List of battles fought in Kentucky

This is an incomplete list of military confrontations that have occurred within the boundaries of the modern US State of Kentucky since European contact. The region was part of New France from 1679 to 1763, ruled by Great Britain from 1763 to 1783, and part of the United States from 1783 to present.

Several wars that have directly affected the region including the French and Indian War (1754–1763), American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), Northwest Indian War (1785–1795), Tecumseh's War (1811–1812), War of 1812 (1812–1814), and the American Civil War (1861–1865).

Battles

Name Date Location War Campaign Dead Belligerents
unnamed battle[1] 1745 (three days) modern Ft. Thomas, Kentucky Shawnee vs Miami & Cherokee
Siege of Logan's Fort[2][3] May 23-June 1, 1777 modern Stanford, Kentucky American Revolutionary War Western theater 1 Kentucky settlers vs Shawnees & allies
Siege of Boonesborough September 7–18, 1778 modern Boonesborough, Kentucky American Revolutionary War Western theater 39 Kentucky settlers vs Shawnees & allies
Girty's ambush[4] October 1, 1779 modern Dayton, Kentucky American Revolutionary War Western theater 70+ Native Americans[5] vs Continental Army & citizen laborers
Ruddle's Station[6] June 22, 1780[7] near modern Cynthiana, Kentucky American Revolutionary War Bird's invasion of Kentucky 20+ Kingdom of Great Britain & Shawnee vs Kentucky settlers
Long Run Massacre September 13–14, 1781 near modern Eastwood, Kentucky American Revolutionary War Western theater 60+ [conjectural] Kentucky settlers vs American Indians & Kingdom of Great Britain
Battle of Little Mountain March 22, 1782 near modern Mount Sterling, Kentucky American Revolutionary War Western theater 24 Wyandot vs Kentucky militia
Siege of Bryan Station August 15–17, 1782 modern Lexington, Kentucky American Revolutionary War Western theater 5+ Kentucky settlers vs American Indians & allies
Battle of Blue Licks August 19, 1782 near modern Mount Olivet, Kentucky American Revolutionary War Western theater 79 Kentucky militia vs Kingdom of Great Britain & American Indians
Battle of Barbourville[8] September 19, 1861 Barbourville, Kentucky American Civil War Kentucky Confederate Offensive (1861) 8 Kentucky home guard vs Confederate States of America
Battle of Camp Wildcat[9] October 21, 1861 near London, Kentucky American Civil War Kentucky Confederate Offensive (1861) 15 United States of America vs Confederate States of America
Battle of Ivy Mountain November 8, 1861 near Pikeville, Kentucky American Civil War Kentucky Confederate Offensive (1861) 16[10] United States of America vs Confederate States of America
Battle of Rowlett's Station[11] December 17, 1861 near Hart County, Kentucky American Civil War Kentucky Confederate Offensive (1861) 10+ United States of America vs Confederate States of America
Battle of Sacramento December 28, 1861 Sacramento, Kentucky American Civil War Kentucky Confederate Offensive (1861) 12 United States of America vs Confederate States of America
Battle of Middle Creek[12] January 10, 1862 Floyd County, Kentucky American Civil War Offensive in Eastern Kentucky (1862) United States of America vs Confederate States of America
Battle of Mill Springs[13] January 19, 1862 Pulaski County, Kentucky American Civil War Offensive in Eastern Kentucky (1862) 164 United States of America vs Confederate States of America
Battle of Richmond[14] August 29–30, 1862 Richmond, Kentucky American Civil War Confederate Heartland Offensive (1862) 284 United States of America vs Confederate States of America
Battle of Munfordville[15] September 14–17, 1862 Munfordville, Kentucky American Civil War Confederate Heartland Offensive (1862) United States of America vs Confederate States of America
Battle of Augusta September 27, 1862 Augusta, Kentucky American Civil War Confederate Heartland Offensive (1862) 36 Confederate States of America vs Kentucky pro-Union home guard
Battle of Perryville[16] October 8, 1862 Perryville, Kentucky American Civil War Confederate Heartland Offensive (1862) 1,426 United States of America vs Confederate States of America
Battle of New Haven December 30, 1862 New Haven, Kentucky American Civil War Morgan's Christmas Raid 0 United States of America vs Confederate States of America
Battle of Somerset March 31, 1863 Somerset, Kentucky American Civil War ~300 United States of America vs Confederate States of America
Battle of Tebbs Bend July 4, 1863 Taylor County, Kentucky American Civil War Morgan's Raid in Kentucky, Indiana, & Ohio (1863) United States of America vs Confederate States of America
Battle of Lebanon July 5, 1863 Lebanon, Kentucky American Civil War Morgan's Raid in Kentucky, Indiana, & Ohio (1863) 41 United States of America vs Confederate States of America
Battle of the Cumberland Gap September 7–9, 1863 Cumberland Gap American Civil War Knoxville Campaign United States of America vs Confederate States of America
Battle of Paducah[17] March 25, 1864 Paducah, Kentucky American Civil War Forrest's Expedition into West Tennessee & Kentucky (1864) United States of America vs Confederate States of America
Battle of Salyersville April 13–14, 1864 Paintsville & Salyersville, Kentucky American Civil War 24+ United States of America vs Confederate States of America
Battle of Mt. Sterling June 8–9, 1864 Mt. Sterling, Kentucky American Civil War Morgan's Raid into Kentucky 87
[disputed][18] 		United States of America vs Confederate States of America
Battle of Cynthiana[19] June 11–12, 1864 Cynthiana, Kentucky American Civil War Morgan's Raid into Kentucky United States of America vs Confederate States of America
Simpsonville massacre[20] January 25, 1865 near Simpsonville, Kentucky American Civil War 22 Confederate guerrillas[21] vs Company E, 5th United States Colored Cavalry

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Bellevue. Arcadia Publishing (2005). 2005. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-7385-4168-6. Retrieved 2009-06-09.
  2. ^ Lincoln County Historical Society (May 2001). Lincoln County, Kentucky. Turner Publishing. p. 11. ISBN 9781563117893. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  3. ^ Kennedy, Frances H. (June 10, 2014). The American Revolution: An Historical Guidebook (1st ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 217–218. ISBN 978-0199324224. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  4. ^ This action has no official name.
  5. ^ Led by Simon Girty and Col Alexander McKee
  6. ^ Mahan, Russell, The Kentucky Kidnappings and Death March: The Revolutionary War at Ruddell's Fort and Martin's Station (West Haven, UT: Historical Enterprises), 2020.
  7. ^ Various sources cite different dates. The Kentucky Encyclopedia (1992) simply states "1780". The source for this date is William Henry Perrin, History of Bourbon, Scott, Harrison and Nicholas Counties, Kentucky (Chicago: O. L. Baskin & Co.), 1882.
  8. ^ "CWSAC Battle Summary: Barbourville". National Park Service. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
  9. ^ "CWSAC Battle Summary: Camp Wildcat". National Park Service. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
  10. ^ "CWSAC Battle Summary: Ivy Mountain". National Park Service. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
  11. ^ "CWSAC Battle Summary: Rowlett's Station". National Park Service. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
  12. ^ "CWSAC Battle Summary: Middle Creek". National Park Service. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
  13. ^ "CWSAC Battle Summary: Middle Creek". National Park Service. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
  14. ^ "CWSAC Battle Summary: Richmond". National Park Service. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
  15. ^ "CWSAC Battle Summary: Munfordville". National Park Service. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
  16. ^ "CWSAC Battle Summary: Perryville". National Park Service. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
  17. ^ "CWSAC Battle Summary: Paducah". National Park Service. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
  18. ^ Sources for the number of Union soldiers killed in action vary from 8 to 32. Sources for the number of Confederate soldiers killed are consistent at 52.
  19. ^ "CWSAC Battle Summary: Mill Springs". National Park Service. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
  20. ^ Link to the state marker and the mass grave.
  21. ^ Henry C. Magruder, a Kentucky bushwhacker, took credit for the action. He claimed that he had fifteen men with him, including William Quantrill and Marcellus Jerome Clarke. See, Craig, Berry. Hidden History of Kentucky in the Civil War (Charleston, SC: The History Press), 2010, pp. 109-110.