Just like his famed pioneer father, Daniel Morgan Boone enjoyed scouting and settling new frontiers. He was the first Boone to set foot in Missouri and one of the first settlers in Kansas. As a child, he followed his father on hunting trips and soon felt at ease moving through the unknown wilderness.
Daniel Morgan Boone was born December 23, 1769, in North Carolina. He first ventured into Missouri at the request of his father. In 1797 Daniel Morgan traveled to the St. Charles district and visited with the Spanish lieutenant governor, Zenon Trudeau. The Spanish official was eager to have settler-defenders move into the area so he gave Daniel Morgan a land grant near present-day Matson, Missouri. The official also told him that if his father, Daniel Boone, would come to the area, he, too, would receive land—and so would anyone in his party. Within two years, Daniel Boone led a band of settlers to the area.
Daniel Morgan built a double log house on his new property. His parents lived there for a number of years. He also supervised the construction of a fort on his land. In times of alarm—such as when they feared hostility from the Native Americans—settlers came to live at the fort. Later, Daniel Morgan oversaw a company of Missouri Rangers and served in the territorial militia. During the
War of 1812The War of 1812 was fought by the United States against Great Britain, the British colony in Canada, and Britain's Native American allies and lasted from 1812 until 1815. It was caused by unresolved issues left over from the Revolutionary War. On June 18, 1812, the United States declared war on Britain due to the continued British occupation of U.S. territory, the ongoing practice of the British capturing American sailors and forcing them to serve in the Royal Navy against their will, British support of Native Americans who were hostile to American expansion, and British efforts to deny Americans the right to trade freely with European countries, particularly Britain's enemy, France.
In 1813 the United States launched an invasion of Canada that failed, but U.S. forces managed to obtain important victories over the course of the war. Oliver Hazard Perry led American naval forces to victory at the Battle of Lake Erie and General William Henry Harrison defeated the British and their Native American allies at the Battle of the Thames. The British attacked Washington, DC, and set several government buildings on fire, including the White House and the U.S. Capitol.
The Treaty of Ghent brought the war between the United States and Britain to an end on December 24, 1814. Because news of the treaty had not yet reached troops in the west, the last battle between British and American forces took place at New Orleans, with General Andrew Jackson securing a final victory for the United States.
, he worked as a spy and patrolled the frontier.
Daniel Morgan married Sarah Griffin Lewis in 1800. They had at least twelve children. Daniel Morgan made his living as a hunter and trapper. He also conducted government land surveys in what are now St. Charles, Warren, Montgomery, and Lincoln counties. Around 1805, he and his brother Nathan opened a salt-making operation at a “salt lick” near present-day Boonville. They employed several men to boil kettles of water from the saltwater spring there. After the water evaporated, the salt was left behind. It was boated to St. Louis for sale. Salt was important in frontier times. It was used for preserving meat and tanning hides. The area became known as Boone’s Lick.
The road the brothers forged to get there—which connected St. Charles to Howard County—became known as Boone’s Lick Trail or Boone’s Lick Road. The pathway enabled settlers to reach central Missouri. The trail ended at Franklin, Missouri. Later, Franklin became the starting point for the
Santa Fe TrailWilliam Becknell established this trade route between Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1821. The trail was 800 miles long and took three months to travel. It was replaced by the railroad in 1880.
, which connected Missouri to the Mexican city of Santa Fe—now Santa Fe, New Mexico.
By 1826, Daniel Morgan had relocated to what is today Jackson County. In the late 1820s, he moved to what is now Kansas, settling near present-day Lawrence. There, he worked as an agriculturist for the government, teaching Native Americans to farm. He later moved back to Jackson County, where he died from
choleraCholera is a sickness caused by a water-dwelling type of bacteria. Its symptoms include extreme nausea and diarrhea, often causing dehydration and death. Cholera spread from Asia to Europe in the early 1800s, then to America at the beginning of the 1830s. Since cholera lives in water that has been contaminated with feces, it thrived in highly populated areas around rivers and other bodies of water with poor sewer drainage systems. Cholera outbreaks affected several American cities in the Mississippi River Valley during the mid-1800s. St. Louis was one of the cities hardest hit during this period, enduring cholera epidemics numerous times between 1832 and 1867. The 1849 and 1866 epidemics were especially severe, killing several thousand people. Cholera became less of a problem in American cities later in the 1800s as sewage systems improved and public health awareness increased.
on July 13, 1839.
