Clifton M. Nichols
Published: 2015-07-09
Total Pages: 324
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Excerpt from Life of Abraham Lincoln: Being a Biography of His Life From His Birth to His Assassination; Also a Record of His Ancestors, and a Collection of Anecdotes Attributed to Lincoln Near the point where the states of Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky meet there is a wonderful gateway in the mountains, which was discovered in 1748, by Thomas Walker, and named Cumberland Gap, in honor of the Duke of Cumberland, prime minister to King George of England. He reported that it opened into a beautiful region inhabited by Indians and wild animals. From this gap north to where the waterways which form the Ohio river break through the mountains the rugged and towering Alleghenies present an almost impassable wall between Virginia and the country west. This barrier helped to protect the inhabitants against the warrior bands of western Indians, and for a time confined the march of the settler to the Shenandoah valley. Daniel Boone had heard of the discovery of an opening in the mountains not far from his home, an I thirsted for exploration of the unknown solitudes beyond, through which only Indians roamed. He was one of the elder sons of Squire Boone, who had come from Pennsylvania and settled in Wilkes county, North Carolina, on the Yadkin river. From his youth Daniel had shown a special fondness for hunting. Before he was ten years old he could shoot a deer while it was upon the run, and while yet a lad made long trips from home alone and was never lost. He was a born woodsman. He had the cunning and eye of an Indian, and could determine the points of the compass by the stars, like a mariner. En 1769, this intrepid hunter, in company with three companions, passed through Cumberland Gap into the wild territory west of the mountains, on a hunting and exploring expedition. As they advanced, the country and attractions improved. They traveled through vast reaches of somber forest, penetrating far into the interior. Boone and one of his companions were captured by the Indians, but made their escape. When they returned to their camp, the other two men had disappeared, and were never heard of again. Boone remained so long away from home that his younger brother, accompanied by a friend, came in search of him. Instead of returning, he sent his brother back for powder and bullets. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.