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Sons Of A Trackless Forest: The Cumberland Long Hunters Of The Eighteenth Century, Mark A. Baker

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

For much of America's history, a certain fascination has existed in American culture with the lifestyle of the woodsman who made the hardwood wilderness his home. Over time this fascination has given birth to a collection of romantic traits firmly identified with such a frontiersman.

The requirements for survival in a deep wilderness forced the pre-American Revolution era woodsman turned long hunter, to be "Indian," to demonstrate a high level of marksmanship, and ultimately to draw most of his needs from the bounty of the forest. Such requirements tended to promote the popular conceptions surrounding the eastern frontiersman. Looking beyond …