Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America's First Frontier

[Loyalist Dave]

Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America's First Frontier
By Bob Drury and Tom Clavin

Is a huge disappointment

My father got me the book, hardback no less, as it just came out. The pair of authors, Bob Drury and Tom Clavin, have a good reputation due to WW2 books..., Best Sellers btw...., but I must tell folks that they simply didn't do their research in this case.

I have not finished the book but between chapters 3 and 4, there were so many blatant mistakes, that it calls into question the entirety of their research and scholarship.

Boone went out at night to hunt deer....,
People used their locks on their rifles to start their fires.... It can be done but they normally used a tinder box and flint and steel
The belt that held up the leggings and breechclout was the same belt that held closed the hunting shirt...,
Lindsey-woolsey was made by using a wool warp, and a linen weft .... actually it's the opposite...,

So I will try and finish the book, as the scholarship on Boone may be good, and the "filler" used by the authors lackadaisical.

LD

 

[tenngun]

Don’t know anything about the book. However I can overlook minor details if it’s well told. Was just reading Allen Ekerts Wilderness Empire again, and smile ever time I come across him saying ‘rifle’ when musket or fusil would be more appropriate
Back in the 70sand into the 80s Jean Auel wrong the clan of the cave bear books.
She went to a primitive crafts school and learned to make some flint tools, tan skin, make baskets Ect. And it showed when she talked about it.
Sometimes I think writers read something like ‘they could start fires with their flint lock’ and pass it on in the book. Have no clue what using the equipment was like
Of corse you will know when you BS alarm goes off once to many times

 

[Loyalist Dave]

AGREED.
I give folks more of a break back in the days before the internet..., such as Mr. Eckert. He was, however, not writing a "history book" but a narrative based on history.

I could easily overlook mixing warp and weft terms..., there's a 50/50 chance and they both begin with W. Little things like that.

But when the authors write how Rebecca Boone grew soybeans in her truck patch garden in 1756 in the Yadkin Valley of NC..., and the first crop of soybeans in the English speaking colonies, is known to have been grown in Georgia in 1765..., and it takes a person about 5 minutes to find that out on the internet... ummm it makes me question the diligence of the researchers.

LD

 

[Darto]

That book is a politically correct biography (based on Amazon reviews).
https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Treasure-Daniel-Americas-Frontier-ebook/dp/B08BYC44VP/

 

[Rhammox]

Great to see that you guys KNOW YOUR...stuff.
Me, I'm just a newbie to this Black Powder/Flintlock World. But I see the History has also caught my attention.
Shamefully I must admit that I've not done much reading of the early history of our Country. That is other than genealogical references associated with my research. One of my ancestors was with the Bennington, Vt Green Mtn group (just what I've found) John Smith 1745-1835 Vt.
Although the reason I stopped by was my interest in another ancestor associated with Daniel Boone, his name was Captain William John Twitty (Sometimes misspelled as Tweety) Born 1734 Goochland, VA, Died 25 March 1775 at what became Fort Twitty, on the Wilderness Trail. Please feel free to correct any errors. Anyway, I was hoping to get a good reading reference to at least give me some idea of what was going on, why he was there, was he indeed a Captain, and so forth.
Most of my research was for genealogy really and not for added history. My real endeavor was to prove a line for SAR, for which I ended up using yet another ancestor Captain John Thomas Copenhaver 1739-1802 PA Militia
So, any good Books? Other than the one discussed above?

 

[RedRiverII]

Why couldn't a lock be used to start a fire?

 

[Zonie]

Why couldn't a lock be used to start a fire?

I'm sure, occasionally locks were used to start a fire but I don't think it was a common thing to do.
First off, I believe most muzzleloading guns in areas outside the towns at the time were kept loaded. Even if the priming powder was replaced with some fire starting material there is an excellent chance of the gun firing if the lock was tripped.
There were special fire starters made that worked like a flintlock but I think that for most people, using a simple piece of flint and a "steel" would have been much more common, even for the likes of Daniel Boone.

 

[RedRiverII]

Perhaps. Daniel Boone I don't know much about, other than anything gleaned from Fess Parker. I should do more reading. LRRP's carry as little as possible, arms and ammo, knife, CEP and a big set of cojones.

 

[tenngun]

Why couldn't a lock be used to start a fire?

A couple of years ago I was on a woods walk, and one of the stations required a fire started with the lock

 

[Leadball loader]

I am far from proficient at striking sparks to start my camp fire. I have no trouble getting sparks from my lock and start all my fires that way. No fuss, empty gun,nice quick fire in the the pit.
LBL

 

[oldwood]

Both White and Indian folks commonly hunted deer at night on salt licks through out recorded frontier history ,as well as late as the cartridge era according to the old published diaries I read.
Plugging a touch hole , and sparking fire with a gun lock was a a frequent practice , though dangerous. One book I have records an incident where a fellow is accidentally shot in a butt cheek by a fellow militia man starting a fire w/ his flint arm. There was much concern for the unlucky trooper as the militia group was far into Indian country , and once the hornet's nest of the enemy was disturbed , a horse was needed to escape back across the Ohio and to safety.......................oldwood

 

[oldwood]

There are a good number of books written about the Boones. My advice is to read all the accounts available , then sort out the most credible facts. Researching history is not for casual attention. There's just too much of it , and much is conjecture , but there will be parallel facts that shine the light on truth................oldwood

 

[RedRiverII]

Starting the read now...Thank you.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Both White and Indian folks commonly hunted deer at night on salt licks through out recorded frontier history ,as well as late as the cartridge era according to the old published diaries I read.
Plugging a touch hole , and sparking fire with a gun lock was a a frequent practice , though dangerous. One book I have records an incident where a fellow is accidentally shot in a butt cheek by a fellow militia man starting a fire w/ his flint arm. There was much concern for the unlucky trooper as the militia group was far into Indian country , and once the hornet's nest of the enemy was disturbed , a horse was needed to escape back across the Ohio and to safety.......................oldwood

So the point was not "this was never done"..., the point was portraying it as a common thing, always done that way....

YES deer were hunted at salt licks, when the woodland canopy permitted enough light.

It was also a technique to put a torch on the end of a canoe, and quietly move up or down a slow moving creek..., which was a very quiet way of moving, ..., and the light would attract curious deer to the creek bank and they could then be shot....

But the book simply says Boone left camp (a new camp each night btw) to hunt deer at night. Not going to a salt lick. Not using a torch on a canoe. Folks I've been in an open meadow at dusk, and I have 20/18 vision..., and I can't see my open iron sights in LOW light well enough to shoot a deer, let alone at night inside a forest.

OH I read further, and the authors wrote that the Boone family at one point went to Georgetown Maryland to stay during some hostilities, and that Georgetown was incorporated in the 19th century (1851 iirc) and would become part of Washington DC...., except that Georgetown was incorporated in the 18th century and became part of DC in the same century...., so again..., POOR SCHOLARSHIP

LD

 

[oldwood]

The guys that wrote the Boone book must have counted on people reading it with minimal knowledge of Appalachian history.
Dave I see your points...............oldwood

 

[springfield art]

AGREED.
I give folks more of a break back in the days before the internet..., such as Mr. Eckert. He was, however, not writing a "history book" but a narrative based on history.

I could easily overlook mixing warp and weft terms..., there's a 50/50 chance and they both begin with W. Little things like that.

But when the authors write how Rebecca Boone grew soybeans in her truck patch garden in 1756 in the Yadkin Valley of NC..., and the first crop of soybeans in the English speaking colonies, is known to have been grown in Georgia in 1765..., and it takes a person about 5 minutes to find that out on the internet... ummm it makes me question the diligence of the researchers.

LD

Was that Truck a Ford F-150 pickup?