A longhunter (or long hunter) was an 18th-century
explorer
Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians.
Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
and
hunter
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
who made expeditions into the
American frontier
The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of United States territorial acquisitions, American expansion in mainland North Amer ...
for as much as six months at a time.
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
Emory Hamilton says that "The Long Hunter was peculiar to Southwest
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
only, and nowhere else on any frontier did such hunts ever originate."
[Emory L. Hamilton. ''Historical Sketches of Southwest Virginia 5: The Long Hunters'' (Wise, VA: Historical Society of Southwest Virginia, March 1970)]
The term, however, has been used loosely to describe any unofficial European-American explorer of the period. Most long hunts started in the
Holston River
The Holston River is a river that flows from Kingsport, Tennessee, to Knoxville, Tennessee. Along with its three major forks (North Fork, Middle Fork and South Fork), it comprises a major river system that drains much of northeastern Tennessee ...
Valley near
Chilhowie, Virginia
Chilhowie is a town in Smyth County, Virginia, United States, on the Middle Fork of the Holston River. The population was 1,781 at the 2010 census. The name Chilhowie is said to come from a Cherokee word meaning "valley of many deer". It is also n ...
. The hunters came from there and the adjacent valley of the
Clinch River
The Clinch River is a river that flows southwest for more than through the Great Appalachian Valley in the U.S. states of Virginia and Tennessee, gathering various tributaries, including the Powell River, before joining the Tennessee River in Ki ...
, where they were land owners or residents. The parties of two or three men (and rarely more) usually started their hunts in October and ended toward the end of March or early in April, going west into the territory of present-day Kentucky and Tennessee. This was part of the homeland of the
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...
people.
The longhunters gathered information about the lands in the 1760s and 1770s that would prove critical to early European-American settlement in
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
and
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
. Many longhunters were employed by
land surveyors seeking to claim new lands ceded to the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
by the
French in the
Ohio Valley
The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illinoi ...
following the latter's defeat in the
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...
. Some later helped guide settlers to what became
Middle Tennessee
Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of the U.S. state of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the s ...
and southeastern Kentucky.
In Tennessee history
As colonial settlement approached the eastern base of the
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...
in the early 18th century, game in the
Piedmont
it, Piemontese
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region became more scarce. Merchants returning from trade missions to
Overhill Cherokee
Overhill Cherokee was the term for the Cherokee people located in their historic settlements in what is now the U.S. state of Tennessee in the Southeastern United States, on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains. This name was used by 1 ...
villages in the
Tennessee Valley
The Tennessee Valley is the drainage basin of the Tennessee River and is largely within the U.S. state of Tennessee. It stretches from southwest Kentucky to north Alabama and from northeast Mississippi to the mountains of Virginia and North Car ...
brought back news of the abundance of game west of the range, and began taking hunters along on their trade expeditions. In 1748 and 1750,
Thomas Walker crossed the mountains and explored the
Holston River
The Holston River is a river that flows from Kingsport, Tennessee, to Knoxville, Tennessee. Along with its three major forks (North Fork, Middle Fork and South Fork), it comprises a major river system that drains much of northeastern Tennessee ...
valley, recording and widely publicizing the location of
Cumberland Gap
The Cumberland Gap is a pass through the long ridge of the Cumberland Mountains, within the Appalachian Mountains, near the junction of the U.S. states of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. It is famous in American colonial history for its rol ...
— a pass near the modern border of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. This allowed relatively easy access to the headwaters of the
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
and
Cumberland
Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...
rivers, by which travelers could enter the territories downriver.
In 1761, Elisha Wallen (spelled variously "Walden", "Wallin", and "Walling") led the first major recorded long hunt into what is now Tennessee. Wallen set up a station camp in
Lee County, Virginia
Lee County is the westernmost county in the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,173. Its county seat is Jonesville.
History
The area of far western Virginia and eastern Kentucky supported large Archai ...
, and trekked into the
Clinch
Clinch may refer to:
* Nail (fastener) or device to hold in this way
* Clinching, in metalworking
* Clinch fighting or the clinch, a grappling position in boxing or wrestling, a stand-up embrace
* Clinch County, Georgia, USA
* Clinch River, near T ...
and
Powell valleys in what is now
Hawkins County, Tennessee
Hawkins County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 56,721. Its county seat is Rogersville, Hawkins County is part of the Kingsport–Bristol–Bristol, TN- VA Metropolitan Stat ...
. That same year, Colonel
Adam Stephen
Adam Stephen ( – 16 July 1791) was a Scottish-born American doctor and military officer who helped found what became Martinsburg, West Virginia. He emigrated to North America, where he served in the Province of Virginia's militia under Georg ...
led a regiment of Virginia soldiers and militia to
Long Island of the Holston
Long Island ( chr, ᎠᎼᏰᎵ ᎫᎾᎯᏔ, translit=Amoyeli Gunahita), also known as Long Island of the Holston, is an island in the Holston River at Kingsport in East Tennessee. Important in regional history since pre-colonial times, the is ...
, in what is now
Sullivan County, Tennessee
Sullivan County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee on its northeast border. As of the 2020 census, the population was 158,163. Its county seat is Blountville.
Sullivan County is part of the Kingsport– Johnson City&ndash ...
. The expedition, which was launched in retaliation for the
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...
sacking of
Fort Loudoun in 1760, forced the Cherokee to sign a peace treaty.
With the end of the
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...
in 1763, the French ceded their claims to lands east of the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
to Great Britain. After the
Anglo-Cherokee War
The Anglo-Cherokee War (1758–1761; in the Cherokee language: the ''"war with those in the red coats"'' or ''"War with the English"''), was also known from the Anglo-European perspective as the Cherokee War, the Cherokee Uprising, or the Cherok ...
, longhunters (some of whom may have been veterans of Stephen's expedition) began crossing the Appalachians into Tennessee and Kentucky in greater numbers. In 1764,
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone (September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the we ...
,
Richard Callaway
Richard Callaway (June 14, 1717 – November 8, 1780) was an American frontiersman, military officer, politician, and hunter who was one of the first white settlers in modern-day Kentucky. Born in Essex County, Virginia, Callaway joined Daniel B ...
and
Benjamin Cutbirth explored the upper Holston Valley as agents for
Richard Henderson, a land speculator who later played an important role in the early settlement of Tennessee. One of their camps later was used by Boone's friend
William Bean
William Bean (December 9, 1721-May 1782) was an American pioneer, longhunter, and Commissioner of the Watauga Association. He is accepted by historians as the first permanent European American settler of Tennessee.
Biography
William Bean was b ...
, Tennessee's first known permanent Euro-American settler. He built a cabin at the site around 1769.
In 1763
King George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
issued a royal proclamation prohibiting colonists from the acquisition of pelts from Cherokee lands without a trading license; this effectively barred hunting west of the Appalachian range. Both the Cherokee and the British, however, had considerable difficulty enforcing this ban. In 1769, Cherokee Chief
Oconastota complained to the British Superintendent of Indian Affairs that the entire Cherokee Nation was "filling with Hunters, and the guns rattling every way on the path." While some longhunters had their pelts confiscated by the Cherokee, and a rare few were even killed, most managed to avoid detection.
In 1766 James Smith led an ambitious long hunt into Middle, West Tennessee, and Kentucky, following the
Cumberland River
The Cumberland River is a major waterway of the Southern United States. The U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 8, 2011 river drains almost of southern Kentucky and ...
all the way to its mouth on the Ohio River (in present-day, Kentucky). While a member of this expedition, Uriah Stone, was hunting along a tributary of the Cumberland a colonial French hunting companion stole all his furs. The tributary was subsequently named
Stones River
The Stones River (properly spelled Stone's River) is a major stream of the eastern portion of Tennessee's Nashville Basin region. It is named after explorer and longhunter Uriah Stone, who navigated the river in 1767.
Geography and hydrography
T ...
. Stone returned to the Cumberland valley in 1769, along with fellow hunters
Kasper Mansker
Kasper Mansker or Casper Mansker also, spelled Mäintzger and Minsker (1750–1820) was a longhunter and one of Middle Tennessee's first European explorers and settlers.
Early life
Kasper Mansker was born on the European immigrant ship, ''Christi ...
, Isaac and Abraham Bledsoe, Joseph Drake, and Robert Crockett. Although Crockett was killed that year, the 1766 and 1769 expeditions identified various trails,
salt lick
A mineral lick (also known as a salt lick) is a place where animals can go to lick essential mineral nutrients from a deposit of salts and other minerals. Mineral licks can be naturally occurring or artificial (such as blocks of salt that farm ...
s, and camping areas that later helped guide the first
Anglo-American
Anglo-Americans are people who are English-speaking inhabitants of Anglo-America. It typically refers to the nations and ethnic groups in the Americas that speak English as a native language, making up the majority of people in the world who spe ...
settlers to the Middle Tennessee area.
Legacy
Various geographical entities in Tennessee are named for longhunters.
Walden Ridge
Walden Ridge (or Walden's Ridge) is a mountain ridge and escarpment located in Tennessee, in the United States. It marks the eastern edge of the Cumberland Plateau and is generally considered part of it. Walden Ridge is about long, running g ...
, the eastern escarpment of the
Cumberland Plateau
The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and portions of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia. The terms "Alle ...
in Tennessee, is named for Elisha Wallen, one of the first Anglo-Americans to observe it. A
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
and dozens of geographical features in Tennessee have been named for Daniel Boone, whose exploits came to symbolize frontier life in Tennessee and Kentucky. Isaac Bledsoe was the namesake of Bledsoe Creek in
Sumner County, Tennessee
Sumner County is a county located on the central northern border of the U.S. state of Tennessee, in what is called Middle Tennessee.
As of the 2020 census, the population was 196,281. Its county seat is Gallatin, and its largest city is Hend ...
, now the site of Bledsoe Creek State Park. Isaac's brother, Anthony, later became the namesake for
Bledsoe County.
In 1780, Kasper Mansker built a frontier station in what is now
Goodlettsville
Goodlettsville is a city in Davidson and Sumner counties, Tennessee. Goodlettsville was incorporated as a city in 1958 with a population of just over 3,000 residents; at the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 15,921 and in 2020 the p ...
, just north of
Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
. In 1986, the city of Goodlettsville built a replica of
Mansker's Station
Mansker's Station, also called Mansker's Fort was a station along Avery's Trace in Middle Tennessee. It was built by Kasper Mansker.
Kasper Mansker was a long hunter and explorer from the Virginia area. After his first expedition into the wilder ...
(it is based on historic examples, as the fort's original layout is unknown). It is now open to the public. In the 1970s, the state of Tennessee established
Long Hunter State Park
Long Hunter State Park is a state park in Davidson County and Rutherford County, Tennessee, located in the southeastern United States. The park is mostly situated along the eastern shores of Percy Priest Lake, an artificial lake created by an ...
along the
J. Percy Priest Lake impoundment of Stones River, in the area where Uriah Stone had his furs stolen more than 200 years earlier.
In Kentucky history
The end of
King George's War
King George's War (1744–1748) is the name given to the military operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in t ...
in 1748 left control of the territory between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River in dispute. The French wanted the region to connect their holdings in Canada with
Illinois Country
The Illinois Country (french: Pays des Illinois ; , i.e. the Illinois people)—sometimes referred to as Upper Louisiana (french: Haute-Louisiane ; es, Alta Luisiana)—was a vast region of New France claimed in the 1600s in what is n ...
and
, and the British sought to establish a foothold in the Ohio Valley. French commander
Pierre-Joseph Celoron de Blainville conducted maneuvers in 1749 that discouraged British trade west of the Appalachians, although American colonial land speculators remained interested in the region. Walker's 1750 expedition briefly explored what is now southeastern Kentucky, and explorer
Christopher Gist
Christopher Gist (1706–1759) was an explorer, surveyor, and frontiersman active in Colonial America. He was one of the first white explorers of the Ohio Country (the present-day states of Ohio, eastern Indiana, western Pennsylvania, and nort ...
managed to reach the mouth of the
Kentucky River
The Kentucky River is a tributary of the Ohio River, long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed June 13, 2011 in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Kentuc ...
in 1751. In the opening years of the French and Indian War, the French gained control of the Ohio Valley with the defeat of
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
at
Fort Necessity
Fort Necessity National Battlefield is a National Battlefield in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, which preserves the site of the Battle of Fort Necessity. The battle, which took place on July 3, 1754, was an early battle of the ...
in 1754. With the fall of
Fort Duquesne
Fort Duquesne (, ; originally called ''Fort Du Quesne'') was a fort established by the French in 1754, at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. It was later taken over by the British, and later the Americans, and developed a ...
and the construction of
Fort Pitt in 1758, however, the French were forced to evacuate the region. The French departure and a relative state of peace with the Cherokee during the same period opened up the region to explorers and hunters from the
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of Kingdom of Great Britain, British Colony, colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Fo ...
.
John and Samuel Pringle, two deserters from Fort Pitt, spent much of the early 1760s hunting in the
Tygart Valley
The Tygart Valley River — also known as the Tygart River — is a principal tributary of the Monongahela River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed Aug ...
and likely ranged into what is now Kentucky. Part of Elisha Walden's 1761 party hunted along the
Rockcastle River
The Rockcastle River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 8, 2011 river primarily in Rockcastle County, Kentucky, United States. It is a tributary of the Cumberland Ri ...
from their station camp in southwestern Virginia. In 1767, an expedition led by James Harrod and Michael Holsteiner (Michael Stoner) crossed Kentucky from north-to-south, reaching the Nashville area several weeks after departing from the
Illinois Country
The Illinois Country (french: Pays des Illinois ; , i.e. the Illinois people)—sometimes referred to as Upper Louisiana (french: Haute-Louisiane ; es, Alta Luisiana)—was a vast region of New France claimed in the 1600s in what is n ...
. Around the same time, an expedition led by Benjamin Cutbirth crossed Cumberland Gap and pushed all the way to the Mississippi River, where they shipped the pelts they had collected down to New Orleans.
In 1768, an American explorer named
John Finley passed through the
Yadkin Valley and visited Daniel Boone, with whom he had served in the French and Indian War. Finley told Boone of the natural splendor of Kentucky's
Bluegrass region
The Bluegrass region is a geographic region in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It makes up the central and northern part of the state, roughly bounded by the cities of Frankfort, Paris, Richmond and Stanford. The Bluegrass region is characterized ...
, which he had visited as a merchant before the French and Indian War. The following year, the two led an expedition into Kentucky, traveling up the Rockcastle River and establishing a station camp at Red Lick Fork. While Boone and a companion named John Stuart were hunting along the Kentucky River, they were captured by the
Shawnee
The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...
, and their pelts were confiscated. They returned to their station camp to find it plundered, and learned that Finley and the rest of the expedition had returned to North Carolina. Undeterred, Boone and Stuart continued hunting in the region. Boone was later joined by his brother,
Squire
In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight.
Use of the term evolved over time. Initially, a squire served as a knight's apprentice. Later, a village leader or a lord of the manor might come to be known as a " ...
, and the Boone brothers remained in the Kentucky wilderness until 1771. Although they again had their pelts confiscated when they were intercepted by the Cherokee at Cumberland Gap, the Boones were nevertheless eager to return to settle in the region. Daniel Boone's vivid accounts of his hunting exploits helped draw a flood of settlers to Kentucky in subsequent years.
Legacy
Numerous natural and political entities in Kentucky bear the names of longhunters, including
Boone County and
Boonesborough, named for Daniel Boone, and
Harrodsburg
Harrodsburg is a home rule-class city in Mercer County, Kentucky, United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 9,064 at the 2020 census.
Although Harrodsburg was formally established by the House of Burgesses after Boonesbo ...
, named for James Harrod.
Kenton County
Kenton County is a county located in the northern part of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 169,064, making it the third most populous county in Kentucky (behind Jefferson County and Fayette County). It ...
is named for
Simon Kenton
Simon Kenton (aka "Simon Butler") (April 3, 1755 – April 29, 1836) was an American frontiersman and soldier in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. He was a friend of Daniel Boone, Simon Girty, Spencer Records, Thomas S. Hinde, Thomas Hinde, and ...
, who, believing he was a fugitive, spent the mid-1770s hunting in eastern Kentucky. Longhunter James Knox named the
Dix River
The Dix River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed June 13, 2011 tributary of the Kentucky River in central Kentucky in the United States.
It begins in western Rockcast ...
after Cherokee leader Captain Dick, who gave Knox permission to hunt along the river in 1770. The U.S. government established
Daniel Boone National Forest
The Daniel Boone National Forest (originally the Cumberland National Forest) is a national forest in Kentucky. Established in 1937, it includes of federally owned land within a proclamation boundary. The name of the forest was changed in 1966 ...
in 1937 in the eastern part of the state.
Notable longhunters
*
Isaac Bledsoe
*
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone (September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the we ...
*
Squire Boone
In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight.
Use of the term evolved over time. Initially, a squire served as a knight's apprentice. Later, a village leader or a lord of the manor might come to be known as a " ...
*
Richard Callaway
Richard Callaway (June 14, 1717 – November 8, 1780) was an American frontiersman, military officer, politician, and hunter who was one of the first white settlers in modern-day Kentucky. Born in Essex County, Virginia, Callaway joined Daniel B ...
*
Samuel Dale
Samuel Dale (1772 – ), known as the "Daniel Boone of Alabama", was an American frontiersman, trader, miller, hunter, scout, courier, soldier, spy, army officer, and politician, who fought under General Andrew Jackson, in the Creek War, la ...
*
John Duff
John Francis Duff (January 17, 1895 – January 8, 1958) was a Canadian racecar driver who won many races and has been inducted in the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame. He was one of only two Canadians who raced and won on England’s famous Br ...
*
James Harrod
James Harrod () was a pioneer, soldier, and hunter who helped explore and settle the area west of the Allegheny Mountains. Little is known about Harrod's early life, including the exact date of his birth. He was possibly underage when he served i ...
*
Simon Kenton
Simon Kenton (aka "Simon Butler") (April 3, 1755 – April 29, 1836) was an American frontiersman and soldier in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. He was a friend of Daniel Boone, Simon Girty, Spencer Records, Thomas S. Hinde, Thomas Hinde, and ...
*
Kasper Mansker
Kasper Mansker or Casper Mansker also, spelled Mäintzger and Minsker (1750–1820) was a longhunter and one of Middle Tennessee's first European explorers and settlers.
Early life
Kasper Mansker was born on the European immigrant ship, ''Christi ...
*
Henry Skaggs
Henry Skaggs (January 8, 1724 – December 4, 1810. Occasional alternative spellings: "Skeggs" and "Scaggs") was an American longhunter, explorer and pioneer, active primarily on the frontiers of Tennessee and Kentucky during the latter half ...
[Collins' Historical Sketches of Kentucky, Collins & Co. 1874]
*
James Smith
*
Edward Worthington
Edward Worthington (–1804) was an Irish-born American frontiersman, hunter, surveyor and soldier who explored and later helped settle the Kentucky frontier. A veteran of the American Revolutionary War and the American Indian Wars, he also served ...
References
Further reading
*{{cite journal , last=Altsheler , first=Brent , title=The Long Hunters and James Knox Their Leader , journal=Filson Club History Quarterly , volume=5 , issue=4 , date=October 1931 , url=http://connect1.ajaxdocumentviewer.com/viewerajax.php?LZDtgXYorwjEIRYT6c8FeaIXuxiMtrltkIWOeLwShc6KpWGHMV5BOCPBMYpimYnZsb8RRYZwcJdqVAOoNHmdwCaFr3HVgy0Id%2FYY1Ej00lntaG8EHWgaIOp2wGgSkRKbD0MM1usSW0vkbiyIvDnmtU6U23QALQFG%2FAlZcfRK48Zg6FDPAsNmTV6kmLIbhV%2FPWPBZyarzENpUiiF9iMrp8OkdoUS0HyLQfin7HOKPgROhOVbguIoJwvP2C9y%2F2CfGp%2B8aSx52Yg0apoK2Vy2NZw3%2F4q9BI1DYbG11Zee%2BWw%2BL8lF8Y2BuV5vyBoeSPlsM1iICuLZ%2FEHIk1iyUVwDmT1Dcw1WLJHsuTyOJ%2FU47Cz108oPj%2BiFRj42BxbwgsHZIIrywMcy1JyqOj5Ls5PCwNQwHMmn9sNABAdhQDU6qTn0%3D , accessdate=2011-11-29
"The Long Hunter"Emory L. Hamilton, The Mountain Empire Genealogical Quarterly, danielboonetrail.com
External links
Remember The LonghuntersMuseum of the Fur TradeLonghunter Society - National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association
Pre-statehood history of Virginia
Pre-statehood history of Tennessee
Pre-statehood history of Kentucky
American hunters