KENTON
KENTON
(abridgement of Beardslee's Report, 1879) : The
Mechanical Engineer s Pocliet Book (1895) ; Steam
Boiler Economy (1901).
KENTON, Simon, pioneer, was born in Farquier, Va., in Marcli, 1755, of Scotch and Irish extraction. His parents were poor and he labored in the fields until he was sixteen years of age, when, in a quarrel arising from a love-affair, he severely wounded his rival, William Veach, April 6, 1771, and fled to the Al- leghany mountains. He travelled to Ise's ford, on the Cheat river, where he changed his name temporarily to Simon Butler, and joined George Yeager and John Strader in a hunting expedition. At Fort Pitt the party was separated and the expedition abandoned, Kenton remaining at Fort Pitt as a hunter for the garrison. In the fall of 1771 they embarked on another expedition down the Ohio to explore the cane lands called by the Indians Kaintuckee. The party retui'ned to their camp on the Big Cateawah, where they engaged in hunting and trapping until the spring of 1773, when the camp was attacked by a band of Indians who killed Yeager, and Strader and Kenton reached a point on the Ohio about six miles from the mouth of the Kanawha, where they met a part}' of trappers. The whole party ascended the mouth of the Lit- tle Kanawha, where Kenton found employment as a hunter to Dr. Briscoe, who was attempting to found a settlement there. While hunting, his party was attacked by Indians and retreated to the settlements on the Great Briar, thus per- forming the first overland journey from Ken- tucky to Virginia. In the spring of 1774 the In- dians became more troublesome and the hunters and trappers retreated to Fort Pitt, where Ken- ton was employed as a spy by Lord Dunmore. In the spring of 1775, in company with Thomas Williams, he planted some corn at Camp Lime- stone, which was the first planted in Kentucky. In the autumn of 1775 he explored the interior of the country, and met Michael Stoner and Daniel Boone, who with a number of followers had set- tled in the cane lands the year before, and Ken- ton and Williams joined the party. The settle- ment was repeatedly harassed by Indians, and in one of these attacks Kenton saved the life of Daniel Boone. He prepared for another Indian expedition in September, 1778, and crossing the
Ohio they proceeded to Chillicothe, where they
were pursued by the Indians, who captured Ken-
ton. After enduring many tortures he was sen-
tenced to death. His old friend Samuel Girty
saved his life, but he was subsequently con-
demned to the stake, notwithstanding Girty's in-
fluence, and was conveyed to Sandusky, where he
met Chief Logan, who sent Peter Dreyer, a
French-Canadian, to intercede in his behalf.
Upon the payment of one hundred dollars in rum
and tobacco, Kenton was taken to the fort at
Lower Sandusky, where he was held as a prisoner
of war by the British general. He was permitted
the fi'eedom of the town, where he remained,
1778-79. With the assistance of Mrs. Harvey,
the wife of an Indian trader, he made his escape
and reached the Falls of the Ohio in July, 1779.
He travelled to Vincennes and joined Gen. George
Rogers Clark, but subsequently returned to the
Falls, and later to Harrod's Station. In 1780 the
Indians again became troublesome and General
Clark moved his force of eleven hundred men
and one brass twelve-pounder to the Falls of the
Ohio, and appointed Kenton captain of a com-
pany of volunteers from Harrod's Station. They
pushed on to Pickaway town, where a battle was
fought, the Indians defeated and several of their
towns destroyed. The army returned to the Falls
of the Ohio and there disbanded. In the fall of
1782, upon hearing from his parents that he had
not killed Veach, Kenton resumed his jiroper
name. The Kentuckians the next spring formed
an army of about 1500 men and fell on the Indian
town at Great Miami, burned it and put the in-
habitants to flight. After the army disbanded
Kenton visited his home in Virginia and induced
his parents to accompany him to Kenyon's Station.
In 1784 he founded a settlement near his old
camp at Limestone, and in 1786 he gave Arthur
Fox and William Wood one thousand acres of
land, on which they laid out the city of AVash-
ington. An invasion into the Indian country
was made by the Kentuckians in 1787, resulting
in a total defeat of the Indians. In 179.3 General
Wayne came down the Ohio with the regular
army, and camped at Hobson's Choice. A regi-
ment was raised in Kentucky v.ith Winfield
Scott as colonel and Kenton as major. He
served until the winter of 1793, when he was dis-
charged. The Indian war terminated in 1794,
and emigration to Kentucky pushed forward
rapidly. Kenton, although then one of the
wealthiest men in Kentucky, was soon through
his ignorance of legal proceedings reduced to
poverty. In 1802 he settled in Urbana, Ohio;
was elected a brigadier-general of militia, and in
1813 joined the Kentucky troop under Governor
Shelby. He crossed the lakes and accompanied
General Harrison to Maiden in Upper Canada
