Folk Hero - Historically Documented Folk Heroes

Historically Documented Folk Heroes

• Johnny Appleseed – United States, he introduced the apple to large parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois
• Arminius – Germany, was a chieftain of the Cheruski who defeated the Roman army at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
• Billy the Kid – United States, a 19th-century American frontier outlaw and gunman
• Black Hawk – Midwestern United States, a Sauk Indian warrior who resisted white settlement
• Sitting Bull – shaman leader of the Hunkpapa Lakota
• Bonnie and Clyde – United States, bank robbers who evaded retribution in the 1930s
• Boudica - Great Britain, warrior queen who led an uprising against the Roman Empire in Britain
• Daniel Boone – United States, an American pioneer in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
• Brian Boru – Ireland, High King of Ireland who "drove the Danes out of Ireland" at the Battle of Clontarf.
• John Brown – United States, attempted to lead a slave revolt in the south by raiding Harper's Ferry, helped spark the American Civil War.
• Calamity Jane – United States, a tough Wild West woman
• Lady of Ch'iao Kuo – China, warrior, politician, queen of the Hsien
• Joseph Cinqué – West African man of the Mende tribe, leader of the Amistad slave rebellion.
• Gregorio Cortez – Mexican-American folk hero
• Carmine Crocco – Italy, shepherd, fought the Royal Italian Army after the Italian unification.
• Davy Crockett – United States, an Indian-fighter, Congressman, and died as a hero fighting in the Alamo
• Nils Dacke – Sweden, leader of a 16th-century peasant revolt
• Zerai Deres – Ethiopia and Eritrea, Eritrean-born man lionized for his act of vengeance against the Italian Fascists in Rome during an imperial celebration
• Anton Docher - United States, Roman Catholic missionary and defender of the native Americans in New Mexico, he fought for five years in the French colonial army
• Pier Gerlofs Donia – Frisia, legendary giant warrior, freedom fighter and leader of the Arumer Zwarte Hoop
• Ahmad Shah Durrani – The founder of the Afghan Durrani Empire
• Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson – Sweden, rebel and temporary regent in the 15th century
• Guy Fawkes – Roman Catholic restorationist from England who planned the Gunpowder Plot
• Mike Fink – United States, the toughest boatman on the Mississippi River and a rival of Davy Crockett
• José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia - First consul of Paraguay
• Eppelein von Gailingen – Germany, robber baron
• Geronimo – United States, Apache warrior, fought United States army for years defending his people and homeland
• Lazar Hrebeljanovic – Serbian, ruler of Moravian Serbia, who fought and perished at the Battle of Kosovo, to which his name and life are inextricably tied.
• Genghis Khan – Mongolian ruler of the Steppe during 13th century, founder of the Mongolian empire
• Owain Glyndŵr - Wales, nobleman who led a rebellion against the Kingdom of England
• Tomoe Gozen – Japan, female samurai warrior
• Husein Gradaščević – Bosnia, called "Dragon of Bosnia", led the resistance of Bosnians and uprising for autonomy of Bosnia against the Ottoman Empire
• Che Guevara – Argentine Marxist revolutionary, politician, author, physician, military theorist, and guerrilla leader.
• Nathan Hale – United States, a captain in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War
• Simo Häyhä – A legendary Finnish sharpshooter in the Winter War with 505 confirmed kills
• Wild Bill Hickok – United States, lawman, gunfighter, gambler, scout, Civil War soldier, stage coach driver, performer, abolitionist
• Piet Hein – Netherlands, captured the Spanish treasure fleet
• Hone Heke – Māori chief who chopped down British flagpole three times
• Joe Hill – United States, union leader and songwriter wrongfully convicted of murder in 1915
• Andreas Hofer – Austrian and particularly Tirolian hero who resisted the Bavarians and Napoleon
• Ishikawa Goemon – Japan, bandit hero notorious for robbing the rich and giving to the poor, though some accounts suggest he may have kept much of his ill-gotten gains. Before being boiled in oil, he saved his infant son at the cost of his own life.
• Jesse James – A Wild West outlaw who supposedly robbed from the rich and gave to the poor (in reality his crimes only profited himself and his gang).
• Juraj Jánošík – Slovakia and Poland, outlaw living in the Tatra mountains, defending Carpathian peasants from the tyranny of Hungarian landlords
• Casey Jones – United States, railroad engineer who remained in his locomotive and died in a collision while braking in order to save his passengers and sounding the whistle to warn the crew of the other train
• Kaluaiko'olau – United States - Hawaiian who evaded deportation for leprosy by hiding in the Hawaiian rain forests
• Ustym Karmaliuk – Ukrainian counterpart of Robin Hood, who led a peasant rebellion
• Ned Kelly – Australia, outlaw
• Martin Krpan – Slovene smuggler, strongman
• Lam Sai-wing – China, martial artist and student of Wong Fei Hung
• Ten Tigers of Canton – China, group of ten fighters in southern China
• Lampião – outlaw, leader of a Cangaço band in Northeast Brazil
• Abraham Lincoln – President of the United States during the Civil War
• Francisco Solano López - President of Paraguay during the Paraguayan War
• Ned Ludd – Britain, leader of the Luddites in the 1810s
• Louis Mandrin - France, bandit of the 18th century liked by the population because he attacked the tax collectors
• Prince Marko – Serbia and Bulgaria, a Macedonian prince during Ottoman rule, known for opposing the conquerors in his sovereign lands, and a source of many epic poems
• Jack Mary Ann – a folk hero from the Wrexham area of north Wales whose fictionalised exploits continue to circulate in local folklore.
• James Mckenzie – New Zealand, outlaw and inspiration to landless immigrants in early colonial New Zealand
• Juan Moreira - Legendary Argentine outlaw, famed as a skillful knife fighter he is considered one of the most important figures in Argentine history
• Maharana Pratap – India, a 16th-century Hindu ruler and Rajput hero
• Miyamoto Musashi – Japan, a skilled swordsman, soldier, philosopher and author
• Miloš Obilić – A Serbian knight from Zeta who killed the Ottoman ruler Sultan Murad I in the Battle of Kosovo, 1389
• Redmond O'Hanlon – Irish, rapparee of the 17th century
• Philippe Petit – Tightrope artist who walked between the two towers of the World Trade Center
• Pazhassi Raja – India, fought against British Raj in south India (Kerala) with guerrilla war tactics
• Louis Riel – Canada, founder of Manitoba, led two rebellions against the Dominion of Canada
• Dorus Rijkers – the Netherlands, sailor and savior of over 500 men, women and children as the captain of a rescue-boat, in the late 19th century and the early 20th century
• Mir Chakar Rind - Pakistan, a 15th century Baloch chieftain and folklore hero found in the Hani and Sheh Mureed tale
• José Rizal – Philippines, a critic of the Spanish Colonizers, was gun-fired by his executioners in Bagumbayan (now Rizal Park)
• Rob Roy – Scotland, outlaw whose word was his bond
• Juan Santamaría – Costa Rican national hero
• Sarutobi Sasuke – Japan, incredibly acrobatic spy said to have been raised by monkeys and trained in the Ninja heartland of Iga and Koga provinces during the golden age of the Ninja.
• Laura Secord – Canada, heroine of the War of 1812
• Daniel Shays – An American farmer who led Shays' Rebellion in the late 18th century over debt and taxes
• Skanderbeg – Albanian national hero who led the resistance of Albanian people against the Ottoman Empire
• Soapy Smith – Infamous 19th-century Colorado and Alaska bad man.
• The Smith of Kochel – Germany, a well-known national hero, especially in Bavaria
• Spartacus – Thracean gladiator led the largest slave revolt against the Roman Republic
• Tipu Sultan – Indian, a Muslim who fought and defeated the British in the Mysore wars
• Ivan Susanin – Russian peasant who saved the tsar in the early 17th century's Time of Troubles
• Tamanend – United States, an Indian chief who became the source of many folk legends during the American Revolutionary War
• Yermak Timofeyevich – Russian Cossack leader who began the Russian conquest of Siberia
• Joseph Trumpeldor – Israel, leader of the Jewish forces at Tel Hai
• Nat Turner – Leader of Nat Turner's Rebellion (also known as the Southampton Insurrection), a slave rebellion that took place in Southampton County, Virginia in August 1831
• Dick Turpin – England, highwayman
• Vercingetorix - France, chief of the Arverni tribe, who united the Gauls in a revolt against Roman forces of Julius Caesar
• Viriathus – Portugal, the leader of the freedom fighters of the confederated Iberian tribes who resisted colonial Rome
• William Wallace – Scotland, knight who led a rebellion against England in the early 14th century
• Wong Fei Hung – Chinese doctor, martial artist and revolutionary
• Huo Yuanjia – Chinese martial artist
• Jan Žižka – Czech knight, commander of Hussite armies in 15th century
• Mohamed Bouazizi - Tunisian fruit vendor who immolated himself in protest of government mistreatment and sparked a successful revolution in that country and the Arab Spring
• Paul Revere - an American silversmith and a patriot in the American Revolution whose 'Midnight Ride' warned of the arrival of the British.
• Samuel Steele - Canada, an mountie who bring peace to Canada West, and the Yukon for laws and order.
• Big Joe Mufferaw- Canada, a larger than life French Canadian woodsman took his life as a lumberjack in Ottawa.
• Prince Marko, Serbian king and ruler of Macedonia was traditional protector of Christian people during Ottoman rule of Balkans.
• Joan of Arc- A peasant girl who led the French in the Hundred Years' War after she claimed saints told her it was God's will. Burned as a heretic she became a martyr, folk hero, and eventually a saint. She is now one of the patron saints of France.
• Hekimoğlu Turkish folk hero who led a campaign against feudal lords.