The Woodsman's Journal Online: 2026

Sunday, June 28, 2026

Lost in Late 18th and Early 19th centuries...Lessons Learned, Part One©

Author’s note -- I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource! To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE. Thank you and Happy Trails!

Humans have been getting lost in the wilderness since, well, humans became humans. Today you can buy survival kits, laminated instruction manuals, take classes and know that most of the time you will be found alive and well within 72 hours by rescuers, but it wasn’t always that ways. Becoming lost in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries in the Old Northwest Frontier was a vastly different matter, with large parts of the world unmapped and no one to find you or even to look for you.

But humans being humans, old lessons learned then, can still apply today. So let’s see what we can learn from none other than the great woodsman Daniel Boone.

Daniel Boone admitted to becoming bewildered once, saying famously that “I have never been lost, but I was once bewildered for three days”.

This is an interesting distinction between “lost” and “bewildered”, and what he is describing would today be known as ‘wood shock’. The steps he took to survive for three days, while ‘bewildered’, are what kept him are what allowed him to ‘keep his head’, not panic, and kept him from becoming ‘lost’ and perishing alone in the wilderness.

The word ‘bewildered’ in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries had a different meaning than it does today. Then it meant confused, lead astray or turned around in the wilderness; like what today we would call ‘disoriented’, the first of the five steps of ‘woods shock’.

“Woods Shock” can happen to anyone who travels in the wilderness, whether they are inexperienced, or experienced woodsperson. It was first described scientifically on April 17, 1873, when Mr. Henry Forde wrote a letter to the Editor of Nature London, responding to an earlier article written by Charles Darwin. The name ‘woods shock’ is what intense disorientation and the feeling of ‘losing their head’ has been called since 1873. Before 1873, this condition was known simply as being “bewildered”.

‘Woods shock’ is the term that psychologists use to describe the state of confusion, bewilderment and fear that can occur when someone realizes they have become disoriented, or ‘bewildered’. It is a catastrophic reaction to realizing you don’t know where you are and this intense state of confusion can lead to panic. The fear and panic can lead victims to do inexplicable things, like discarding gear or clothes.

Disorientation, the first step of ‘wood shock’, is experienced when someone’s mental map fails to align with their physical surroundings, causing them to become confused, or ‘bewildered’. If ‘wood shock’ is not stopped at this stage, then disorientation and bewilderment compounded by dehydration, exhaustion, or hypothermia, can lead to fear and then panic setting in. When you panic in the wilderness, you become ‘lost’ and unfortunately being ‘lost’ usually ends in death.

The New Hampshire Lost Person Study, 1974-1979, found that 63% of those lost during the time of the study, were hikers or hunters who had become “disoriented” on clear, sunny days during the summer or fall, in the late afternoon or early evening. Of those who became lost, 54% were traveling through areas that they were familiar with, and 46% had taken a wilderness safety class before becoming lost.

To break the progression of ‘wood shock’, survival experts recommend the acronym S.T.O.P. -- Stop/Stay Calm/ Stay Put, Think, Observe, and Plan. If you S.T.O.P. and stay calm, it will break the progression of ‘wood shock’ at the disorientation stage and allows you to work on surviving the situation, without succumbing to panic; in which case you are only ‘bewildered’. Experienced woods men and women, stop, take a deep breath, and then proceeded to make camp for the night.

Unfortunately, many inexperienced people and even some experienced people let their fear get the best of them, they lose their heads and slide into ‘woods shock’ and panic, charging past the disorientation stage, down the slippery slope to panic and death -- and remember PANIC KILLS!

When Daniel Boone spoke of being “bewildered for three days”, it is obvious that he did not give into his fears and instead took positive steps to ensure his survival, while he reoriented himself. That was why he was merely “bewildered” and not “lost”. So if you ever find yourself bewildered and disoriented in the wilderness, be like Daniel Boone, don’t lose your head, S.T.O.P. and stay calm.

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Lost in Late 18th and Early 19th centuries...Lessons Learned, Part Two©”, for more on the hard learned survival lessons of the past.

For more on ‘wood shock’, read “Woods Shock, Don’t Lose Your Head! ©” HERE, “Getting Lost And What To Do About It”, Circa 1915 ©” HERE

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource! To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE. Thank you and Happy Trails!

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE. Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube. If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site. I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

Sources

Beard Adelia Belle; “Woodcraft for Outdoor Boys and Girls”, The Washington Reporter, February 11, 1920, page 5, https://books.google.com/books?id=SjFeAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA5&dq=%22without+maTCHES%22+1920&article_id=6504,6160930&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjo5feX6aeVAxXYDHkGHYfXELsQ6AF6BAgJEAM#v=onepage&q=%22without%20maTCHES%22%201920&f=false, accessed June 27, 2026

Gentlemen’s Lexicon; or a Pocket Dictionary [John Grigg, Philadelphia, PA, 1835] p. 40 https://books.google.com/books?id=bqEVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA40&dq=%22bewildered%22+lexicon+dictionary&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiC94-LrtbdAhVPc98KHYO3BRMQ6AEIPjAE#v=onepage&q=%22bewildered%22%20lexicon%20dictionary&f=false, accessed June 27, 2026

McCafferty, Keith; “Woods Shock Can Kill”, Field & Stream, October 2006, page 40, https://books.google.com/books?id=Gv5GUqHcT8wC&pg=PA40&dq=survival+lost+woods&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjO_MfT0JaBAxVbtIkEHYOdCIU4FBDoAXoECAoQAg#v=onepage&q=survival%20lost%20woods&f=false, accessed September 30, 2023

Moses, Thomas; “The Lost Traveller”, The Analectic Magazine, Volume 4, [published by Moses Thomas, Philadelphia, PA; 1814], page 158, https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Analectic_Magazine/pu84AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22the+lost+Traveller%22+analectic+magazine+1814&pg=PP13&printsec=frontcover, accessed June 27, 2026

Rosinski, Jane L.; New Hampshire Lost Person Study, 1974-1979, New Hampshire State Fish and Game Department, [Concord NH, 1981]

Russell, J.; “A Map Of The Middle States, Of America”, 1794 http://www.mapsofpa.com/18thcentury/1794russell.jpg, accessed June 27, 2026

Sharp, Hal; “Sportsman’s Digest: Start a Fire with Flint and Steel”, The News-Dispatch, September 18, 1972, page 5, https://books.google.com/books?id=02BVAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA5&dq=%22start+a+fire+with+flint+and+steel%22+1972&article_id=3452,5991692&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvnvTg7qeVAxUvpIkEHfdCPU8Q6AF6BAgIEAM#v=onepage&q=%22start%20a%20fire%20with%20flint%20and%20steel%22%201972&f=false, accessed June 27, 2026

The American Mountain Men; “Flint and Steel Steel Char Flint”, https://americanmountainmen.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/TLR-FIRE-2019-APRIL-28.pdf, accessed June 27, 2026

White, Margaret E., Editor, A Sketch of Chester Harding, Artist: Drawn By His Own Hand, [Houghton, Mifflin and Company, New York, 1890] p 47 to 48, https://books.google.com/books?id=zgROAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=%22he+had+a+very+large+progeny%22+%22chester+harding%22&source=bl&ots=I9y_v-yRI2&sig=qxwqKUR9y42naWBjhoArGJi2P5U&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj4goGi7czdAhXEnOAKHWvECaoQ6AEwAHoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22he%20had%20a%20very%20large%20progeny%22%20%22chester%20harding%22&f=false, accessed June 27, 2026

Wikimedia, “Unfinished Portrait of Daniel Boone”, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Unfinished_portrait_of_Daniel_Boone_by_Chester_Harding_1820.jpg, accessed June 27, 2026

Sunday, June 21, 2026

Life and Times of Daniel Ogden 1735 to 1819: The Early Years©

Daniel Ogden jr. was born on August 21,1735 in Greenwich, Connecticut, He died on November 30, 1819, in Clearfield, Pennsylvania and was buried in the Old Clearfield Cemetery. He married Eleanor or Helena Schouten, Scoutan or Schoutien (her actual name is a mystery as spelling was frequently phonetic during the 18^th century; however family tradition holds that her first name was Eleanor) on August 9, 1756 in Brinckerhoff, New York.

He was my 6^th great grandfather on my mother’s side. He died 207 years ago, and his 84 years of life neatly framed the turbulent years surrounding the birth of the United States of America. All and all, I would have loved to have met him and listened to stories of his life, but that is impossible. Luckily much more is known about him than many of his age, but unfortunately for modern historians, even more has been lost in the mists of time. So let’s talk about what we do know and infer what we can.

Damiel Ogden had been described by those who knew him, in as “a strong, muscular man, a great hunter, and quite fond of joking…”, as Lewis Cass Aldrich recorded in History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, 1887. Author S.B. Row wrote in Clearfield County: Or, Reminisces of the Past, 1859, that “He was naturally of a jolly, rollicking disposition [and] liked to joke. He could build log cabins, make looms, spinning wheels, cut out pants, coats, vests, repair guns, pull teeth and doctoring ... He made millstones for his mill ... and had enough mechanical genius to take care of himself anywhere”. Additionally, S.B. Row described Daniel as “...impulsive, yet firm and resolute” and “courageous [and] sought rather than avoided dangers”. The historian Francis Halsey who wrote in The Old New York Frontier, 1902, that Daniel “...had become famous as a hunter of beaver and a scout...”. In 1759, his 17 year old brother Ichabod, when enlisting in Captain Joshua Bloomer’s Westchester County, New York Company, was described as “5’ 7”, light ey’d, light brown hair, dark complexion” - it is likely that Daniel Ogden would have looked similar.

The Early Years

As a youth of Daniel would have lived through and heard tales of the ‘Old French War’ of 1744 to 1748 (thus called in the Americas to distinguish it from the French and Indian war of 1756 to 1763. The Old French war is also known as King George's War and was the North American theater during the War of the Austrian Succession, an early world war pitting many of the great European powers against each other in Europe and throughout their colonial holdings. In North America, the most notable action was the New England militias surprise capture of the French fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island. While the Fortress of Louisbourg was never the direct launching point for inland raids into the American colonies by Native Americans, its French governors and missionaries, such as Jean-Louis Le Loutre led French soldiers, Acadian militias, and actively armed and directed the Wabanaki Confederacy (Mi'kmaq and Abenaki tribes) to attack upstate New York and the New England frontier, particularly in Maine, New Hampshire.

The war was concluded with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, and infuriated the British colonists in the New England colonies, by returning Louisbourg to the French in exchange for territories in India. This allowed Le Loutre, the Acadian militia and forces of the Wabanaki Confederacy to continue their attacks on the British Colonial frontiers of Maine, New Hampshire, and areas of New York along the Hudson river and north of the Mohawk River. These raids and counter-raids became known ‘Father Le Loutre’s War’, it was also known as the ‘Indian War’, the ‘Mi’kmaq War” and the ‘Anglo-Mi’kmaq War’ and filled the years between King George's War and the French and Indian War, from 1749 to1755.

Throughout this time, there is no record of Daniel’s whereabouts and activities. The historical record is silent, as would be expected of someone who had not yet reached the full age of adulthood in British society of the 1700s.

During the 1700, under British common law, full majority, ‘complete full age’, was reached at the age of twenty-one, and under Civil law the age was twenty-five in matters of contract law. Anyone under these ages was legally an ‘infant’. At eighteen a will could be made for goods and chattels, but not until twenty-one could a will include land. The average age for a first marriage was mid-twenties, according to Matthew Hale’s Historia Placitorum Coronæ (1736), for marriage ‘the full age of consent in males was fourteen years, and of females twelve’.

We will continue the chronicle of the Life and Times of Daniel Ogden, later in our Summer of 1776 series.

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Lost in Late 18th and Early 19th centuries...Lessons Learned©”, where we will talk about surviving being lost in the Old Northwest Frontier.

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

Sources

Aldrich, Lewis Cass; History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, [D. Mason & Co., Syracuse NY, 1887], https://archive.org/details/historyofclearfi00aldr/page/n5/mode/2up, accessed June 20, 2026

Baird, Robert W.; “Bob’s Genealogy Filing Cabinet, Legal Age”, [© by Robert W. Baird (various dates, 2010-2030)], https://genfiles.com/articles/legal-age/, accessed June 20, 2026

Crosbie, Barbara; “Adulthood in Britain and the United States from 1350 to Generation Z”, [© the Authors], https://read.uolpress.co.uk/read/adulthood-in-britain-and-the-united-states-from-1350-to-generation-z/section/db525031-1b10-4ec0-8f59-dc57d2b93d28#chapter4-11, accessed June 20, 2026

Halsey, Francis; The Old New York Frontier. [Charles Scibner’s Sons, New York , NY, 1902], https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_old_New_York_frontier_1614_1800/GAhO7XwjJPcC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Francis+Halsey+new+york+frontier+ogden&pg=PA273&printsec=frontcover, accessed June 20, 2026

Harpster, Jack; and Stalter, Ken; Captive! The Story of David Ogden and the Iroquois, [Praeger, Santa Barbara, CA, 2010]

Row, S.B.; Clearfield County: Or, Reminisces of the Past, [C.G. Holloway and S.J. Stephenson, 2000]

Sunday, June 14, 2026

Summer of 1776©

Okay, it is gorgeous out today, but it rained hard most of the week and the ground is soaked. The rain throws extra variables into the smokeless fire experiment, so I’m postponing it, again. Sorry.

Also, my beautiful wife, a fourteen year cancer survivor, is a team captain, steering a Dragon Boat in the Dragon Boat Festival this weekend. I’m spending the day with her, won’t have access to the internet and won’t be able to put out a quality, well researched article for you this week.

So, let me tell you what I plan to research and write for the next ten weeks. In honor of America 250, I’m planning a series (including the smokeless fire experiment) of articles on life in the Wilderness of the Late 18^th and Early 19^th centuries on the Old Northwest Frontier of America. I’ll be starting with “The Life and Times of Daniel Ogden”, following by “Lost in Late 18th and Early 19th centuries...Lessons Learned”, and more. So come back next week, and the rest of the summer, for more great content!

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

Sunday, June 7, 2026

The weather is not helping with my nearly smokeless fires archaeology experiment; it rained last night. The problem with the rain is the white, puffy “smoke” initially seen when starting a fire is mostly steam. The heat of the fire evaporates the moisture, from the wood or the ground, which then condenses into visible steam droplets in the cooler outside air. The rain throws extra variables into the results of the “Nearly Smokeless Fires, Experimental Archaeology 102” test, so I’m postponing it.

Instead let’s talk about the best way to start a fire when it is wet. You have a handful of dry twigs, a field notebook, an extra book of dry matches and a candle in your pack. Which will be the biggest help in getting your fire going when everything is wet?

Which did you choose?

A few dry twigs you carried in your pack.

Two or three sheets of dry paper from your notebook.

Another book of dry matches.

A candle from your pack.

Survival expert U.S. Air Force SMSgt. John Dzedzy recommended the candle and I totally agree. For example, a Coughlin’s Emergency Candle which stands 5 to 5 ¼ inches tall, by 1 ¼ inches (approximately 13 cm tall by 3 cm wide) and is designed to provide 8 to 10 hours of burn time per candle, and a standard tea candle will typically burn for 3 to 5 hours. This is more than enough time to dry out the fire materials. Everything else on the list are fantastic tools for fire starting, and you should definitely carry them, however they just won’t burn long enough and hot enough to dry out wet fuel and kindling.

My tinder bag is perhaps a bit of overkill, but as a guide, if I needed a fire for signaling, or warming up a hypothermic person, or just comforting a bunch of people new to the wilderness on a rainy day; I wanted it NOW! No excuses.

Weather permitting tune in next week for “Nearly Smokeless Fires, Experimental Archaeology 102”, where we will make a fire and see just how much it smokes.

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

Sources

Dzedzy, John, SMSgt.; “Could You Survive?”, Spokane Daily Chronicle, January 6, 1981, https://books.google.com/books?id=gltOAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA10&dq=%22could+you+survive%22+fire+starting&article_id=4998,1164093&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvtcyQg--UAxWSrokEHTx5BF0Q6AF6BAgHEAM#v=onepage&q=%22could%20you%20survive%22%20fire%20starting&f=false, accessed June 6, 2006

About Me

I live near Buffalo, New York and have more than 25 years of experience in the outdoors. I enjoy being in the wilderness, paddling a canoe or exploring the woods, when I am not researching survival, woodcraft, camping skills or life on the Old Northwest Frontier of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. I am a published author and I have been a guide for Birchbark Expeditions and an Outdoor Skills trainer for the Boy Scouts since 2014. I am also a martial artist, having studied several different combat arts over the past 30 years. Currently, I am the author of The Woodsman’s Journal Online and BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.

The Woodsman's Journal Online

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Sunday, June 28, 2026

Lost in Late 18th and Early 19th centuries...Lessons Learned, Part One©

Sunday, June 21, 2026

Life and Times of Daniel Ogden 1735 to 1819: The Early Years©

Sunday, June 14, 2026

Summer of 1776©

Sunday, June 7, 2026

Could You Survive...Starting A Fire©

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