It wasn’t as decisive as Yorktown or as iconic as Trenton, but the Siege of Fort Boonesborough was a pivotal battle of the Revolutionary War.
President Theodore Roosevelt, a historian of the Old West, posited that if the little garrison on the Kentucky River had fallen in 1778, America’s first frontier would have been swept clear of settlers by their enemies and the border would have retreated east to the mountains.
Visitors to Fort Boonesborough State Park this weekend will have an opportunity to witness a re-enactment of the 11-day battle between 40 militiamen and a Loyalist force that consisted of more than 400 Shawnees and other Native Peoples, as well as their British officers and French Canadians.
The re-enactment will be at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 19–20. Admission is $8 for adults, $5 for children ages 6–12 and free for kids under 6.
Period camping will be available around the fort on Friday, and re-enactors may pre-register. There will be a meal provided for reenactors Saturday evening.
Fort Boonesborough was built in 1775 to be the capital of the British colony of Transylvania on land Col. Richard Henderson purchased from the Cherokee Nation. But when Virginia declared its independence and became a state, it revoked the charter, claiming Kentucky was still part of Virginia.
The British wanted to drive out pioneers and paid Shawnee war parties and others to raid the settlements and kill or capture the inhabitants.
Daniel Boone, who was captured along with other settlers in the winter of 1778 and adopted as a son of Chief Blackfish, fled to Boonesborough to warn the settlers when he learned of the planned attack, covering 160 miles in four or five days.
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The attackers intended to capture the fort by burning its cabins and tunneling under its wooden palisades, but heavy rain on the 11th day of the siege made the flaming arrows and torches useless and caused the muddy tunnel to collapse.
The settlement survived the siege with only a few casualties.
The replica of the old fort, built in the 1970s, is located at 4375 Boonesboro Road (Ky. 627) and is open during the summer and for special events at other times of the year.
For more information, visit www.fortboonesboroughlivinghistory.org.
