Jr. Patrio Report

by John Stumpner

Many of you have probably heard of Daniel Boone, the famous pioneer and explorer from the early history of the United States. He was famous for his bravery, resourcefulness and self-reliance, traits which many of us try to copy to this day. But you may not have known he was tried for treason during the American Revolution.

During the American Revolution, the British paid some of the Native American tribes to attack American settlements and farms in remote areas. One such settlement, founded by Daniel Boone, was Boonesborough. During the winter of 1777 – 1778, Boone was leading a group of men to get supplies for Boonesborough. While hunting, he was captured by a tribe called the Shawnee. Boone convinced his men to surrender, as they were greatly outnumbered, some would have been killed and the rest captured anyway. The Shawnee liked Boone and adopted him and some of his men into their tribe and sent the rest as prisoners to the British. The Shawnee wanted to go on to capture Boonesborough, as they knew it would now be poorly defended. Boone convinced the Shawnee chief that it would be better to wait for warmer weather and bluffing, said he himself would lead the Shawnee and make sure the town surrendered. He was so convincing that his own men thought he was really going to surrender the town. However, in early summer, Boone escaped and rode and ran 160 miles in 5 days to warn Boonesborough about the coming attack. He led a raid against the Shawnee before they could attack, and then led the defense of Boonesborough during a 10-day siege.

After the Shawnee left, some of the other leaders of Booneborough accused Boone of treason for surrendering his men and offering to surrender Boonesborough to the Shawnee. At his trial however, he was quickly found not guilty and was even given a promotion in the Virginia Militia. Later, Boone served three terms in the Virginia State Legislature and had many other adventures.

Like Daniel Boone, sometimes people mis-understand what we may be trying to do. Many people think ABATE of Wisconsin is against motorcycle riders wearing helmets. But just as Daniel Boone worked to save his town, ABATE works for the freedom of the road for bikers. This means that we take a stance that motorcyclists’ have the right of choice and can decide what is best for them as individuals. This means that we support a rider’s choice of wearing a helmet or not, riding a certain kind of bike or not. When the issues are closely examined, we are on the side of freedom of choice for all motorcycle roadway users.

John