John Hardin

John Hardin (October 1, 1753 – May 1792) was an American soldier, scout, and frontiersman. As a young man, he fought in Lord Dunmore's War, in which he was wounded, and gained a reputation as a marksman and "Indian killer." He served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, where he played a noteworthy role in the American victory at Saratoga in 1777. After the war, he moved to Kentucky, where he fought against Native Americans in the Northwest Indian War. In 1790, he led a detachment of Kentucky militia in a disastrous defeat known as "Hardin's Defeat." In 1792, he was killed while serving as an emissary to the Natives in the Northwest Territory. Biography John Hardin was born on October 1, 1753, in Fauquier County, Virginia, the first son and fifth child of Martin Hardin (1716–1789) and Lydia (Waters) Hardin. His father was a large landowner who moved his family from Fauquier County to western Pennsylvania when John was twelve years old. Martin Hardin served in the Pennsylvania militia during the American Revolutionary War. Growing up on the frontier, John Hardin became an expert hunter and marksman. He married Jane Daviess; they would have seven children, including Martin D. Hardin, who became a U.S. Senator from Kentucky. In 1774, Hardin joined a militia company raised by Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia, as an ensign. In August 1774, at the outset of Lord Dunmore's War, Virginia militiamen led by Angus McDonald invaded the Ohio Country and destroyed several Native towns on the Muskingum River. Hardin took part in this expedition as a private in a company from Monongalia County led by Captain Zackquill Morgan. On August 2, Hardin was wounded in a skirmish at Snake's Town. A musket ball "penetrated his thigh and lodged near his groin." The musket ball remained in him for the rest of his life. While recovering from the wound, he is said to have accompanied Lord Dunmore's subsequent expedition while on crutches. Hardin's frontier exploits gained him a reputation as an "Indian Killer." During the American Revolutionary War, John Hardin was a second lieutenant in the 8th Pennsylvania Regiment. He was one of a select number of riflemen chosen to serve in a Regiment detachment known as the Provisional Rifle Corps (or "Morgan's Rifles"). During this time, he fought at Saratoga serving directly under Colonel Daniel Morgan.