Daniel Boone founded Kentucky’s second settlement in April 1775, and one month later, the state’s first representative of government was held at Boonesborough. Boone had already been in the state years prior as he made his way through the Cumberland Gap on the Wilderness Road. In September 1778, the Siege of Boonesborough was led by the Shawnee leader, Chief Blackfish, who allied with the British. The siege on the fort was unsuccessful. But Blackfish captured Boone but escaped the Shawnees in time to lead the settlement’s defense. Boone was court-martialed for suspected of having British sympathies. He was acquitted and eventually moved away from Boonesborough.
After the Revolutionary War, the fort was a supply stop for westward-bound travelers until about 1820, when it ceased significant importance. A reproduction of the fort was built near its original location in the 1970s. In the 1980s, an extensive archaeological investigation found substantial elements of the fort, including Daniel Boone’s initial station, which helped determine the fort’s original location.
Fort Boonesborough is in modern-day Madison County, Kentucky, sanctioned under Kentucky State Parks and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1996.
YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpJiuMCKa48&t=615s