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    The Taking of Jemima Boone: Colonial Settlers, Tribal Nations, and the Kidnap That Shaped America
    The Taking of Jemima Boone: Colonial Settlers, Tribal Nations, and the Kidnap That Shaped America
    The Taking of Jemima Boone: Colonial Settlers, Tribal Nations, and the Kidnap That Shaped America
    Ebook334 pages7 hours

    The Taking of Jemima Boone: Colonial Settlers, Tribal Nations, and the Kidnap That Shaped America

    By Matthew Pearl

    4/5

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    “A rousing tale of frontier daring and ingenuity, better than legend on every front.” — Pulitzer Prize–winning author Stacy Schiff

    A Goodreads Most Anticipated Book

    In his first work of narrative nonfiction, Matthew Pearl, bestselling author of acclaimed novel The Dante Club, explores the little-known true story of the kidnapping of legendary pioneer Daniel Boone’s daughter and the dramatic aftermath that rippled across the nation. 

    On a quiet midsummer day in 1776, weeks after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, thirteen-year-old Jemima Boone and her friends Betsy and Fanny Callaway disappear near the Kentucky settlement of Boonesboro, the echoes of their faraway screams lingering on the air.

    A Cherokee-Shawnee raiding party has taken the girls as the latest salvo in the blood feud between American Indians and the colonial settlers who have decimated native lands and resources. Hanging Maw, the raiders’ leader, recognizes one of the captives as Jemima Boone, daughter of Kentucky's most influential pioneers, and realizes she could be a valuable pawn in the battle to drive the colonists out of the contested Kentucky territory for good.

    With Daniel Boone and his posse in pursuit, Hanging Maw devises a plan that could ultimately bring greater peace both to the tribes and the colonists. But after the girls find clever ways to create a trail of clues, the raiding party is ambushed by Boone and the rescuers in a battle with reverberations that nobody could predict. As Matthew Pearl reveals, the exciting story of Jemima Boone’s kidnapping vividly illuminates the early days of America’s westward expansion, and the violent and tragic clashes across cultural lines that ensue.

    In this enthralling narrative in the tradition of Candice Millard and David Grann, Matthew Pearl unearths a forgotten and dramatic series of events from early in the Revolutionary War that opens a window into America’s transition from colony to nation, with the heavy moral costs incurred amid shocking new alliances and betrayals.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 5, 2021
    ISBN9780062937810
    Author

    Matthew Pearl

    Matthew Pearl’s novels have been international and New York Times bestsellers and have been translated into more than thirty languages. He edits Truly*Adventurous magazine, and his nonfiction writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and Slate. He has been chosen as Best Author in Boston magazine's “Best of Boston” issue and received the Massachusetts Book Award for Fiction. 

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    Reviews for The Taking of Jemima Boone

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    • 5/5
      I didn't know what to expect when I pulled this book off the library shelves. I read the first couple of pages, liked the prose, and said, why not? Turns out this was a great decision. Author Matthew Pearl writes the story of Jemima Boone's abduction by Indians and the consequences thereof with great care, giving a decent picture of the complicated politics and relationships between England, the newly formed United States, the Indian Nation and the American Revolution. An interesting and refreshing retelling of old folklore about the great pioneer, Daniel Boone.
    • 5/5
      Matthew Pearl writes a very readable account of Jemima Boone's capture along with a couple other girls from the Boonesboro settlement in Kentucky as a starting point for telling the story of Daniel Boone's role in the settlement of Kentucky and of his relations with others in the settlement and with the Shawnee and Cherokee of the region. He separates the myth of the frontiersman from the reality in his well-documented tale. Like most non-fiction intended for a general audience, the story uses the terrible "blind endnote" feature where someone interested in the sources must keep a finger in the end notes and pay attention to words and phrases. (This is almost impossible to do when reading an ebook in which they are unlinked such as this one was.) Pearl used extensive manuscripts and archival sources from a variety of jurisdictions in his research. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of Kentucky, particularly during its settlement as part of Virginia.
    • 4/5
      The Taking of Jemima Boone by Matthew Pearl opens by examining the incident in 1776 where a daughter of Daniel Boone and two of her friends are captured by a group of Cherokee and Shawnee Indians. This was more than just three young girls being kidnapped because of who these girls were related to. When the Indians asked if the girls were sisters, Jemima said yes, thinking that there could be an advantage to having the Indians think that all three were related to the famous Boone.The frontier unrest was due to the settlers pushing into Kentucky, which was considered sacred ground to a number of Indian tribes. The Indians could see their land was being whittled away as once the white people claimed the land, they immediately drove the Indians out. There were atrocities committed by both sides and the bitterness between white and Indian had been going on for years. This was at the time of the Revolutionary War and Daniel Boone was an important person on the frontier. He personally led a group to make the first settlement in Kentucky, and had the respect of other pioneers and the ear of important people in Washington. Hanging Maw, the leader of the raiding party, was pleased with this capture as he felt they could use these girls as leverage. His plan backfired, however, as Boone and his men caught up to the Indians, rescued the girls and killed a couple of the Indians. One of the Indians killed was the son of the famous war chief, Blackfish, and so the back and forth animosity continued on. The author uses this incident to launch his account of how Daniel Boone, his fort entitled Boonesboro and the rest of the frontier settlements survived the next few years when they were fighting not only the Indians but the British who saw these frontiers as easy targets. Diplomacy and peace talks were thrown out and paranoia ran deep on all sides. The Taking of Jemima Boone is written in a knowledgeable and interesting manner. The author obviously did a lot of research and presents his facts in an engrossing manner which made for an exciting read.
    • 4/5
      I found this story to be fun and thrilling. I am not too familiar with Daniel Boone but did enjoy how this tale was I believe fair to all sides in how they were at the time.
    • 4/5
      Fascinating look at that time period and the relations between the Native Americans and White Settlers moving into their territories. It is history we all should know.
    • 5/5
      In 1764, my sixth-great-grandparents were murdered and scalped. The story is told how eight natives led by a white man came into the Shenandoah Valley to rob settlers, who were Swiss Brethren. After they killed my ancestors, the raiders pursued the children, killing one in a pear tree, another in the middle of Tom’s Brook, and kidnapping three (or four). Of those kidnapped, the youngest boy, who was ill, and the girl(s), were killed because they could not keep up. The oldest child, Michael, was taken to Ohio where he lived with the natives for three years before he was returned in a prisoner exchange.My ancestor’s experiences were not unique. Thousands of colonists were attacked and taken. Hundreds assimilated into native culture. Some escaped and other were traded back to the colonists. But, it was news to me to learn that Daniel Boone’s daughter had been captured by natives, and that Boone himself had been taken and adopted as the son of a chief.The Taking of Jemima Boone is the first book of narrative nonfiction by Matthew Pearl. I have enjoyed his historical mystery novels with literary themes. Now, I can attest that Pearl’s nonfiction is just as entertaining and just as riveting.The capture of Jemima Boone and how her father and others tracked and battled the kidnappers, killing several, began a cycle of revenge. One of the natives Boone killed was the son of a chief who in a later battle took Boone hostage and adopted him as his son. The father of one of the other kidnapped girls vied for control of Boonesboro, later telling a false narrative of the rescue and even accusing Boone of treason.Boone bonded with his native family, who forgave him when he finally escaped; they understood his desire to see his family, and hoped he would return with them. Boone’s ability to find non-violent ways of solving problems and his connection with the natives is impressive, especially when most colonists preferred immediate, violent action when it came to the natives.Settlers encroached on native hunting grounds, often illegally according to treaties between the British and the native tribes. But the colonists were also breaking away from Britain and the tribes had to take sides. The Shawnees, Seneca, Cherokee, and other tribes allied with the British, entrenched in their stronghold at Ft. Detroit, and were tasked to destroy Boonesboro, which threatened to allow colonists a western stronghold.In the book I met Simon Girty, a colonist who, along with his brothers, was kidnapped by natives when a teenager. He became an interpreter, his alliance shifting to the British during the war, which gave him a dreadful reputation. Some histories claim he was the one who led the murder of my ancestors. But, in 1764, Girty had just been released from captivity and reunited with his mother and brothers.Boone was taken captive along with 28 fellow Boonesboro men on a salt-making expedition. He argued that he and his men be kept alive as war prisoners. Simon Girty’s brothers were there and voted for mercy, “a stance contradicting the notorious, near-demonic reputation the Girtys had developed among settlers.” Simon Girty was unable to save another white man who was brutally tortured and killed.Boone not only had to content with the British and the native tribes wanting to destroy Boonesboro, internal conflicts between him and other settlers simmered and brewed. Boone’s leadership was under attack on all sides.Pearl’s book is a wonderful narrative history. The personal stories of Jemima and Daniel Boone are the backbone of the book, a way for readers to connect to the history.I received a free egalley from the publisher though NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
    • 5/5
      Timely Take-Aways for Life-Long LearningThe Taking of Jemima Boone: Colonial Settlers, Tribal Nations, and the Kidnap That Shaped AmericaMatthew Pearl, October 2021, HarperCollinsThemes: history, United States, Revolutionary PeriodBlood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America’s First FrontierBoby Drury and Tom Clavins, April 2021, MacmillanThemes: history, United States, 18th and 19th CenturyFrom tragedy and hardship to strength and independence, the Boone family represents the passion and resilience of 18th-century settlers. Both new titles skillfully explore the experiences of the Boone family within the larger context of the people, places, and events that shaped early westward expansion.THE TAKING OF JEMIMA BOONE is an absorbing work of narrative nonfiction that seamlessly weaves key people and historical events with the personal story of a strong young woman with a legendary father. Divided into three sections, the book explores the taking, the retaliation, and the reckoning.BLOOD AND TREASURE examines the epic struggle over the lands west of the Appalachian Mountains. From Native American tribes trying to save their land from invaders to the settlers pushed west by an expanding nation, this carefully researched, engaging narrative shares the many perspectives of both legendary figures and ordinary people.Let’s explore seven timely take-aways for life-long learners:1) In popular art and literature of the 19th-century, Jemima Boone was portrayed as a passive victim of a Cherokee-Shawnee raiding party. In reality, she was a strong wilderness woman who used knowledge of her captors, delay tactics, and skills in trail marking to stay alive.2) During the early days of America’s westward expansion, complex relationships, ever-shifting allegiances, and broken promises sparked violent clashes between and among Spanish, French, British, Colonial American, Indigenous, and Enslaved peoples. These conflicts and betrayals caused deep and lasting physical and emotional scars that impacted their future actions. 3) Cultural misunderstandings about property ownership, allegiance, and family structure were at the root of many clashes. Unlikely early biographies that often depicted Daniel Boone as a thrill-seeking Indian killer, he is increasingly respected for his patience and interest in studying cultural nuances.4) Peaceful gatherings were held among people of different cultural backgrounds to avoid conflict when possible. For instance, Jemima Boone had met her captor Hanging Maw at such an event prior to the kidnapping. Daniel Boone was adopted into a Shawnee family and was viewed as both a captive and son.5) During the 18th-century, hunters spent six months on expeditions known as “long hunts”. Daniel Boone was one of several well-known long hunters. In addition to gathering and processing animals, Boone collected valuable information from other explorers such as John Finley as well as his own pathfinding that was later used to establish Kentucky settlements.6) Although most people associate Daniel Boone with Kentucky, he and his extended family including Jemima Boone Callaway moved to Missouri in 1799 where he spent the last twenty years of his life.7) Despite inaccurate 19th-century biographies and works of fiction, Daniel Boone remains an iconic figure in American history. However, it continues to be difficult to separate the man from the myth.Timely Take-Aways for Life-Long LearningWhether helping educators keep up-to-date in their subject-areas, promoting student reading in the content-areas, or simply encouraging nonfiction leisure reading, teacher librarians need to be aware of the best new titles across the curriculum and how to activate life-long learning. - Annette Lamb, Teacher Librarian: The Journal for School Library Professionals

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    The Taking of Jemima Boone - Matthew Pearl

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