I recently came across another softbound book written by my step grandfather, Russell Carter back in 1978. I hope to include a section or two, in future posts, of this most interesting look of a time in our country when it was fresh and new. Following is the introduction:

Introduction

By Clara Smith Reber

Church Hill, Tennessee

The Great Adventure – Retracing The Wilderness Road with Daniel Boone – Bicentennial 1975-1976

This book by Chief Russell Sage Carter is a thrilling historical chronicle of the Wilderness Road Caravan, commemorating the Bicentennial. Eight men departed from Daniel Boone’s log cabin on the banks of the Yadkin River in North Carolina with Fort Boonesborough, Kentucky s their destination. Their departure was timed exactly to the day in April when Boone started out on his journey two hundred years earlier.

Seventy-seven year old Chief Carter portrayed the Cherokee Chief who helped Daniel Boone blaze the trail. Young Carter attended school with the Indians for a number of years. His father preached to the Indians from 1870 to 1906. His Great Grandmother was a Cherokee who with her Buck migrated to Missouri in 1834. His Grandmother was a Chickasaw whom granddad found while on the road to the gold fields of 1849.

Chief Carter’s book is a captivating compilation of the adventures of the Wilderness Road Caravan as well as historical incidents of pioneer life partly gleaned from diaries he inherited from his Great Grandmother and Grandfather(*). His father taught him the Cherokee alphabet which helped in his research. His whimsical pen and ink sketches illustrate most vividly his folklore characters.

Chief Carter now spends as much time as he can speaking to schools, churches, Rotary and Chamber groups. In the last few years he has talked to 10,000 children, 600 children at one school recently.

As “Last Leaf Upon a Tree” Chief Carter is sharing for future generations the rich heritage of American Frontier life which he has helped to make.

(*) original text read ‘Grandmother’