Autographs
Daniel Boone’s Receipt for Wages as a Virginia Delegate
DANIEL BOONE (1734-1820). Legendary American Pioneer, Explorer and Frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the First Folk Heroes of the United States.
c. 1781 Revolutionary War Period, Excessively Rare Manuscript Document Signed, “Daniel Boone” as “Delegate”, being a receipt for his wages as a Representative of Virginia, then known as "Kan-tuck-ee", in the Virginia Assembly, 1 page, measuring 7.5” x 1.75”, no place or date, Fine. It is toned from being mounted upon a cardboard backing, measuring 8” x 2.5” yet the brown ink is dark and his full signature is bold and clear, measuring 2.5” long. It reads, in full:

“Received forty four thousand pound my Wages as a Delegate the present Session --- (Signed) Daniel Boone”.

When Kentucky was divided into three Virginia counties in November of 1780, Daniel Boone was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the Fayette County militia. In April of 1781, he was elected as a Representative to the Virginia General Assembly, which was held in Richmond. . In 1781, Boone traveled to Richmond to take his seat in the legislature, but British dragoons under Banastre Tarleton captured him and several other legislators near Charlottesville. The British released Boone on parole several days later.

During Boone's term, Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown in October 1781, but the fighting continued in Kentucky unabated. Despite having sworn an oath to desist from fighting the Crown in order to secure his parole, Boone returned to Kentucky, and in August 1782, fought in the Battle of Blue Licks, in which his son Israel was killed. In the Battle of Blue Licks he led a militia to Lower Blue Licks where he was decisively defeated by the Loyalists, being out manoeuvred and unprepared. At the battle, he gave a stray horse to his son Israel, but he was mortally wounded. Later Boone found his son dead and took the very horse he gave to his son to escape the battlefield.


Daniel Boone (1734-1820) was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now Kentucky, which was then part of Virginia but on the other side of the mountains from the settled areas.

Despite some resistance from American Indian tribes such as the Shawnee, in 1775 Boone blazed his Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap in the Appalachian Mountains from North Carolina and Tennessee into Kentucky. There he founded the village of Boonesborough, Kentucky, one of the first American settlements west of the Appalachians. Before the end of the 18th century, more than 200,000 European people migrated to Kentucky/Virginia by following the route marked by Boone.

Boone was a militia officer during the Revolutionary War (1775–83), which in Kentucky was fought primarily between the American settlers and the British-aided Native Americans. Boone was captured by Shawnee warriors in 1778, who after a while adopted him into their tribe. Later, he left the Indians and returned to Boonesborough to help defend the European settlements in Kentucky/Virginia.

Boone was elected to the first of his three terms in the Virginia General Assembly during the Revolutionary War, and fought in the Battle of Blue Licks in 1782. Blue Licks, a Loyalist victory over the Patriots, was one of the last battles of the Revolutionary War, coming after the main fighting ended in October 1781.

Following the war, Boone worked as a surveyor and merchant, but fell deeply into debt through failed Kentucky land speculation. Frustrated with the legal problems resulting from his land claims, in 1799 Boone immigrated to eastern Missouri, where he spent most of the last two decades of his life (1800–20). Boone remains an iconic figure in American history. He was a legend in his own lifetime, especially after an account of his adventures was published in 1784, making him famous in America and Europe.

After his death, he was frequently the subject of heroic tall tales and works of fiction. His adventures, real and legendary, were influential in creating the archetypal Western Hero of American folklore. In American popular culture, he is remembered as one of the foremost early frontiersmen. The epic Daniel Boone mythology often overshadows the historical details of his life.

(From Wikipedia)