Draper notes and correspondence concerning frontier events, 1783-1791, with emphasis on Boone's career: his business problems as surveyor, land holder, and trader in ginseng; his militia service; his move to western Virginia; and his term in the Virginia assembly as a representative from Kanawha County in 1791. Many letters pertain to the capture of John Flinn's wife and children in Kentucky in 1786, and Boone's recovery of one of the girls, Chloe (circa 1779-1863), in the following spring. Fewer papers relate to two other similar incidents: the capture of Rebecca (Armstrong) Sharp, wife of Abraham Sharp, and their children in Kentucky in 1786; and the attack on Tacket's Fort near Coal River in western Virginia (West Virginia) in 1790 in which members of the Tacket and McElhany families became Indian captives.

This volume contains three original documents: a sheet (two pages) of military orders and certificates written by Boone, January-March, 1783; a letter by Boone to Lawrence Thompson (August 6, 1784) on land business; and a legal document (November 8, 1785) concerning ownership of Negro slaves signed by James Harrod, Thomas Kennedy, and Joseph White.