Simon Kenton: Kentucky Scout

Adventure story, biography, western history -- Simon Kenton, Kentucky Scout fits all these descriptions. While still in his teens, Kenton explored Kentucky and became an expert woodsman. His daring rescue of Daniel Boone during an Indian attack on Boonsborough and his assistance to George Rogers Clark are prime examples of his skill and heroism. No frontiersman showed more bravery than Kenton. When he was captured following a raid on the Indians' horses at Chillicothe, he exhibited almost superhuman endurance as he ran the dreaded gauntlet, and withstood numerous other tortures. He eventually escaped and returned to Kentucky. In the mid1780's, Kenton brought his family from Virginia and settled them in presentday Mason County. By then, the primary Indian threat was over. However Kenton's role as Indian scout during the previous decade had been so important that his memory remains forever a part of Kentucky's history.