This day in history: American pioneer, explorer, woodsman, and frontiersman Daniel Boone died on this day in 1820. Daniel Boone is an iconic figure in American history, although his status as an early American folk hero and later as a subject of fiction have tended to obscure the actual details of his life. Several places in the United States are named for him, including the Daniel Boone National Forest, the Sheltowee Trace Trail, the town of Boone, North Carolina, various settlements carrying the name of "Boonville", and seven counties: Boone County, Illinois, Boone County, Indiana, Boone County, Nebraska, Boone County, West Virginia, Boone County, Missouri, Boone County, Arkansas, and Boone County, Kentucky. Schools across the United States are named for Daniel Boone, including schools in Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, Douglassville, Pennsylvania, Richmond, Kentucky, Wentzville, Missouri, Warrenton, Missouri, Gray, Tennessee, and Chicago.
He also hated his fame: "Nothing embitters my old age [more than] the circulation of absurd stories … many heroic actions and chivalrous adventures are related of me which exist only in the regions of fancy. With me the world has taken great liberties, and yet I have been but a common man."
Also, he didn't actually wear a coonskin hat.
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