daring escape.. 561 00:46:42,843 --> 00:46:44,666 ...from his Shawnee captors. 562 00:46:47,611 --> 00:46:50,688 He has to warn Boonesborough that an attack is imminent. 563 00:46:54,805 --> 00:46:56,020 'Boone!' 564 00:47:31,774 --> 00:47:33,984 Alone, on foot 565 00:47:34,028 --> 00:47:36,587 Boone must cover a 150 miles 566 00:47:36,628 --> 00:47:41,089 faster than the Shawnee or the fort will fall 567 00:47:41,135 --> 00:47:43,425 allowing the British and their allies 568 00:47:43,475 --> 00:47:46,204 to attack the colonies from the west. 569 00:47:56,780 --> 00:47:58,812 Because he was an expert tracker 570 00:47:58,862 --> 00:48:02,158 Boone knows very well the kind of things you do 571 00:48:02,198 --> 00:48:04,927 if you don't want someone to follow you. 572 00:48:04,972 --> 00:48:08,049 So, Boone would do things like step only on rocks 573 00:48:08,093 --> 00:48:10,951 to not leave a trail and you cut zigzags 574 00:48:10,996 --> 00:48:14,293 and circles and anything you can do to confuse your pursuer. 575 00:48:23,131 --> 00:48:27,075 When Boone escaped from the Shawnees 576 00:48:27,119 --> 00:48:29,509 he was not prepared for a 100-mile journey. 577 00:48:31,582 --> 00:48:33,315 His feet were blistered and bloody. 578 00:49:27,664 --> 00:49:30,402 Guys like Daniel Boone who are on these 579 00:49:30,437 --> 00:49:32,130 endurance journeys. 580 00:49:32,171 --> 00:49:35,507 You'd have to be in extremely good shape. 581 00:49:35,552 --> 00:49:40,272 That's just a testimonial to how tough these guys were. 582 00:49:40,319 --> 00:49:42,838 He managed to do it in four days. 583 00:49:42,876 --> 00:49:45,525 In order to do that, he drew on incredible resources 584 00:49:45,563 --> 00:49:46,817 in his body. 585 00:49:59,214 --> 00:50:01,036 This is an extraordinary story. 586 00:50:01,078 --> 00:50:02,681 I mean, we're talkin' about, uh.. 587 00:50:02,725 --> 00:50:05,464 ...four marathons in four days 588 00:50:05,499 --> 00:50:08,098 without shoes, uh, through the wilderness.. 589 00:50:08,142 --> 00:50:10,483 Not even running on streets. 590 00:50:10,526 --> 00:50:12,906 It builds on this reputation 591 00:50:12,953 --> 00:50:16,508 of Daniel Boone the superhero who can do anything. 592 00:50:26,041 --> 00:50:27,425 'It's Boone!' 593 00:50:56,249 --> 00:50:58,032 Home for the first time in months 594 00:50:58,069 --> 00:50:59,892 there's no time to rest. 595 00:51:07,560 --> 00:51:09,383 The Shawnee are coming. 596 00:51:12,285 --> 00:51:14,147 Gather our weapons. 597 00:51:14,192 --> 00:51:16,402 Muskets, ammunition, gunpowder. 598 00:51:16,445 --> 00:51:18,317 Get everything you can. 599 00:51:23,813 --> 00:51:26,024 Everything they needed, essentially 600 00:51:26,067 --> 00:51:28,098 they had to produce themselves. 601 00:51:28,147 --> 00:51:30,278 Everything they consumed, everything they drank.. 602 00:51:30,314 --> 00:51:32,524 Uh, all the gunpowder that they used 603 00:51:32,567 --> 00:51:35,126 the, the lead bullets that they cast 604 00:51:35,168 --> 00:51:37,240 everything had to be made from materials 605 00:51:37,291 --> 00:51:39,154 that were at hand. 606 00:51:43,792 --> 00:51:47,168 Combining leftover sulfur.. 607 00:51:47,217 --> 00:51:51,728 ...charcoal from the campfire and bat dung 608 00:51:51,766 --> 00:51:55,023 the settlers race to make gunpowder. 609 00:52:04,076 --> 00:52:06,685 It was a desperate time. They were short of men. 610 00:52:06,719 --> 00:52:09,357 They were short of ammunition, short of supplies. 611 00:52:14,000 --> 00:52:15,952 And yet, people of Boonesborough 612 00:52:15,993 --> 00:52:19,120 were really a part of the defense 613 00:52:19,157 --> 00:52:22,623 as it turned out, of the American, uh, Revolution. 614 00:52:54,999 --> 00:52:59,680 Blackfish and his 450 Shawnee warriors 615 00:52:59,722 --> 00:53:01,844 outnumber the people of Boonesborough.. 616 00:53:02,930 --> 00:53:04,185 ...seven to one. 617 00:53:17,189 --> 00:53:20,216 Fearing a massacre.. 618 00:53:20,266 --> 00:53:24,638 ...Boone makes a last ditch effort to get reinforcements 619 00:53:24,686 --> 00:53:26,598 and sends for the local militia. 620 00:53:39,465 --> 00:53:43,010 They're stationed over 300 miles away.. 621 00:53:43,062 --> 00:53:44,018 ...in Virginia. 622 00:53:51,643 --> 00:53:54,332 And there's no telling if they'll arrive in time.. 623 00:53:55,934 --> 00:53:57,238 ...or at all. 624 00:54:12,664 --> 00:54:16,179 Deep in the Kentucky wilderness 625 00:54:16,217 --> 00:54:19,035 Daniel Boone braces for an attack. 626 00:54:24,625 --> 00:54:27,523 Four hundred and fifty Shawnee warriors 627 00:54:27,572 --> 00:54:29,314 are marching toward Boonesborough.. 628 00:54:31,559 --> 00:54:35,194 ...under British orders to capture the fort. 629 00:54:35,242 --> 00:54:38,618 If it falls, the blow to the colonial cause 630 00:54:38,667 --> 00:54:39,832 could be devastating. 631 00:54:42,480 --> 00:54:45,029 To understand what was going on at Boonesborough 632 00:54:45,081 --> 00:54:48,935 you have to consider it in the context of the revolution. 633 00:54:48,982 --> 00:54:52,109 The British were encouraging Indians 634 00:54:52,145 --> 00:54:55,262 to attack the Kentucky settlements. 635 00:54:55,309 --> 00:54:58,038 Boonesborough was the biggest one, so they felt if they could 636 00:54:58,082 --> 00:55:00,084 bring that down 637 00:55:00,120 --> 00:55:04,023 they could probably overrun Kentucky 638 00:55:04,063 --> 00:55:05,886 and drive the settlers out. 639 00:55:08,874 --> 00:55:12,558 And then attack from the west against the colonies. 640 00:55:15,678 --> 00:55:18,805 Boone sent word to the Virginia militia 641 00:55:18,842 --> 00:55:20,186 hoping for help. 642 00:55:22,352 --> 00:55:24,513 But they're more than 300 miles away.. 643 00:55:26,687 --> 00:55:28,161 ...and he has no idea 644 00:55:28,204 --> 00:55:30,026 if they're coming. 645 00:55:52,473 --> 00:55:53,738 'They're here!' 646 00:56:10,720 --> 00:56:11,716 My God! 647 00:56:18,564 --> 00:56:21,302 A force of hundreds of Indians shows up. 648 00:56:21,338 --> 00:56:23,330 They want to wipe Boonesborough off the map. 649 00:56:36,029 --> 00:56:37,852 Daniel Boone! 650 00:56:37,893 --> 00:56:39,417 But Boone doesn't want 651 00:56:39,454 --> 00:56:40,798 to engage them in a fight. 652 00:56:40,840 --> 00:56:42,842 He's aware that the Shawnee 653 00:56:42,877 --> 00:56:44,869 could possibly massacre them all 654 00:56:44,914 --> 00:56:47,433 so he negotiates with the Shawnee. 655 00:56:48,728 --> 00:56:50,341 'I'm coming out!' 656 00:57:36,532 --> 00:57:38,394 Do right by your people. 657 00:57:38,439 --> 00:57:41,516 Surrender and no harm will come to them. 658 00:57:41,558 --> 00:57:44,855 'You have until sundown.' 659 00:57:44,895 --> 00:57:47,843 I need more time to discuss it with the others. 660 00:57:56,337 --> 00:57:58,239 You have until sundown. 661 00:58:35,299 --> 00:58:37,171 Man your post. Fire at will. 662 00:59:01,824 --> 00:59:04,333 Even though they were vastly outnumbered 663 00:59:04,380 --> 00:59:06,073 uh, by the Indians 664 00:59:06,114 --> 00:59:09,539 the frontiersmen who are in Boonesborough 665 00:59:09,581 --> 00:59:11,354 they used good fortifications 666 00:59:11,401 --> 00:59:14,040 they had stockpiles of weaponry. 667 00:59:16,082 --> 00:59:19,418 And remember that they had to hunt just to survive 668 00:59:19,462 --> 00:59:22,241 so they were always exceptional marksmen. 669 00:59:47,329 --> 00:59:48,494 Aah! 670 00:59:57,211 --> 00:59:59,461 We're gonna make this. We're gonna make this. 671 01:00:40,854 --> 01:00:43,493 Boone and a force of just 60 settlers 672 01:00:43,541 --> 01:00:47,355 fight off the first attack. 673 01:00:47,398 --> 01:00:49,569 The Shawnee suffer heavy casualties.. 674 01:00:53,292 --> 01:00:57,275 i0dt:1"X ...but Blackfish refuses to give up. 675 01:00:57,323 --> 01:01:00,310 The frontier story has been told many times 676 01:01:00,357 --> 01:01:03,653 almost always with the settlers 677 01:01:03,694 --> 01:01:05,347 as the heroes of the story. 678 01:01:08,157 --> 01:01:11,702 But American Indians are Americans too. 679 01:01:11,755 --> 01:01:13,577 Shawnee people were defending what they considered to be 680 01:01:13,618 --> 01:01:15,092 their homeland. 681 01:01:20,682 --> 01:01:23,849 The Battle of Boonesborough is just beginning. 682 01:01:34,422 --> 01:01:37,150 In the first major battle on the western front 683 01:01:37,195 --> 01:01:41,477 of the Revolutionary War, Boonesborough is under siege. 684 01:01:54,920 --> 01:01:57,599 After taking heavy casualties 685 01:01:57,651 --> 01:02:01,246 Shawnee leader, Blackfish, changes tactics.. 686 01:02:10,956 --> 01:02:13,425 ...unleashing a barrage of surprise attacks 687 01:02:13,470 --> 01:02:15,203 on the settlement. 688 01:02:48,358 --> 01:02:49,703 Come on! 689 01:02:58,196 --> 01:02:59,411 Just hang on. 690 01:03:11,154 --> 01:03:14,540 The Native Americans we're using hit-and-run tactics 691 01:03:14,578 --> 01:03:17,267 and these are quite devastatingly effective 692 01:03:17,309 --> 01:03:19,519 because those in the frontier 693 01:03:19,562 --> 01:03:21,773 feared that they could be attacked at any time 694 01:03:21,816 --> 01:03:23,030 at any place. 695 01:03:25,240 --> 01:03:28,875 This, as in every combat, is a test of wills. 696 01:03:31,134 --> 01:03:33,694 They were vulnerable and exposed. 697 01:03:33,734 --> 01:03:36,284 Bullets were flying. 698 01:03:36,334 --> 01:03:38,366 There was gun smoke sometimes so thick 699 01:03:38,415 --> 01:03:41,362 you couldn't see anything. 700 01:03:41,405 --> 01:03:44,393 This went on day after day after day. 701 01:03:47,170 --> 01:03:51,850 With the fort surrounded, the settlers are trapped. 702 01:04:00,779 --> 01:04:03,816 There was human waste, animal carcasses 703 01:04:03,856 --> 01:04:06,196 and rotten meat layin' around. 704 01:04:06,239 --> 01:04:08,878 Everyone's clothes are in tatters. 705 01:04:08,926 --> 01:04:13,517 I mean, this place is a miserable cesspool. 706 01:04:13,563 --> 01:04:16,421 The only thing worse than being in here 707 01:04:16,467 --> 01:04:19,583 would be to step out of there and be tortured and killed. 708 01:04:28,992 --> 01:04:31,890 Boone refuses to surrender. 709 01:04:35,363 --> 01:04:37,574 The settlers stand their ground. 710 01:05:21,996 --> 01:05:23,171 Aah! 711 01:05:35,387 --> 01:05:38,853 The attacks continue for nine straight days 712 01:05:38,899 --> 01:05:41,538 but Blackfish still can't take the fort. 713 01:05:44,576 --> 01:05:50,033 Blackfish was in a very complicated situation there. 714 01:05:50,080 --> 01:05:53,854 He knew that unless Boone surrendered the fort 715 01:05:53,894 --> 01:05:57,538 it was unlikely he could take it. 716 01:05:57,578 --> 01:06:00,924 And in a well-built fort, with those big logs, uh 717 01:06:00,958 --> 01:06:04,294 with rifles, he could not take the fort. 718 01:06:33,723 --> 01:06:35,545 Blackfish and the Shawnees just decided 719 01:06:35,586 --> 01:06:38,584 if we can't bring them over, if we can't capture them 720 01:06:38,620 --> 01:06:41,130 we'll simply do whatever we can to destroy them. 721 01:06:56,173 --> 01:06:57,985 [c] 722 01:07:04,580 --> 01:07:07,139 Boonesborough is now a battlefield 723 01:07:07,181 --> 01:07:09,223 in the Revolutionary War. 724 01:07:09,261 --> 01:07:11,641 Armed by the British, the Shawnee mount 725 01:07:11,688 --> 01:07:12,943 a fierce attack. 726 01:07:15,329 --> 01:07:17,978 But after ten days of relentless fighting 727 01:07:18,016 --> 01:07:20,057 the fort still stands. 728 01:07:40,076 --> 01:07:41,510 Everybody out! 729 01:08:45,648 --> 01:08:47,898 The siege of Boonesborough was terrifying 730 01:08:47,945 --> 01:08:49,638 for the people inside the fort. 731 01:08:51,758 --> 01:08:54,487 The gunfire was so loud 732 01:08:54,532 --> 01:08:57,789 women were screaming, children were crying 733 01:08:57,827 --> 01:09:01,730 they knew the Virginia militia was on its way 734 01:09:01,770 --> 01:09:03,722 but they didn't get there in time. 735 01:09:05,453 --> 01:09:07,575 So, the people of Boonesborough 736 01:09:07,620 --> 01:09:10,349 simply assumed the fort was falling. 737 01:09:43,029 --> 01:09:45,160 At a very important moment 738 01:09:45,196 --> 01:09:50,225 a rainstorm came and doused the flames. 739 01:09:50,267 --> 01:09:52,527 Had it not rained at that time 740 01:09:52,563 --> 01:09:55,680 Boonesborough could have, uh, been taken. 741 01:09:59,281 --> 01:10:01,840 The Shawnees' attack fails. 742 01:10:06,172 --> 01:10:08,084 And when a scout returns with word 743 01:10:08,123 --> 01:10:10,294 that the Virginia militia is coming 744 01:10:10,332 --> 01:10:12,802 Blackfish has no choice but to retreat. 745 01:10:15,403 --> 01:10:18,659 They knew there were more men there, more rifles 746 01:10:18,697 --> 01:10:20,779 more powder, more supplies 747 01:10:20,821 --> 01:10:25,063 and psychologically this was so discouraging to the Indians 748 01:10:25,111 --> 01:10:29,055 and Blackfish that the next morning they were gone. 749 01:10:33,172 --> 01:10:37,544 After a eleven days of brutal, round-the-clock fighting 750 01:10:37,594 --> 01:10:40,492 the Battle of Boonesborough is finally over. 751 01:10:42,144 --> 01:10:47,212 Securing a badly needed colonial win. 752 01:10:47,258 --> 01:10:50,773 It would be hard to exaggerate the importance of the victory 753 01:10:50,812 --> 01:10:53,590 at Boonesborough for the colonies at this time. 754 01:10:53,629 --> 01:10:55,711 It was a desperate time. 755 01:10:55,752 --> 01:11:00,393 1778 was a bad year for the Americans. 756 01:11:00,434 --> 01:11:04,646 So, even this little battle in way off in Kentucky 757 01:11:04,681 --> 01:11:07,798 s important. 758 01:11:07,844 --> 01:11:10,055 The British make a major miscalculation in dealing 759 01:11:10,098 --> 01:11:12,607 with Boonesborough and the American frontier. 760 01:11:14,692 --> 01:11:17,161 By supporting Native American attacks 761 01:11:17,205 --> 01:11:19,675 against the colonists in the West 762 01:11:19,719 --> 01:11:22,797 that only infuriates and increases 763 01:11:22,839 --> 01:11:26,056 the hatred of the British in the East. 764 01:11:26,090 --> 01:11:29,336 This was the deepest anxiety 765 01:11:29,384 --> 01:11:32,331 that these English colonists had, and for the British to now 766 01:11:32,374 --> 01:11:34,973 just push that button, it's the height of stupidity. 767 01:11:40,522 --> 01:11:43,250 Just days after the Shawnee retreat.. 768 01:11:46,416 --> 01:11:49,105 ...the Virginia militia finally arrives. 769 01:12:04,532 --> 01:12:06,394 They've come with a new mission 770 01:12:06,439 --> 01:12:09,257 to escalate the war on the frontier 771 01:12:09,300 --> 01:12:12,855 by striking back against Britain and its allies. 772 01:12:15,194 --> 01:12:17,703 Their first target is Chillicothe 773 01:12:17,750 --> 01:12:20,479 the home of Blackfish 774 01:12:20,525 --> 01:12:22,954 and an opportunity for revenge. 775 01:12:26,071 --> 01:12:29,148 Boone was opposed to exterminationist raids. 776 01:12:29,192 --> 01:12:31,532 These raids north of the Ohio 777 01:12:31,576 --> 01:12:33,916 were aimed at destroying 778 01:12:33,959 --> 01:12:35,652 the Indian homeland. 779 01:12:35,693 --> 01:12:39,248 Burning villages, burning cornfields 780 01:12:39,291 --> 01:12:42,577 attacking women and children, killing indiscriminately. 781 01:12:42,628 --> 01:12:45,008 This was just not Boone's style. 782 01:12:47,568 --> 01:12:51,342 I don't know where their village is. 783 01:12:51,382 --> 01:12:53,762 The remarkable thing about Boone is that Boone doesn't 784 01:12:53,809 --> 01:12:56,497 turn into an Indian hater. 785 01:12:56,539 --> 01:13:00,612 He doesn't give his life over to hate and vengeance. 786 01:13:00,657 --> 01:13:02,569 He still has it in him the capability 787 01:13:02,607 --> 01:13:04,648 to seek peace with these people. 788 01:13:04,687 --> 01:13:06,858 It's kind of remarkable, because I think that if most 789 01:13:06,897 --> 01:13:08,849 people imagined that situation 790 01:13:08,891 --> 01:13:12,576 the hate would define you for the rest of your life. 791 01:13:14,308 --> 01:13:15,613 'I do.' 792 01:13:20,679 --> 01:13:22,980 It's right here. 793 01:13:23,020 --> 01:13:24,712 North of the Ohio River. 794 01:13:36,628 --> 01:13:39,008 Boone's refusal to fight at Chillicothe 795 01:13:39,055 --> 01:13:42,351 causes a rift between him and the other settlers. 796 01:13:51,321 --> 01:13:55,304 In the fall of 1778, Daniel and Jemima Boone 797 01:13:55,351 --> 01:13:57,950 leave the settlement he founded. 798 01:14:05,362 --> 01:14:07,703 He goes on to join American forces 799 01:14:07,745 --> 01:14:10,653 fighting the British on the western front. 800 01:14:10,693 --> 01:14:13,770 And though he never again sets foot in Boonesborough 801 01:14:13,814 --> 01:14:15,845 the settlement survives.. 802 01:14:17,627 --> 01:14:19,708 ...and Kentucky will become 803 01:14:19,751 --> 01:14:23,784 America's 15th state. 804 01:14:23,825 --> 01:14:26,733 Boone remains a seductive figure 805 01:14:26,772 --> 01:14:29,152 in the American imagination. 806 01:14:29,199 --> 01:14:31,798 I think we all like to fancy 807 01:14:31,843 --> 01:14:34,711 that in those circumstances we would be that brave 808 01:14:34,747 --> 01:14:38,083 and that resourceful and that capable 809 01:14:38,127 --> 01:14:40,168 to live through and do the things that he did. 810 01:14:40,207 --> 01:14:41,860 But also throughout his life 811 01:14:41,898 --> 01:14:45,363 he seems just have remained a good guy. 812 01:14:45,408 --> 01:14:47,658 Boone still stands out as this likable figure 813 01:14:47,705 --> 01:14:49,528 who treated people fairly 814 01:14:49,568 --> 01:14:52,217 wanted the best for people. 815 01:14:52,255 --> 01:14:54,725 And he had that rugged individualism 816 01:14:54,770 --> 01:14:57,627 that is the embodiment of American frontiersmen. 817 01:15:10,284 --> 01:15:13,750 With Boone gone, in May 1779 818 01:15:13,795 --> 01:15:18,087 Virginia's militia marches on Britain's allies 819 01:15:18,129 --> 01:15:19,693 the Shawnee. 820 01:15:41,966 --> 01:15:47,513 Chillicothe is home to 3000 Shawnee.. 821 01:15:47,556 --> 01:15:51,062 ...when the Virginia militia descends bent on revenge. 822 01:17:00,323 --> 01:17:04,047 For the Shawnee people, the loss of a beloved leader 823 01:17:04,093 --> 01:17:07,997 in Blackfish was a serious event. 824 01:17:08,038 --> 01:17:10,288 Blackfish loomed large 825 01:17:10,335 --> 01:17:14,059 because of his stature and reputation as a war leader. 826 01:17:14,105 --> 01:17:18,218 The loss of Blackfish was the loss of yet another hero. 827 01:17:27,064 --> 01:17:29,752 From those that survive 828 01:17:29,794 --> 01:17:34,046 a new Shawnee hero will emerge. 829 01:17:34,084 --> 01:17:38,814 The adopted son of Blackfish, a 11-year-old Tecumseh 830 01:17:38,852 --> 01:17:41,491 who will soon rise to lead his people 831 01:17:41,539 --> 01:17:44,098 in the fight to reclaim the frontier. 832 01:17:48,214 --> 01:17:51,291 One year after the death of Chief Blackfish 833 01:17:51,334 --> 01:17:54,630 the Continental Army begins to turn the tide of the war. 834 01:18:07,759 --> 01:18:10,787 The success of the settlers in defending Boonesborough 835 01:18:10,836 --> 01:18:15,208 was just one incident in a long series of fights and battles. 836 01:18:20,285 --> 01:18:23,362 Eventually, the French come into the conflict 837 01:18:23,405 --> 01:18:26,960 as the allies of the Americans. 838 01:18:27,002 --> 01:18:29,044 And in many ways, that indeed 839 01:18:29,083 --> 01:18:31,204 was the turning point in the revolution. 840 01:18:38,357 --> 01:18:41,135 In September, 1783 841 01:18:41,174 --> 01:18:43,823 Britain signs the Treaty of Paris. 842 01:18:46,028 --> 01:18:48,408 Formally recognizing the sovereignty 843 01:18:48,455 --> 01:18:50,526 of the United States of America 844 01:18:50,578 --> 01:18:52,401 and ending the war. 845 01:19:03,797 --> 01:19:06,007 People might not realize this, but the Treaty of Paris 846 01:19:06,051 --> 01:19:09,128 was actually signed by this new United States 847 01:19:09,171 --> 01:19:12,119 the British Empire and the French Empire. 848 01:19:14,675 --> 01:19:17,573 France provided troops, provided navies 849 01:19:17,622 --> 01:19:20,869 and funded the American Revolution. 850 01:19:20,917 --> 01:19:23,346 Britain figured France was actually 851 01:19:23,386 --> 01:19:26,593 its bigger enemy in the long run. 852 01:19:26,636 --> 01:19:30,271 So, Britain surrendered pretty much all the lands 853 01:19:30,321 --> 01:19:32,880 West of the Appalachians to the Mississippi River 854 01:19:32,921 --> 01:19:36,556 to make an ally of the new United States. 855 01:19:42,499 --> 01:19:46,392 The new country nearly doubles in size 856 01:19:46,443 --> 01:19:50,128 gaining more than 250,000 square miles of land.. 857 01:19:53,030 --> 01:19:55,719 ...stretching from Florida to Canada 858 01:19:55,761 --> 01:19:58,539 and from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. 859 01:20:05,729 --> 01:20:08,637 The big surprise of the Treaty of Paris 860 01:20:08,677 --> 01:20:11,066 was that the British conceded control 861 01:20:11,103 --> 01:20:13,702 of the entire Trans-Appalachian West. 862 01:20:13,747 --> 01:20:16,695 It was an incredible bounty 863 01:20:16,738 --> 01:20:18,600 for the new nation. 864 01:20:26,792 --> 01:20:28,953 Free from British rule 865 01:20:29,002 --> 01:20:31,770 American settlers race to claim their piece 866 01:20:31,819 --> 01:20:33,861 of the frontier. 867 01:20:33,899 --> 01:20:36,588 Over the next decade 868 01:20:36,630 --> 01:20:39,050 thousands of settlers flood west 869 01:20:39,101 --> 01:20:43,432 along the trails blazed by men like Daniel Boone 870 01:20:43,477 --> 01:20:46,036 but they will soon learn a hard lesson. 871 01:21:05,364 --> 01:21:07,007 While the British Army had surrendered 872 01:21:07,054 --> 01:21:10,390 the native people in the west never surrendered. 873 01:21:10,435 --> 01:21:13,213 Native Americans still claim this land 874 01:21:13,252 --> 01:21:15,682 and Tecumseh, now grown 875 01:21:15,722 --> 01:21:18,849 is about to reignite the fight for the frontier. 876 01:21:36,265 --> 01:21:39,730 Next time on the "Men Who Built America, Frontiersmen.." 877 01:21:41,639 --> 01:21:45,015 As the new nation pushes relentlessly west 878 01:21:45,063 --> 01:21:47,702 the frontier becomes a bloody battleground. 879 01:21:47,750 --> 01:21:51,653 Tecumseh recognizes that if the natives are to survive 880 01:21:51,694 --> 01:21:54,681 they need to band together. 881 01:21:54,727 --> 01:21:56,769 Surrounded by enemies 882 01:21:56,808 --> 01:21:59,715 Thomas Jefferson makes a bold move 883 01:21:59,755 --> 01:22:02,006 that could cost him the presidency. 884 01:22:02,051 --> 01:22:04,392 The Louisiana Purchase was the greatest 885 01:22:04,435 --> 01:22:07,901 real estate deal in the history of the world. 886 01:22:07,946 --> 01:22:09,499 He launches one of the most daring 887 01:22:09,550 --> 01:22:12,627 expeditions in American history. 888 01:22:12,670 --> 01:22:15,229 If you want to get a sense for how mysterious 889 01:22:15,271 --> 01:22:18,866 the western lands were to the Lewis and Clark expedition 890 01:22:18,910 --> 01:22:22,466 it was as strange to them as it would be 891 01:22:22,508 --> 01:22:25,326 for you or me to step foot on Mars. 892 01:22:27,449 --> 01:22:29,878 Then, as a new generation 893 01:22:29,919 --> 01:22:32,219 of frontiersmen emerges 894 01:22:32,259 --> 01:22:35,854 Andrew Jackson stares down an empire. 895 01:22:35,900 --> 01:22:37,065 Fire!