Boone's militia rides into ambush at Blue Licks; 77 Kentuckians dead

Ten months after Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, fighting still raged on Kentucky's frontier. On August 19, 1782, 182 Kentucky militiamen, chasing a British and Indigenous raiding party that had besieged Bryan Station, rode onto a hill above the Licking River and into a trap set by Captain William Caldwell's 50 Rangers and 300 warriors. The center and right collapsed within minutes; Colonel John Todd and Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Trigg were shot from their horses. Seventy-seven militiamen died, including Daniel Boone's son Israel, Seventy-seven militiamen died, including Daniel Boone's son Israel…