Daniel Boone and Chief Blackfish:
A Brief History Behind the Sheltowee Trace National Recreation Trail’s Name
An Article by Savannah Jackson
You may recognize “Sheltowee” as the name of one of Rowan County’s many miles of great trails. It also was the name given to Daniel Boone by Shawnee Chief Blackfish. How he received the name has a rich history behind it.
In 1774, before the American Revolution, the Shawnees were driven northwest by Virginia militiamen in Dunmore’s War. The resulting peace treaty established the Ohio River as a boundary between what is now West Virginia and Kentucky as part of the Virginia colony, and the American Indian lands in what is now Ohio. However, this treaty was only agreed to by some of the Shawnee leaders, most notably Cornstalk, while others such as Blackfish of the Chillicothe division maintained that Kentucky was still their traditional hunting ground.
When the Revolutionary War began, violence along the border began to escalate, and the British began to supply the Shawnee to encourage them to launch raids against American settlers in Kentucky. They began to drive the Americans out of the Ohio territory when, in 1777, Cornstalk was killed by American militiamen.
In retaliation for Cornstalk’s murder, Blackfish set out on an unplanned winter raid in Kentucky to reclaim the lands surrendered in the treaty Cornstalk had agreed to. In February of 1778, he captured Daniel Boone and other Americans that were settled along the Licking River. Some accounts suggest that the Americans were there to make salt, while others suggest that they were hunting. It is important to note that at this point in time, colonists had been previously prohibited from creating settlements past the Appalachians due to the British Proclamation of 1763, but now that the Revolution had begun, frontiersmen such as Boone were eager to explore this new land. In any case, Boone was noted as being respected by the Shawnee for his hunting skills and was adopted into the Chillicothe division of the tribe. He was given the name “Sheltowee”, or big turtle.
The traditional tale is that Boone was adopted by Blackfish himself, although historian John Sugden suggests that Boone was probably adopted by another family. Some accounts say that it was Shawnee tradition to adopt prisoners of war to replace sons that had been slain in related conflicts, and that Blackfish chose the respected Boone for this reason.
Later that year in June, Boone heard that Blackfish was planning to take Fort Boonesborough that fall, so he escaped. Since he had apparently lived happily among the Shawnee for months, there were doubts about Boone’s loyalty. He responded by performing a preemptive strike against the Shawnee in Indian land across the Ohio River. Later, Blackfish’s siege on Fort Boonesborough was unsuccessful, and Boone defended against his forces for ten days of fighting. The Kentuckians retaliated the next Spring, fatally wounding Blackfish.
Nearly 200 years later, the Sheltowee Trace National Recreation Trail was started by a US Forest Service landscape architect Verne Orndorf. Its name pays tribute to this history. Spanning 319 miles, the Sheltowee Trace begins in Rowan County to the north, traveling through the Daniel Boone National Forest into Tennessee. Morehead is a certified trail town, and the Sheltowee Trace runs right through Main Street. It is also important to remember that much of the Sheltowee’s hundreds of miles runs through private property. Please show your respect for the landowners and try to leave the trail in better shape than when you came.
Although much of this conflict was away from our area, the complicated history of that period in Kentucky is something to recognize and continue to remember as we enjoy the beautiful nature in the land we now call home.
Sources:
“Chief Blackfish.” World Biographical Encyclopedia, prabook.com/web/chief.blackfish/2471060. Accessed 8 Aug. 2022.
Morgan, Robert. Boone : A Biography. Chapel Hill, N.C., Algonquin Books Of Chapel Hill, 2008.
John Mack Faragher, and Paul Cartwright. Daniel Boone : The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer. New York, Henry Holt And Company, 1992.
Greenspan, Jesse. “How the Proclamation of 1763 Sparked the American Revolution.” HISTORY, www.history.com/news/remembering-the-proclamation-of-1763#:~:text=Most%20notably%2C%20the%20Proclamation%20of%201763%20banned%20settlement. Accessed 8 Aug. 2022.
“Sheltowee Trace National Recreation Trail.” Www.sheltoweetrace.com, www.sheltoweetrace.com/. Accessed 8 Aug. 2022.
“Trails.” Morehead-Rowan County Tourism, www.moreheadtourism.com/explore/trails/. Accessed 8 Aug. 2022.