After serving in the American Revolution as a captain in the Virginia militia, Daniel Boone was quite successful, serving in the Virginia General Assembly and being promoted to colonel in the militia. However, civilization soon got the better of Boone, and losses from his business dealings forced him to sell off all his Kentucky lands.

Daniel Boone was one of the greatest American explorers from our founding era. Born in 1734 in southeastern Pennsylvania, his family moved to North Carolina in 1750, where he joined the local militia and participated in the ill-fated Braddock expedition at the Battle of the Monongahela. In 1756, Boone married Rebecca Bryan, with whom he raised 10 children. He spent the next decade ranging far and wide into the Appalachians, getting his first glimpses of Kentucky and honing his mountain skills.