Battle along Licking River happened 10 months after Revolutionary War ended

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Battle of Blue Licks, 1782

Battle along Licking River happened ten months after Revolutionary War ended

Posted 12:35 pm / September 7, 2018

The Battle of Blue Licks, fought on August 19, 1782, was one of the last battles of the American Revolutionary War.

The battle occurred ten months after Lord Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown, which had effectively ended the war.

On a hill next to the Licking River in what is now Robertson County, Kentucky, a force of about 50 British and Canadian Loyalists along with 300 American Indians ambushed and routed 182 Kentucky militiamen. It was the last victory for the Loyalists and Indians during the frontier war.

Although the main British army under Lord Cornwallis had surrendered at Yorktown in October 1781, virtually ending the war, fighting on the western frontier continued.

Aided by the British garrison at Fort Detroit, Indians north of the Ohio River redoubled their efforts to drive the American settlers out of western Virginia (now Kentucky and West Virginia).

On the morning of August 19, 1782, the Kentuckians reached the Licking River, near a spring and salt lick known as the Lower Blue Licks.

A few Indian scouts were seen watching them from across the river. Behind the scouts was a hill around which the river looped.

John Todd called a council and asked Daniel Boone, the most experienced woodsman, what he thought. Boone said he had been growing increasingly suspicious because of the obvious trail the Indians left. He felt the Indians were trying to lead them into an ambush

Boone was correct.

Only Boone's men on the left managed to push forward. Todd and Trigg, easy targets on horseback, were shot dead.

The Kentuckians began to flee down the hill, fighting hand-to-hand with Indians who had flanked them. McGary rode up to Boone's company and told him everyone was retreating and that Boone was now surrounded.

Boone ordered his men to retreat. He grabbed a riderless horse and ordered his 23-year-old son, Israel Boone, to mount it. Israel suddenly fell to the ground, shot through the neck. Boone realized his son was dead, mounted the horse and joined in the retreat.

Although he had not taken part in the battle, George Rogers Clark, as senior commander, was widely condemned in Kentucky for allowing the Loyalist-Indian force to cross the river and inflict the Blue Licks disaster.

In response, Clark launched a retaliatory raid across the Ohio River in November 1782. His force consisted of more than 1,000 men, including Benjamin Logan and Daniel Boone.

The Kentuckians destroyed five unoccupied Shawnee villages on the Great Miami River in the last major offensive of the American Revolution.

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