page_title: History of Kentucky
section_title: Kentucky in the American Revolution (1775–1783)
hierarchical_section_title: History of Kentucky / Early period of European settlement / Kentucky in the American Revolution (1775–1783)
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of Kentucke published in 1784 along with The Discovery, Settlement and Present State of Kentucke by John Filson.Русский: Карта Кентукки, опубликованная в 1784 году вместе с книгой Джона Филсона "Открытие, заселение и нынешнее состояние штата Кентукки".
context_page_description: The prehistory and history of Kentucky spans thousands of years, and has been influenced by the state's diverse geography and central location. It is not known exactly when the first humans arrived in what is now Kentucky. Around 1800 BCE, a gradual transition began from a hunter-gatherer economy to agriculturalism. Around 900 CE, a Mississippian culture took root in western and central Kentucky; by contrast, a Fort Ancient culture appeared in eastern Kentucky. While the two had many similarities, the distinctive ceremonial earthwork mounds constructed in the former's centers were not part of the culture of the latter.
  The first permanent European-American settlement, Harrod's Town, was established in 1774. Kentucky was the 15th U.S. state, admitted to the Union on June 1, 1792, after the American Revolutionary War. Kentucky was initially neutral in the American Civil War, but joined the Union side after a Confederate invasion in 1861. The state remained under Union control for most of the war.
context_section_description: After 1775, Kentucky grew rapidly as the first settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains were founded, with settlers migrating primarily from Virginia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania; they entered the region via the Cumberland Gap and the Ohio River. It was claimed by Virginia as part of its territory. The most famous of these early explorers and settlers was Daniel Boone, one of the founders of the state. During this period, the settlers introduced commodity agriculture to the area. Tobacco, corn, and hemp were developed as the major commodity crops of Kentucky, and the hunting stage of frontier life faded away. Due to the ongoing violence, however, as Native Americans resisted white settlement, by 1776 there were fewer than 200 settlers in Kentucky.
  During the American Revolution, 1775–1783, settlers soon began pouring into the region; Dragging Canoe responded by leading his faction into the Cherokee–American wars, 1776–1794, especially along the Holston River, at the height of the American Revolutionary War. The Shawnee north of the Ohio River were also unhappy about the American settlement of Kentucky. Although some bands tried to be neutral, Historian Colin Calloway reports that most Shawnees fought allied with the British against the Americans.
  Kentucky's second largest city, and former capital Lexington, is named for Lexington, Massachusetts, site of one of the first battles of the Revolution. As the first "new" west for the Patriots, Kentucky was situated in the Western theater of the American Revolutionary War. Bryan's Station is the fort built there during the last year of the war for defense against the British and their Native American allies. Kentucky was a battleground during the war. The Battle of Blue Licks, one of the last major battles of the Revolution, was fought there; the Americans were defeated.
caption: Map of Kentucky published in 1784 along with The Discovery, Settlement and Present State of Kentucke by John Filson
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