Portal:Kentucky/Selected article/7
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Battle of Blue Licks, fought in Kentucky on August 19, 1782, was one of the last battles of the American Revolutionary War. The battle occurred ten months after Lord Cornwallis's famous surrender at Yorktown, which had effectively ended the war in the east. On a hill next to the Licking River in what is now Robertson County, a force of about 50 British rangers and 300 American Indians ambushed and routed 182 Kentucky militiamen. It was the worst defeat for the Kentuckians during the war.
Although he had not taken part in the battle, George Rogers Clark, as senior militia officer, was widely condemned in Kentucky for the Blue Licks disaster. In response to the criticism, Clark launched a retaliatory raid into the Ohio Country. In November 1782, he led more than 1,000 men, including Benjamin Logan and Daniel Boone, on an expedition that destroyed five Shawnee villages on the Great Miami River, the last major offensive of the war. No battles were fought in that engagement because the Shawnees declined to engage the Kentuckians, instead pulling back to their villages on the Mad River.
The Blue Licks battle site is commemorated at Blue Licks Battlefield State Park, on U.S. Route 68 between Paris and Maysville, just outside the town of Blue Licks Springs. The site includes a granite obelisk, burial grounds, and a museum.
