Simon Kenton
Simon Kenton, a
well-known frontiersman in Kentucky and Ohio, was born in Virginia in 1755 to an immigrant father from Ireland and a mother
of Scotch-Welsh ancestry. At the age of 15 he was involved in a fight, almost killing
another man, that caused him to flee to the wilds of Kain-tuck-ee (Kentucky) where he
developed a life-long friendship with Daniel Boone.
Seeking adventure, he joined the army and eventually attained the rank of general where he
became a close friend of General George Rogers Clark. His valiant deeds defending settlers
in Kentucky, and his spy activities against the British in the Ohio territory, are
legendary.
In 1778, he was captured by the Shawnee, and
with his hands tied to a wild horse, the animal galloped through the forest with Kenton in
tow. He suffered the blows and cruelty of the Indian gauntlet on nine occasions, surviving
an ordeal that had inflicted death on thousands of whites before him. A hole was hammered
into his skull, his arm/collarbone were broken and the Shawnee tried to burn him at the
stake three times.
He loved Kentucky, but, in 1801, Kenton moved with his family to Urbana,
Ohio, where he continued to support the activities of white settlers against the Indians.
He died in 1836, and now lies buried in Oak Dale Cemetery, Urbana, where, during 1998, a
full-size bronze statue will be erected to his memory. The statue at right was created by
an artist from Lebanon, Ohio. in 1988, and can be seen at the George Rogers Clark Park.
"Only a few white men were ever as good as the Indians at the Indian game. Boone and
Kenton were..." Frederick Palmer Clark of the Ohio (1929).
'Indian' segment written in December, 1997 by David Lodge
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Simon
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