Stephen Trigg

Who was Stephen Trigg?

Stephen Trigg was an American pioneer and soldier from Virginia. He was killed ten months after the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown in one of the last battles of the American Revolution while leading the Lincoln County militia at the Battle of Blue Licks, Kentucky.

A son of William and Mary Trigg, he mainly worked as a public servant and militia officer during the early years of the frontier counties of southwest Virginia, which then Kentucky. He was one reportedly of the wealthiest men on the frontier. Trigg was a delegate to the first Virginia Revolutionary conventions, and was a member of the Fincastle Committee of Safety that drafted the Fincastle Resolutions, a precursor to the Declaration of Independence passed by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. He was also elected to the Virginia House of Delegates.

Trigg was appointed to the Virginia Land Court Commission in 1779, charged with settling land titles in Kentucky. He then settled in Kentucky himself. In 1782, a raiding party of Shawnee Indians led by British and Loyalist officers attacked Bryan Station, but were driven off. Kentucky militia companies pursued the invaders. Trigg commanded one half o the men, Daniel Boone the other. Ignoring Boone's warnings of a trap, the militiamen charged into an Indian ambush at Blue Licks. Trigg and many others, including Boone's youngest son, were killed. Trigg's body was later found cut into pieces.