Not Just a Hunting Ground: Native Americans in Kentucky- The Fight for Kentucky

Battle for Kentucky

From the time the first Long Hunters came into Kentucky until the signing of the Treaty of Greenville in 1795. The Native Americans against the settlers for possession of Kentucky. In the 
war for Kentucky the Shawnee were the prominent players. Unlike most of the other tribes that would take part in the war, the Shawnee did not just hunt Kentucky, they lived here. It is true 
that all of their major villages were located in Ohio by the late 1700s. That being said, many of the Shawnee had been born, lived, and their  ancestors were buried in Kentucky.   

The Shawnee were not the only tribe to fight to keep Kentucky.  The Chickasaw would fight George Rodgers Clark in Western Kentucky to hold on the area today known as  the Jackson Purchase. The Chickamauga Cherokee, would hold true to Dragging Canoe’s warning at the treaty of Sycamore Shoals, to make Kentucky a dark and bloody ground for the settlers that moved here. The Miami, Mingo, and Wyandot would all take part in the war for Kentucky.  

The tribes fought in Kentucky, during the Revolutionary War, with the aid, support and urging of the British Crown. They would fight during the War of 1812, again with the help of the British.  In between those two wars, they made life unsafe for the settlers in Kentucky.  

They fought to keep their land, homes, and hunting grounds, from the settlers that took it with out permission. 

  

Check out the PDFs to see what how the fight for Kentucky progressed through the years!