Revolutionary War Soldiers of Muhlenberg County
Greenville, Muhlenberg County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
Revolutionary War Soldiers. Those who settled in Muhlenberg County: Josiah Arnold Elisha Atkinson John Bone James Craig Albritain Drake David Edward Joshua Elkin David Engler Mathew Ganey Sikes Garris Andrew Glenn Isaiah Hancock John Harper Nathan Harper Michael Hill Richard Hill Hardy Hines William Hopkins John Hunt Edward Jarvis (Reverse) Revolutionary War Soldiers Peter Kincheloe John Littlepage Ephraim McLean John McMahon Hugh Martin Benjamin Neal Abraham Newton Jesse Oates Joseph Pitt William B. Rice Richard D. Reynolds Henry Rhoads Michael Roll Thomas Tetterton Abraham Unsell, Jr. Frederick Unsell Henry Unsell Lewis Webb Arrington Wickliffe Britton Willis William Worthington William Young Matthew Zimmerman
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
This marker records the names of Revolutionary War veterans who settled in Muhlenberg County after independence. Drawn from many states, these men traded wartime service for land and new lives on the Kentucky frontier, becoming founders of their communities. Their listed names preserve a roster of the county's earliest citizen-soldiers.
Why it matters
It documents how veterans of the Revolution carried the young nation westward, planting settlements across Kentucky's interior.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Muhlenberg County / Gen. Peter Muhlenberg
Greenville, KY
Muhlenberg County, formed in 1798, takes its name from Peter Muhlenberg, the Pennsylvania clergyman who famously declared there was "a time to preach and a time to fight"—and shed his pastor's robes to raise the 8th Virginia Regiment. He served from 1776 through the victory at Yorktown, then entered Congress and the Senate. Many veterans of his regiment became pioneers in this corner of Kentucky.
Hopkins County / Samuel Hopkins
Madisonville, KY
Hopkins County, created in 1806, honors Samuel Hopkins, a Virginia officer who served on Washington's staff through the Revolution before coming west in 1797 as an agent of the Transylvania Company. He organized and led the first court in the sprawling original Henderson County, sat in both houses of Kentucky's legislature, and commanded American forces on the Western frontier during the War of 1812. He capped his career with two terms in Congress.
Charles Hansford, Revolutionary Privateer
Calhoun, KY
Charles Hansford (1759–1850) enlisted in Virginia in 1775 and again in 1777 before going to sea as a privateer in Virginia's navy during the Revolution, sailing off the American coast, the West Indies, and Spain. Captured three times by the British, he endured a brutal three-month confinement aboard the prison ship Jersey—nicknamed "Hell Afloat"—which he survived along with only one of thirty-six fellow prisoners. He later settled in Kentucky and is buried on Mayo Hill near Calhoun.
Todd County / Col. John Todd
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Todd County, formed in 1819, remembers a Virginia-born frontier soldier who helped wrest the Illinois country from British control. John Todd fought at Point Pleasant in 1774, came to Kentucky in 1775, and rode with George Rogers Clark's daring 1778 campaign, afterward serving as civil commandant of the new Illinois County. A champion of setting aside land for public schools, he was killed at the disastrous Battle of Blue Licks in 1782.