37°37′N83°27′W / 37.617°N 83.450°W /37.617; -83.450
Kentucky County (akaKentucke County), later theDistrict of Kentucky, was formed by theCommonwealth ofVirginia from the western portion (beyond theBig Sandy River andCumberland Mountains) ofFincastle County effective 1777.[2] The name of the county was taken from a Native American place name that came to be associated with a river in east central Kentucky, and gave theKentucky River its name and eventually theU.S. state ofKentucky. During the almost four years of Kentucky County's existence, itsseat of government was Harrodstown (then also known as Oldtown, later renamedHarrodsburg).[3]
The entire existence of Kentucky County was in the context of theWestern theater of the American Revolutionary War. Except for the old French settlements in Illinois country, Kentucky was the western theater, and several major battles of the War occurred during its existence including thesiege of Boonesborough,siege of Logan's Fort, andBird's invasion of Kentucky. Other events include the invalidation ofTransylvania Colony and thesurvey of Walker's Line, Kentucky's southern boundary. TheCherokee-American wars were initiated in Kentucky in 1776 by disgruntled Cherokee. GeneralGeorge Rogers Clark conducted his famousIllinois Campaign from his base at the Falls of the Ohio in 1778–79. During its 4 years, the population of Kentucky County rose from about 300 to a little less than 1000 in 1780.
In the Land Act of May 3, 1779, theVirginia General Assembly allocated the Military District in Kentucky County. What had been necessity became policy: Virginian Revolutionary War veterans as well as veterans from theFrench and Indian War andLord Dunmore's War, would receive land grants in lieu of pay for their service in either the Virginia militia or theContinental Army. The District was defined to lie between theGreen River and the Carolina line stretching from the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers in the west and tapering to a point near theCumberland Gap in the southeast. Most of it except a wedge adjacent to theCumberland Mountains, lies in the geographic region of the Pennyroyal, and occupied over 35% of the land area of Kentucky County. Legitimate claims held under the Transylvania colony were excluded from allocation, as well as the grant toRichard Henderson along the Green River. The District remained a separate area when Kentucky County was divided into subsidiary counties in 1780. Later, in 1784, Virginia allocated another district north of the Ohio River, because it was afraid that the Kentucky district was inadequate. Claims resulted in a warrant for a specified number of acres depending on the soldier's rank and length of service. A claim was validated by building a cabin and planting corn. A survey establishing the bounds would be made, and a patent thereafter issued. In December 1795, an act of the Kentucky Legislature required military claims to be presented before January 1796 or become void (although the Act was amended several times to grant extensions). Thereafter, unclaimed areas of the Military District were open to general settlement.
Kentucky County was abolished effective November 1, 1780, when it was divided intoFayette,Jefferson, andLincoln counties.[2] Afterward, these counties and those set off from them later in that decade were designated collectively as theDistrict of Kentucky by theVirginia House of Delegates. On March 7, 1789, the Virginia General Assembly officially changed the spelling of Kentucke to Kentucky. The counties of the district frequently petitioned both the Virginia legislature and theContinental Congress seekingstatehood. Finally successful, theCommonwealth of Kentucky was admitted to theUnited States as the 15th state in 1792.[4]Harrodsburg, which had become the seat of government for Lincoln County and then Mercer County, was the seat of the federal court for the district until the legislature of the new state designatedFrankfort as its capital in 1792.
Militia officers
The county militia was organized as follows:[5]
