"Many suppose that Daniel Boone was a rough, coarse backwoodsman, almost as savage as the bears he pursued in the chase, or the Indians whose terrors he so perseveringly braved. Instead of this he was one of the most mild and unboastful of men." -John S.C. Abbott, Preface, 1872 American historian John S.C. Abbott wrote Daniel Boone-The Pioneer of Kentucky (1872) as part of his American Pioneers and Patriots series. Daniel Boone, (1734-1820), an American pioneer, frontiersman, and legendary hero who is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now Kentucky.