Simon Kenton

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             Simon Kenton, frontiersman, and participant in many historical accounts about the Kentucky and Ohio Valley was not only respected by the white settlers and American military leaders, but also respected by many of the native tribes for his cunning and bravery.

            Born in Fauquier County, Virginia, he was the seventh of nine children born to Mark and Mary Kenton.  In the spring of 1771 Kenton believed he killed a man in a fight over a young woman with whom they were both smitten.  He fled the area and made his way west, changing his name to Simon Butler.

                He spent some time near Pittsburgh where he met Simon Girty who subsequently crossed paths with Kenton several times in the following years.  Kenton continued his trek farther into the wilderness territories.

                During his early years in the wilderness, the young frontiersman became adept at hunting, tracking, trapping, and other survival skills.  The natives referred to him as “The man whose gun is never empty” because he could run and reload his flintlock at the same time.  Kenton is also one of the key figures in opening up and keeping the frontier safe for settlers.

                In 1774 Kenton and Girty were employed as scouts by Lord Dunmore to report the movements of the allied tribes of natives in the vicinity of Chillicothe.  At the close of Lord Dunmore’s War, Kenton and Girty were both discharged.

                The American Revolution soon followed.  On April 24, 1777 during a native attack on Boonesboro, Kenton reportedly saved the life of Daniel Boone.  In 1778 Kenton joined the colonists in their fight against the British and native forces.  He proved to be an able soldier achieving the rank of General.

                His strength, endurance, and courage were severely tested on October of 1778 when Kenton, in an attempt to recapture horses stolen by the natives, was captured.  Kenton was tied upon a wild horse so that he could not protect his body or face from underbrush and tree limbs and transported back to Chillicothe.  Once he arrived at Chillicothe he was beaten and forced to run the gauntlet.  He was later transported to Piqua and the Mad River Valley, where he was to be burned at the stake at the village of Wapatomica, where he ran the gauntlet nine times.         

                Simon Girty was at Wapatomica at the time and discovered that Kenton was to be burnt at the stake.  He requested that Kenton’s life be spared and convinced the natives to turn him over to the British at Detroit.  Kenton continued to aid the American military in protecting the white settlers from the natives until a peaceful co-existence had more or less been established in the latter 1700’s.

                Kenton, in 1799 piloted a colony of eight families from Mason County, Kentucky to the Mad River Valley.  He settled his family near present day Springfield where a stockade was built before they eventually moved to Champaign County near present day Urbana 1810, and eventually settled near Zanesfield in Logan County where he died in 1836.

                Kenton suffered financial reverses and spent time in jail for debt, but in gratitude for his heroism in years past, the Kentucky legislature returned land that Kenton had lost for nonpayment of taxes.  The Ohio legislature voted him a pension that allowed him to spend his last years comfortably.

~Written by Bridget Early