Harrison County, Kentucky Military Service
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Location: Harrison County, Kentucky, United States
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Military Service in Harrison County, Kentucky
This research page is still in the early stages of development, with the intent to document all military service related to Harrison Countians. Currently, the focus is on the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, for which some initial lists have already been compiled and profiles are being added as time permits. For other conflicts and areas of service, profiles are being added here as they are found. At this stage, several of the sections below include links that may be helpful for future research. If you know of a Harrison Countian who served, please feel free to add them here or contact the page manager for assistance.
Revolutionary War
The well-known Kentucky historian, Lewis Collins, stated that "Kentucky owed most of her remarkable intellectual development, at an early day in her history, to the fact that at the close of the Revolutionary war in 1781 many of the most intellectual and cultivated of the officers and soldiers in that war from the states of Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland - being unsettled in their homes and business by its great duration, privations, and calamities - sought new homes in the then richest land in the known world," (p. 5). Many post-revolutionary settlers in the Harrison County area were veterans of the conflict. Current research and a list of known veterans/widows can be found here:
Pages for Hinkson's, Ruddle's and Martin's Stations, as well as research into veterans of the Indian Wars are also in the planning stages.
- Barbara (Unknown) McFall (abt.1735-abt.1815) Captured at Ruddle's Station
- John McFall (abt.1728-1800) Captured at Ruddle's Station
Research Links
- USgenweb
- USGW archives
- DAR search
- SAR search
- Abstracts of pension papers of soldiers of the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and Indian wars, who settled in Harrison County, Kentucky by Annie Walker Burns at the Cincinnati and Hamilton Public Library digital collection.
Kentucky Militia
Kentucky adopted the militia system of colonial Virginia. Under this system, the governor was commander-in-chief over colonels in each county. A militia colonel was responsible for enlisting and drilling able-bodied men aged 18-45 in their county. Kentucky's militia had the primary purpose of defense and retaliation against Indian attacks. Militiamen from Kentucky also participated in the northwestern campaigns under Generals Josiah Harmar, Arthur Saint Clair and Anthony Wayne in the early 1790's, particularly in the Battle of Fallen Timbers. They also served in the war of 1812 on the northwestern frontier and played an important role in the Battle of the Thames in 1813. After the Indian wars, the militia's importance waned and it was essentially disbanded in 1854. [Kleber, p. 506]
There is some overlap in this section with the Revolutionary War, the Indian Wars and the War of 1812. Harrison Countians' involvement in the militia in under research, with an initial focus on Ruddell's Station.
- Ruddle's Station, Kentucky, Virginia One Place Study (located in modern day Harrison County)
- Militia assignments from the 1813 Harrison County tax list:
War of 1812
- William Crosthwait (abt.1781-bef.1850) - 2nd Rgt of Riflemen
- Joseph L. Endicott (1784-1867) - Battle of the Thames
- Valentine Minter (abt.1785-1821)
- James Thomas Oder (1791-1866) ?
- John Adam Renaker Jr. (1796-1858)?
- Abel Todd (1795-1858) ?
- Henry Varner (aft.1755-abt.1853)
- William Y Young (1789-1870)
Roll of Honor
- William (Lynn) Linn (abt.1776-1815) - Missouri Rangers
- Robert Scott KIA at The Battle of the Thames. Will: "Kentucky Probate Records, 1727-1990," database with images, FamilySearch Image: 33S7-9P39-G79 : 6 Jul 2022; Harrison > Will records, 1795-1818, Vol. A > image 357 of 473; county courthouse, Harrison County, Kentucky; Will Book A, p. 224.
Research Links
- https://kynghistory.ky.gov/Our-History/History-of-the-Guard/Pages/The-War-of-1812.aspx#:~:text=When%20the%20War%20of%201812,Battle%20of%20the%20River%20Raisin.
- https://digital.cincinnatilibrary.org/digital/collection/p16998coll15/id/98927
- https://www.fold3.com/search?docQuery=(fieldedKeywords:!((texts:!(kentucky),type:place)),filters:!((type:military.conflict,values:!((label:`War+of+1812`,value:`War+of+1812`)))))
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_in_the_War_of_1812
- https://ky.ng.mil/News/Article/2802458/charge-of-the-forlorn-hope/
- http://genealogytrails.com/ken/harrison/1818pensioners.html
- https://www.archives.gov/research/military
- https://www.jstor.org/stable/23380342?read-now=1&seq=1
Indian Wars
- John M. Mitchell (1809-1896) (Black Hawk War)
Mexican War
Research Links
Civil War
- Harrison County, Kentucky and the United States Civil War
- USCT Soldiers of Harrison County, Kentucky
Twentieth Century Veterans
Currently, this section is not categorized by conflict.
- Lewis Conner Ammerman (1895-1974)
- James Owen Beckett (1911-1988)
- Morgan Banks Brodie (1895-1989)
- Marcellus Plezz Custard Sr (1935-1994)
- Neville Lin Haley (1925-2009)
- Walter Henry Lawson (1921-2001)
- Marvin Ransdall Lawson (1924-2013)
- Lester Thomas Lawson (1927-2005)
- Raymond Lang Lawson (1935-2008)
- Sterling Wesley Lawson (1945-1971)
- Harry Lucien Pearson Jr (1923-1991)
- William Kirby Renaker (1898-1978)
- Sandie Thompson Rudder (1880-1954)
- Llewellyn Smith (1889-1978)
- Ray Whitt (1919-1974)
Research Notes and Page Updates
Sources
- Collins, Lewis and Richard H. Collins, Collins Historical Sketches of Kentucky: History of Kentucky, Vol. 1, Collins and Co. (Covington, KY) 1874: accessed via The Internet Archive 14 May 2022; https://archive.org/details/collinshistorica01coll/page/n11/mode/2up p. 5 (image 12 of 746).
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