Henry Scaggs

Who was Henry Scaggs?

Henry Scaggs was an American hunter, explorer and pioneer, active primarily on the frontiers of Tennessee and Kentucky during the latter half of the 18th century. His career as an explorer began as early as 1761 as one of the so-called long hunters— men who undertook lengthy hunting expeditions into the Trans-Allegheny wilderness. In subsequent years, working as a land agent with Richard Henderson and Daniel Boone, he explored large parts of Middle Tennessee and Central Kentucky. Scaggs is credited with the rescue of noted kidnap victim Jenny Wiley in 1790, and led a failed attempt to apprehend the Harpe Brothers in 1799.