Stephen Trigg

Stephen Trigg (c. 1744 – August 19, 1782) 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 (Johns) Trigg, he mainly worked as a public servant and militia officer during the early years of the frontier counties of southwest Virginia, which then included Kentucky. He was reportedly one of the wealthiest men on the frontier.^[1] 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 moved to 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 then pursued the fleeing invaders. Trigg commanded half of the men, while Daniel Boone led the other. The mounted militiamen soon overtook the raiders, but the experienced woodsman Boone warned that it looked like a trap. Ignoring Boone's warning, the militiamen charged across the river at Blue Licks, only to find themselves in an Indian ambush. Trigg and many others, including Boone's youngest son, were killed in the disastrous battle. Trigg's body was later found hacked into pieces.

Trigg County, Kentucky, was named in memory of Stephen Trigg.