Big Blue Lick, battle at.
Parties of Indians and Tories, from north of the Ohio, greatly harassed the settlements in Kentucky in 1782. A large body of these, [343] headed by Simon Girty, a cruel white miscreant, entered these settlements in August. They were pursued by about 180 men, under Colonels Todd, Trigg, and Boone, who rashly attacked them (Aug. 19) at the Big Blue Lick, where the road from Maysville to Lexington crosses the Licking River in Nicholas county. One of the most sanguinary battles ever fought in Kentucky then and there occurred. The Kentuckians lost sixty-seven men, killed, wounded, and prisoners; and, after a severe struggle, the rest escaped. The slaughter in the river was great, the ford being crowded with white people and Indians, all fighting in horrid confusion. The fugitives were keenly pursued for 20 miles. This was the last incursion south of the Ohio by any large body of barbarians.
