Thomas Glenn was among the first pioneers to venture into the

Western Virginia Western Virginia is a geographic region in Virginia comprising the Shenandoah Valley and Southwest Virginia. Generally, areas in Virginia located west of, or (in many cases) within, the piedmont region are considered part of western Virginia. T ...

and Kentucky territories. He was born in 1750 in present-day Pennsylvania, married before 1770 and settled in present-day Wheeling, West Virginia by 1774, but possibly earlier. He was part of an advanced detachment of John Floyd's survey expedition before joining James Harrod's party in founding

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 earliest permanent white settlement west of the Appalachians, along with his younger brother David Glenn. Together they explored a large portion of Kentucky in the 1770s making several improvements from Frankfort down to Russell Springs. Thomas Glenn was killed September 1, 1777 at the Siege of Fort Henry from a thrown tomahawk into his back. Glenn's Creek, branched off the

Kentucky River The Kentucky River is a tributary of the Ohio River, long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed June 13, 2011 in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Kentuc ...

just outside Frankfort, is named after Thomas and Glenn's Run, a stream running east-to-west from 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 ...

just north of

Martin's Ferry Martins Ferry is a city in Belmont County, Ohio, Belmont County, Ohio, United States, on the Ohio River across from Wheeling, West Virginia. It is the largest city in Belmont County. The population was 6,915 as of the United States Census 2010, 201 ...

in Wheeling, was probably named after him also.

Harrod's Expedition

In April 1774, a few weeks before Harrod set off from

Fort Redstone Redstone Old Fort — or Redstone Fort or (for a short time when built) Fort Burd — on the Nemacolin Trail, was the name of the French and Indian War-era wooden fort built in 1759 by Pennsylvania militia colonel James Burd to guard the ancient ...

, Thomas Glenn was surveying with a small party of seven along the Ohio River, led by Lawrence Darnell. They were captured by members of the Shawnee tribe and held for three days before being set free and ordered off the river, being told that George Croghan had directed them to "kill all the Virginians they could find on the river and rob & whip the Pennsylvanians". Although not named in the letter written by John Floyd or Thomas Hanson's journal, Thomas' brother, David, was probably present as well. Both brothers joined Harrod's party as he came down the Ohio River and were among the 32 men that came upon The Big Spring where they founded Harrodstown on June 16, 1774. The men laid out the town and were soon met by Daniel Boone and Michael Stoner, who were sent by Lord Dunmore to warn of imminent attacks from the natives and request support. When Boone arrived at Harrodstown, he stayed long enough to build himself a cabin and then went off to continue relaying Dunmore's message to the other pioneers in the area. Harrod's company decided remain at the fort a while until one of their men was killed, at which point, they returned to Virginia by the Cumberland Gap where the majority of the men enlisted in Captain Harrod's company of Kentucky Pioneers in the Fincastle County Battalion. The Kentucky Pioneers were on route to Point Pleasant but arrived about midnight on the 10th of October just after the battle had ended. This was the only major action of Dunmore's War. When Thomas returned home, he was imprisoned for murdering his indentured servant but acquitted and instead fined for "beating his servant ill". He did not rejoin Harrod when he returned to Harrodstown the following year, although his brother, David, did.

Siege of Fort Henry

On the morning of September 1, 1777 a few men were attacked outside the fort by a band of

Mingo The Mingo people are an Iroquoian group of Native Americans, primarily Seneca and Cayuga, who migrated west from New York to the Ohio Country in the mid-18th century, and their descendants. Some Susquehannock survivors also joined them, and ...

, Wyandot, Delaware and Shawnee natives, with only two escaping to give alarm. About 20 militiamen, led by Captain Samuel Mason, turned out to pursue the attackers but fell into an ambush of roughly 200

Indians Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

. Thomas Glenn was marching next to Captain Mason and killed an Indian while Mason was wounded and had his gun damaged by the shot. Mason took cover, as did several others, while Thomas began racing back towards the fort with Colonel David Shepherd's son, William, and Hugh McConnell, chased by "seven or eight howling warriors brandishing tomahawks". Glenn proposed they split up and angled towards the creek, while Shepherd and McConnell created a gap between themselves but still aimed towards the fort. Shepherd tripped and was killed by a smashing tomahawk into his head and scalped. Just before he reached the creek, Thomas was struck with a thrown tomahawk into his back and was hit again before he could get up and was likely scalped as well. McConnell was the only one who made it back to the fort. In 1780, David, Thomas' brother, claimed his estate on behalf of Thomas' sons and later named a son in honor of his brother: John Thomas Glenn.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glenn, Thomas 1750 births 1777 deaths American people of Scotch-Irish descent American surveyors Kentucky pioneers American people of the Indian Wars Kentucky militiamen in the American Revolution People of Kentucky in the American Revolution People from Wheeling, West Virginia United States military personnel killed in the American Revolutionary War