A Matter of Perspective: Recovering Perspectives on the Kentucky Frontier

As the fires burned on the outskirts of Boonesborough, heavy rain fell helping spare the wooden structure protecting the frontier settlement. It was mid-September, 1778 and the attacking Shawnee warriors withdrew, lifting the siege faced by Daniel Boone and his fellow patriot settlers. The Siege of Boonesborough was a key battle in the early frontier. Beyond the smoldering perimeter of the Boonesborough fort, the Siege would be remembered as a vindication of American independence and western expansion during the earliest days of the Republic. Boone featured prominently in the historical memory of the Siege as a hero, while the Shawnee were remembered as agents of the British who were swept aside by the flow of Americans into the Ohio Valley. However, this project explores the shortcomings of this traditional narrative and offers a more complete examination of the collision of cultures at Boonesborough.

I examine the Siege of Boonesborough in 1778 through the perspectives of multiple actors and sources overlooked or minimized by previous scholarship. The traditional narrative fails to consider the Shawnee strategy which manipulated the British and Patriots in an attempt to maintain a balance of power in the Ohio Valley. That story also assumes that the common soldiers at Boonesborough and their leaders shared similar experiences. Lastly, it overlooks the significance of the interpreter who facilitated dialogue across cultures. This project places these varying perspectives on the Siege in conversation with each other.

I examine and contrast four main perspectives: Daniel Boone and American settler commanders, Shawnee leadership represented by Chief Blackfish, common American soldiers including Ansel Goodman and Joseph Jackson, and the formerly enslaved African-American Pompey who served as Blackfish’s interpreter. Frontier violence was not a single story experienced by a singular perspective. Rather, the frontier was a dynamic space at the forefront of cultural clashes.

I explore the complex meanings of violence at Boonesborough and examine imbalanced power dynamics. This paper argues that the Siege of Boonesborough in 1778, contrary to previous scholarship, was not merely an ancillary battle of the American War of Independence. Rather, it was part of a much longer war for control of the Ohio Valley in which Britain and Patriot forces played only a partial role.

My poster will represent this project using compelling visuals including portraits of key figures and maps to demonstrate the varying perspectives concerning Boonesborough. I will show when perspectives intersected as well as diverged using a multi-layered timeline. Additionally, I will add a QR code to the poster which will allow viewers to access more information about my project. This will allow me to minimize the text on the poster while still allowing for viewers to learn the additional details of my project.

Scholars who study frontier history, Revolutionary America, enslavement, and Indigenous peoples would be interested in this paper. While it is tightly focused on one battle, the project highlights the regional and international forces at work in the Ohio Valley in the 1770s.