Silas Harlan (March 17, 1753 – August 19, 1782) was one of the early settlers of

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, having arrived with

James Harrod James Harrod () was a pioneer, soldier, and hunter who helped explore and settle the area west of the Allegheny Mountains. Little is known about Harrod's early life, including the exact date of his birth. He was possibly underage when he served i ...

in 1774 to found

Harrodstown Harrodsburg is a home rule-class city in Mercer County, Kentucky, United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 9,064 at the 2020 census. Although Harrodsburg was formally established by the House of Burgesses after Boonesb ...

- the oldest permanent white settlement in the territory (now Harrodsburg). Silas spent the majority of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

on the frontier fighting against the Indians, however, near the end of his life, he served under

George Rogers Clark George Rogers Clark (November 19, 1752 – February 13, 1818) was an American surveyor, soldier, and militia officer from Virginia who became the highest-ranking American patriot military officer on the northwestern frontier during the Ame ...

through the Illinois Campaigns of 1779 and died at the

Battle of Blue Licks The Battle of Blue Licks, fought on August 19, 1782, was one of the last battles of the American Revolutionary War. The battle occurred ten months after Lord Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown, which had effectively ended the war in the east. O ...

on August 19, 1782 fighting a mixed band of Natives,

Loyalists Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

and British troops. Following his death, Silas' fiancé, Sarah Caldwell, married his brother James and was the grandmother of

U.S. Supreme Court Justice The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...

John Marshall Harlan John Marshall Harlan (June 1, 1833 – October 14, 1911) was an American lawyer and politician who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1877 until his death in 1911. He is often called "The Great Dissenter" due to his ...

. Harlan County, Kentucky is named in honor of Silas Harlan.

Kentucky Settlement

Silas and his brother, James, accompanied James Harrod in founding Harrodstown, the oldest permanent white settlement in Kentucky, in May 1774 and is listed as a town resident in a census between December 1777 and October 1778, along with

Squire Boone In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight. Use of the term evolved over time. Initially, a squire served as a knight's apprentice. Later, a village leader or a lord of the manor might come to be known as a " ...

, younger brother to famous pioneer

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the we ...

. As a member of the Committee for the Defense of West Fincastle in 1776, Silas supported making Kentucky a county of Virginia rather than an independent state under the

Transylvania Company The Transylvania Colony, also referred to as the Transylvania Purchase, was a short-lived, extra-legal colony founded in early 1775 by North Carolina land speculator Richard Henderson, who formed and controlled the Transylvania Company. Henders ...

, as did George Rogers Clark. In 1778, Silas, with the help of his uncle, Jacob, and his brother, James, founded "Harlan's Station", a log

stockade A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls, made of logs placed side by side vertically, with the tops sharpened as a defensive wall. Etymology ''Stockade'' is derived from the French word ''estocade''. The French word was derived ...

on the Salt River near Danville, about seven miles above Harrodsburg.

Revolutionary War

While serving with the Kentucky

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

, he was a scout and hunter and ultimately received the rank of major. January 2, 1777 at Harrodsburg, Silas Harlan was one of about thirty men raised by James Harrod to retrieve five hundred pounds of gunpowder from Three Islands in present-day Lewis County. George Rogers Clark and John Gabriel Jones had acquired and delivered this powder from Fort Pitt (present

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

) the preceding August for the Kentucky settlers and Colonel John Todd had attempted to retrieve the powder December 25, 1776, but failed, leaving Harrod to the task the following week. Harrod's company, which also included David Glenn, Isaac Hite and

Simon Kenton Simon Kenton (aka "Simon Butler") (April 3, 1755 – April 29, 1836) was an American frontiersman and soldier in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. He was a friend of Daniel Boone, Simon Girty, Spencer Records, Thomas S. Hinde, Thomas Hinde, and ...

among Harlan, then secured the powder and returned to Harrodsburg. He commanded a

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

of scouts under General George Rogers Clark in the Illinois Campaigns of 1779, and proved himself a most active, energetic and efficient officer. Silas was also Captain of a company in John Bowman's raid on Old Chillicothe in 1779, and assisted Clark in establishing Fort Jefferson at the

mouth In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...

of the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

in 1780. Major Silas Harlan died on August 19, 1782, leading the advance party at the Battle of Blue Licks, one of the last battles of the American Revolution and the last victory for the Loyalists and Native Americans during the frontier war. He was highly regarded by his contemporaries. General Clark, who was an older brother of the more famed

William Clark William Clark (August 1, 1770 – September 1, 1838) was an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. A native of Virginia, he grew up in pre-statehood Kentucky before later settling in what became the state of Misso ...

, said of Silas: "he was one of the bravest and most accomplished soldiers that ever fought by my side." In Ref. 10, Silas Harlan is entry #215. Silas's father George Harlan (1718 - c. 1762) is entry #45. George's father James Harlan (1692 - post-1760) is entry #11. James's father George Harlan (c. 1650 - 1714) is entry #3. George's father James Harland (c. 1625 - ?) is entry #1.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harlan, Silas 1753 births 1782 deaths American explorers Kentucky pioneers People of Kentucky in the American Revolution People from Berkeley County, West Virginia