Stephen Trigg (about 1744–August 19, 1782) was an American pioneer and soldier in Kentucky. Colonel Trigg was killed in the last battle of the Revolutionary War while leading the Lincoln County militia unit at the Battle of Blue Licks.

He was greatly beloved and very popular; and if he had lived, would have taken rank among the most distinguished men of his time

- Lewis and Richard Collins, "History of Kentucky"

Trigg was the son of William and Mary (Johns) Trigg of Virginia. The family was prominent on the Virginia frontier. His father served as a Judge of the Court of Chancery and the Bedford County Court.Virkus, Frederick Adams, The Compendium of American Genealogy, First Families of America, VII, (Chicago: A.N. Marquis and Company, 1925-1942), 887. He had four brothers (William, John, Abram and Daniel) who were all involved as soldiers in the Revolutionary War. Two of these brothers, John and Abram, would later represent Virginia in the U.S. Congress. Stephen married Mary Christian, daughter of another Virginia pioneer Israel Christian. Trigg lived the early part of his life in southwest Virginia, and ran a tavern in Botetourt County.Virginia Independence Bicentennial Commission, Revolutionary Virginia: Road to Independence, III, 309.

Public service in Virginia

Trigg served as magistrate for Botetourt County, Virginia in 1770, as well as Justice of the Peace, Justice of the County Court in Chancery and a Justice of Oyer and Terminer for Botetourt County in 1770 and 1771.Summers, Lewis Preston, History of Southwest Virginia 1746-1786, Washington County 1777-1870 (Baltimore, Md.: Regional Publishing Company, 1971, 3rd edition), 108-109.Kegley, Frederick Bittle, Kegley's Virginia Frontier (Roanoke, Va.: The Southwest Virginia Historical Society, 1938), 385, 401.

When the town of Fincastle, Virginia was forming in 1770, Trigg was instrumental in its formation, helping to sell lots, build a Court House (with his father-in-law Israel Christian) and the town's prison.Kegley, Frederick Bittle, Kegley's Virginia Frontier, 401-3. When Botetourt was split into two counties in 1772, the southwestern half was called Fincastle County, and Trigg was installed as one of its first Justices of the Peace and Justice of the County Court in Chancery and a Justice of Oyer and Terminer and also appointed Deputy Clerk and surveyor of the road from New River to the Sinking Spring.Cook, Michael L., C.G. and Cummings, Bettie A. Cook, C.G., Fincastle and Kentucky Countys, Virginia. Kentucky Records and History Volume 1 (Evansville, IA: Cook Publications, 1987), 131, 290, 293.Summers, History of Southwest Virginia, 130. Trigg also served as a delegate to the last session of the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1775, representing Fincastle County, but he absented himself to serve as Captain in Dumnore's War.Leonard, Cynthia Miller, comp., The General Assembly of Virginia, July 30, 1619 - January 11, 1978 (Richmond, Va.: Virginia State Library, 1978), 105. Trigg also represented Fincastle at the first Revolutionary Convention in 1774 and was elected a delegate to the second convention in 1775, though he did not attend. He was elected to the third convention (July-August 1775), and did appear. He was also a delegate to the Fourth Convention (December 1775-January 1776), but did not appear.Leonard, General Assembly of Virginia, 110, 112, 114, 117.

When Fincastle County was split into three counties in 1776 (Montgomery, Washington and Kentucky), he continued his public service for Montgomery County, including serving in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1778.Summers, History of Southwest Virginia, 253; Kegley, Early Adventurers, I, 107; Swem, Earl G. and Williams, John W., A Register of the General Assembly of Virginia 1776-1918 and of the Constitutional Conventions (Richmond, Va: 1918), 439.

Early Kentucky pioneer

Trigg was appointed as one of the judges to the Virginia Land Court commission of 1779-80 charged with settling land disputes in Kentucky County, Virginia. The Virginia Land Act of 1779 had set up this court of four judges in order to examine the numerous land claims and to certify valid titles and essentially bring order out of chaos.Stephenson, Martha, "Why the Mother Town?", Kentucky State Historical Society, XXIV, (1926), 273. After these sessions ened, Trigg stayed and established his home at Trigg's Station about four miles north-west of Harrodsburg in Kentucky County, Virginia.Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 7, 253

This was the darkest and most critical period in the history of the early Kentucky settlements. It must be remembered that the settlement of Kentucky was much different from the settlement of most of the other places where the new colony joined the older settlements. Kentucky, instead of adjoining already settled districts, was like an island in the wilderness. There were more than two hundred miles of forest between the settlements of Kentucky and the settlements of the older states.Howard, Virginia Webb, Bryants Station Heroes and Heroines (1932), 31.

When Kentucky County, Virginia was split into three counties in 1780, Trigg was made Lieutenant-Colonel for the new county of Lincoln.Cook, Fincastle and Kentucky Countys, Va, 19. He also continued his public service by serving as one of the first Justices of the Peace, was one of the trustees to lay out Louisville, and served in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Kentucky County in the 1780-1781 session.Leonard, General Assembly of Virginia, 138. It was during this session, that he, along with his fellow delegate John Todd, secured passage of the act that allowed the formation of Louisville."Introduction to the Certificate book of the Virginia Land The Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, XXI, (1923), 5-6

Stephen continued his service in the militia throughout this period. In 1781, he was made Colonel of the Lincoln County, Virginia milita.Cook, Michael L., Lincoln County, Kentucky Records (Evansville, IA: Cook Publications, 1987), II, 8. In 1782, the four delegates to the Virginia Assembly from Kentucky pushed for Trigg's recommendation as one of the Assistant Judges to the newly-created Supreme Court for Kentucky, but his early death prevented him from performing this service.Wilson, Samuel M., "The First Land Court of Kentucky 1779-1780," Address before the Kentucky State Bar Association at Covington, Kentucky, 6 July 1923 (Lexington, Ky: n.pub., 1923), 40.

Revolutionary War

Meanwhile, events had moved from local agitations against the English crown to outright war. Early on, Trigg served in local militias, but he also took part in the Fincastle County Committee of Correspondence. The Virginia Committee of Correspondence was formed on March 12, 1773 and requested each county to do the same. The British refused to address the issues that were of greatest concern to the colonists, and so the freeholders of Fincastle County met at the Lead Mines on January 20, 1775, being one of the first to respond to the Virginia Committee of Correspondence and formed a Committee of Safety, of which Trigg was a member.Summers, Lewis Preston, History of Southwest Virginia 1746-1786, Washington County 1777-1870 (Baltimore, MD: Regional Publishing Company, 1971, 3rd Ed.), 201-203.Kegley, Mary B., and Kegley, F.B., Early Adventurers on the Western Waters (Orange, VA: Green Publishers, Inc., 1980), I, 370. It was also at this meeting that they drew up the Fincastle Resolutions, which was the precursor of the Declaration of Independence made by Congress on July 4, 1776. This declaration, frought with the spirit of Freedom, was the first made in America, antedating the famous Mecklenburg, North Carolina declaration. The resolutions, addressed to the Virginia members of the Continental Congress, contained the boldest assertion of the grievances and rights of the American colonies. In February 1775, he wrote to William Christian suggesting they call another meeting of the freeholders to elect their delegates to the second Virginia Convention. With the discovery that William Christian was leaving with the Fincastle company for Williamsburg, Trigg took over as chairman of the Committee of Safety. On October 7, 1775, they met to express their appreciation of Trigg:

together with the most exemplary zeal and attachment to the liberties of your country, and your indefatigable industry in the service thereof, you merit and deserve our particular thanks.Harwell, Richard, ed., The Committees of Safety of Westmoreland and Fincastle. Proceedings of the County Committees 1774-1776 (Richmond, VA:n.pub., 1956), 67

The British then engaged the Cherokees to fight on the British side, which meant the people living in that part of Virginia were facing British-armed Cherokees. The members of the Committee of Safety met at Fort Chiswell on June 11, 1776, and drafted a letter to Oconostota and Attacullaculla, chiefs of the Cherokee nation, to meet with them and come to terms of peace agreement. The letter mentions the colonists dissatisfaction with England:

It is true than an unhappy Difference hath subsisted between the people beyond the great water, and the Americans for som years, which was intirely [sic Owing to some of the great Kings Servants who wanted to take Our money without Our Consent, and otherwise to treat us, not like Children, but Slaves, which the people of America will not submit to.Virginia Independence Bicentennial Commission, Revolutionary Virginia: Road to Independence, VII, 444-45.

Trigg was one of the signers of this letter.Virginia Independence Bicentennial Commission, Revolutionary Virginia: Road to Independence, VII, 446. The conflict with the Cherokees was called the Christian Campaign (presumably from Col. William Christian's last name) and Trigg was the paymaster in 1776-1777.Summers, Lewis Preston, History of Southwest Virginia 1746-1786, Washington County 1777-1870 (Baltimore, MD: Regional Publishing Company, 1971, 3rd Ed.), 217.

In 1777, he was tasked with making a list of men who swore allegiance to several militia companies.http://www.angelfire.com/co3/Skaggs/War.html, accessed 11 June 2006.

When the British staged an invasion of Kentucky in 1782, they secured the help of several Native American tribes (Shawnee, Wyandot, Huron and several others).Ranck, George W., Kentucky Locals: The Story of Bryan's Station, (Transylvania Printing Co., 1896), 26-28. Trigg received word of their movements while he was commanding the fort at Harrodsburg, and assembled the local militia of 135 men and met up with Colonel Daniel Boone and Major Levi Todd and more militia at Bryant's Station.Talbert, Charles Gano, Benjamin Logan: Kentucky Frontiersman (n.p.: University of Kentucky Press, 1962), 156, 157, 158-159; Bakeless, John, Daniel Boone: Master of the Wilderness (Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1989 Rpt 1939), 297, 298 When they approached Blue Licks, they suspected a trap and convened a war council, but unruly troops lost patience and descended into the valley. The three leaders formed three columns, with Trigg commanding the right. When they met with the opposing force, Trigg's column was ambushed. Trigg was killed and his men fell back after only five minutes of battle. When troops returned to the scene of battle, Trigg's body was found quartered.Calendar of Virginia State Papers, 281

He was buried nearby, somewhere in what is now Nicholas County, Kentucky. Kentucky later named Trigg County to honor him. His descendants continued the western expansion of the country. There is an historical marker in Cadiz, on the Courthouse lawn, US 68. His grandson and namesake Stephen Trigg Logan would serve in the Illinois state legislature, and was the law partner of Abraham Lincoln in Springfield.

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