Karen’s Pick
May, 2022
The Taking of Jemima Boone
Colonial Settlers, Tribal Nations, and the Kidnap that Shaped America
Matthew Pearl
HarperCollins 2021
The Taking of Jemima Boone is the first foray into nonfiction from the novelist Matthew Pearl.
This artfully told story takes us on a journey of a very complicated period of American history. The telling of the details are enhanced by his narrative writing style and the book reads much like a historical thriller.
In Boonesboro, Kentucky, on July 14, 1776, a Cherokee-Shawnee raiding party captured Daniel Boone’s teenage daughter and two friends, with the hope they could be used as political currency. The kidnapping was an act of retaliation since the tribes resented the misuse and decimation of their native lands and resources by the newly settled colonists.
The taking of the girls was quickly realized and Daniel Boone with a large search party pursued the assailants, freed the girls, using physical clues left by Jemima, and killed two young male Natives. One of the Natives killed in the confrontation was the son of War Chief Blackfish, a feared Shawnee leader.
The implications of this deadly deed were far reaching; the orchestrated capture of Daniel Boone by the Shawnee. Boone, held captive for a year was “adopted” by the Blackfish family, as a replacement for their murdered son. Boone’s life during his capture provides the reader with extensive details of Native life, and the realization of the constant negotiations for political alliances between the Natives with both the British Army and the American Colonialists.
Pearl, using factual “twists and turns”, tells a compelling story of a little known event However, most importantly, he uses the kidnapping of Jemima to set the stage for a period of history that signifies life under siege in the colonies, as well as the trials of American expansion, the beginnings of Manifest Destiny, and ultimate decimation of the Native American’s culture and way of life.
The Taking of Jemima Boone is an excellent book that is well researched and very readable.
A great choice for lovers of American History!