Israel Boone (1759-1782)

Israel Boone was the second oldest child of Daniel and Rebecca Boone. He was born on January 25, 1759 in North Carolina and died on August 19, 1782 at Blue Licks, Kentucky.[1] He lived 23 years, 6 months, 25 days. 

Israel was 16 years old when his father brought him and the rest of the family to Kentucky in 1775. Israel generally lived with his family until his death at the Battle of Blue Licks, although he had acquired land of his own.[2] 

In 1782, the Boones were living at Boone's Station, which was about six miles away from where they had first settled in Fort Boonesborough. In August, a large force of what turned out to be 300 Indians and 60 Canadians made a feint at Hoy's Station and then besieged Bryan's Station. The call went out to rally the militia. 

When the news reached the Boones, Israel was recovering from a fever. There are conflicting accounts on whether Daniel tried to dissuade Israel from coming or exhorted him to come.[3] In any case, despite his stiff neck, Israel joined the militia unit that was led by his father, Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Boone. When the militia units under Boone, Todd, and Trigg arrived at Bryan's Station, they found that the war party had left, unable to take the fort. With more militia under Benjamin Logan on their way, those who had already arrived decided to pursue the enemy.

These 182 Kentuckians were caught in an ambush when they crossed the Licking River at Blue Licks. Even though about 100 of the Indians had gone home, the rest still outnumbered and outmaneuvered the militia who walked into the trap. When Daniel realized their danger, he helped Israel on a horse and told him to flee. Instead of leaving right away, Israel waited for his father to get his horse, firing at the Indians, saying "Father, I won't leave you," and was shot through the heart.[4] Daniel himself barely escaped. About 75 of the militia men were killed. Daniel later returned to the battlefield with others and buried his son. For the rest of his life, he was "deeply affected, even to tears, when he spoke of the Blue Licks defeat and the death of his son."[5]

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[1] Ella Hazel Spraker, The Boone Family (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Pub., 1993 [1922]), 65.

[2] Meredith Mason Brown, Frontiersman (Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press, 2008), 166.

[3] John Mack Faragher, Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer (New York, NY: Henry Holt and Co., 1992), 223. Israel's sister-in-law Olive said that Daniel and the rest of the family tried to dissuade Israel, while her daughter Delinda said that Daniel reproved his initial reluctance and exhorted him to come. 

[4] My Father, Daniel Boone: The Draper Interviews with Nathan Boone, ed. Neal O. Hammon (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1999), 77-80; Spraker, 65.

[5] My Father, Daniel Boone, 78.