# John Hardin > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/John_Hardin > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/John_Hardin.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hardin > Source revision: 1341345491 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Revolutionary War militia officer & Indian fighter}} {{Other people}} {{Use American English|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox military person |name=John Hardin |image= |caption= |birth_date=October 1, 1753 |death_date= May 1792 (aged 38) |birth_place=[Prince William County, Virginia](/source/Prince_William_County%2C_Virginia) |death_place=[Turtle Creek, Ohio](/source/Turtle_Creek_Township%2C_Shelby_County%2C_Ohio) |allegiance= |branch={{bulletlist|[Virginia militia](/source/Virginia_militia)|[Continental Army](/source/Continental_Army)|[Kentucky militia](/source/Kentucky_militia)}} |battles= *[Lord Dunmore's War](/source/Lord_Dunmore's_War) **[McDonald’s Expedition](/source/Angus_McDonald_(Virginia_militiaman)) (WIA) *[American Revolution](/source/American_Revolution) **[Battle of Saratoga](/source/Battle_of_Freeman's_Farm) *[Northwest Indian War](/source/Northwest_Indian_War) **[Hardin-Patton Expedition](/source/Skirmishes_around_Vincennes_(1786)) **[Wabash Expedition](/source/Skirmishes_around_Vincennes_(1786)) **[Harmar campaign](/source/Harmar_campaign) **[Blackberry Campaign](/source/Blackberry_Campaign) |rank=Colonel |commands= |unit={{ubl|[8th Pennsylvania Regiment](/source/8th_Pennsylvania_Regiment)|[Morgan's Rifles](/source/Morgan's_Rifles)}} |awards= |spouse=Jane Daviess |children= Seven, including [Martin D. Hardin](/source/Martin_D._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](/source/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](/source/Continental_Army) during the [American Revolutionary War](/source/American_Revolutionary_War), where he played a noteworthy role in the American victory at [Saratoga](/source/Battles_of_Saratoga) in 1777. After the war, he moved to Kentucky, where he fought against Native Americans in the [Northwest Indian War](/source/Northwest_Indian_War). In 1790, he led a detachment of Kentucky militia in a disastrous defeat known as "[Hardin's Defeat](/source/Hardin's_Defeat)." In 1792, he was killed while serving as an emissary to the Natives in the [Northwest Territory](/source/Northwest_Territory). ==Biography== John Hardin was born on October 1, 1753, in [Fauquier County, Virginia](/source/Fauquier_County%2C_Virginia), the first son and fifth child of Martin Hardin (1716–1789) and Lydia (Waters) Hardin.{{sfn|Sanders|1965|p=5}} His father was a large landowner who moved his family from Fauquier County to [western Pennsylvania](/source/western_Pennsylvania) when John was twelve years old. Martin Hardin served in the [Pennsylvania militia](/source/Pennsylvania_militia) during the American Revolutionary War.{{sfn|Sanders|1965|p=5}} Growing up on the frontier, John Hardin became an expert hunter and marksman.{{sfn|Kleber|Clark|Harrison|Klotter|1992}} He married Jane Daviess; they would have seven children, including [Martin D. Hardin](/source/Martin_D._Hardin), who became a [U.S. Senator](/source/United_States_Senator) from Kentucky. In 1774, Hardin joined a militia company raised by [Lord Dunmore](/source/John_Murray%2C_4th_Earl_of_Dunmore), the royal governor of Virginia, as an [ensign](/source/Ensign_(rank)).{{sfn|Kleber|Clark|Harrison|Klotter|1992}} In August 1774, at the outset of [Lord Dunmore's War](/source/Lord_Dunmore's_War), Virginia militiamen led by [Angus McDonald](/source/Angus_McDonald_(Virginia_militiaman)) invaded the [Ohio Country](/source/Ohio_Country) and destroyed several Native towns on the [Muskingum River](/source/Muskingum_River). Hardin took part in this expedition as a private in a company from [Monongalia County](/source/Monongalia_County%2C_West_Virginia) led by Captain [Zackquill Morgan](/source/Zackquill_Morgan). On August 2, Hardin was wounded in a skirmish at [Snake's Town](/source/Snake_(Shawnee_leader)). A musket ball "penetrated his thigh and lodged near his groin."{{sfn|Skidmore|Kaminsky|2002|p=198}} 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.{{sfn|Walworth|1869|p=235}} Hardin's frontier exploits gained him a reputation as an "Indian Killer."{{sfn|Nelson|2013}} During the [American Revolutionary War](/source/American_Revolutionary_War), John Hardin was a second lieutenant in the [8th Pennsylvania Regiment](/source/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](/source/Morgan's_Rifles)"). During this time, he fought at [Saratoga](/source/Battle_of_Freeman's_Farm) serving directly under Colonel [Daniel Morgan](/source/Daniel_Morgan). His exploits in the battle are commemorated by a historical marker at [Saratoga National Historical Park](/source/Saratoga_National_Historical_Park). In 1786, after the war, John Hardin and his family settled on a large parcel of land in Washington County, Virginia (now [Washington County, Kentucky](/source/Washington_County%2C_Kentucky)), where they farmed and raised livestock. They also joined the [Methodist](/source/Methodist_church) church in that area. Hardin had some success as a rancher, continually adding acreage to his original tract. As a militia captain in 1786, Hardin led an attack on a [Piankeshaw](/source/Piankeshaw) village near present-day [Vincennes, Indiana](/source/Vincennes%2C_Indiana). This village belonged to a friendly tribe that had been allies with the [colonial Americans](/source/Thirteen_Colonies).{{sfn|Allison|1986|p=56}} In August 1789, he led another militia expedition to [Terre Haute](/source/Terre_Haute%2C_Indiana), where he attacked a [Shawnee](/source/Shawnee_Indian) party of twenty-two men, women, and children.Sword, p. 77 Three women, one child, and an infant were killed in the attack. Hardin paraded through Vincennes, but Major [Jean François Hamtramck](/source/Jean_Fran%C3%A7ois_Hamtramck) lamented that the uneasy peace he had brokered with the Wabash nations would soon end due to the "provocation" of this "Kentucky affair." Hardin returned to Kentucky with twelve [scalps](/source/Scalping).{{sfn|Allison|1986|p=67}} Hardin was promoted to colonel and repeatedly engaged Indians during the [Northwest Indian War](/source/Northwest_Indian_War) in the [Northwest Territory](/source/Territory_Northwest_of_the_River_Ohio). In 1790, he led a detachment of the [Kentucky County](/source/Kentucky_County%2C_Virginia) militia in the disastrous [Battle of Heller's Corner](/source/Harmar_Campaign) (also known as "Hardin's Defeat"). This defeat began a long succession of American losses to a [Miami](/source/Miami_Indian) chief named [Little Turtle](/source/Little_Turtle). In 1791, Hardin led a force of sixty mounted militiamen, destroying a large [Kickapoo](/source/Kickapoo_people) village near the mouth of the [Big Pine Creek](/source/Big_Pine_Creek_(Indiana)). This was part of General [Charles Scott's](/source/Charles_Scott_(governor_of_Kentucky)) campaign to conquer [Ouiatenon](/source/Ouiatenon).{{sfn|Allison|1986|p=77}} In May 1792, General [James Wilkinson](/source/James_Wilkinson) sent Hardin as an emissary to carry American peace terms to the Natives along the Sandusky River. After leaving [Fort Washington](/source/Fort_Washington_(Ohio)), Hardin encountered a party of Shawnees, who offered to escort him. While Hardin was sleeping one night, the Shawnees killed him and his servant Freeman. Hardin's guide survived.{{sfn|Hogeland|2017|pp=229-30}} ==Legacy== [Hardin County, Kentucky](/source/Hardin_County%2C_Kentucky); [Hardin County, Illinois](/source/Hardin_County%2C_Illinois); and [Hardin County, Ohio](/source/Hardin_County%2C_Ohio) were named for John Hardin. The town of [Hardin, Ohio](/source/Hardin%2C_Ohio), which is near the location where he was killed, is named for him. [John Hardin High School](/source/John_Hardin_High_School) in [Radcliff, Kentucky](/source/Radcliff%2C_Kentucky), also bears his name. His son [Martin D. Hardin](/source/Martin_D._Hardin), who married Ann Logan, daughter of General [Benjamin Logan](/source/Benjamin_Logan).[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000186] U.S. Congressional Biography; Hardin; Martin His second-oldest son, Mark, married Mary Adair, daughter of Kentucky governor, [John Adair](/source/John_Adair). His grandson, Congressman [John J. Hardin](/source/John_J._Hardin), was killed at the [Battle of Buena Vista](/source/Battle_of_Buena_Vista), Mexico.[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000185] U.S. Congressional Biography; Hardin, John J. His nephew, Congressman [Benjamin Hardin](/source/Benjamin_Hardin)[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000184] U.S. Congressional Biography; Hardin, Benjamin was the father in law of Kentucky Governor [John L. Helm](/source/John_L._Helm) and grandfather of General [Benjamin Hardin Helm](/source/Benjamin_Hardin_Helm). ==References== ===Citations=== {{reflist|20em}} ===Sources=== {{refbegin}} *{{cite book|last=Allison |first=Harold |title=The Tragic Saga of the Indiana Indians |year=1986 |publisher=Turner Publishing Company, Paducah |isbn=0-938021-07-9}} *{{cite book |last=Hogeland |first=William |title=Autumn of the Black Snake |year=2017 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |location=New York |isbn=9780374107345 |lccn=2016052193}} *{{cite encyclopedia |editor1-last=Kleber |editor1-first=John E. |editor2-last=Clark |editor2-first=Thomas D. |editor2-link=Thomas D. Clark |editor3-last=Harrison |editor3-first=Lowell H. |editor4-last=Klotter |editor4-first=James C. |encyclopedia= The Kentucky Encyclopedia |year= 1992 |publisher=The University Press of Kentucky |location=[Lexington, Kentucky](/source/Lexington%2C_Kentucky) |isbn= 0-8131-1772-0 |title =John Hardin}} *{{cite encyclopedia |title= John Hardin |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Early American Republic, 1783–1812: A Political, Social, and Military History |year= 2013 |last= Nelson |first= Paul David |publisher= ABC-CLIO |location= |id= |url= |access-date= }} *{{cite journal|last=Sanders |first=Robert Stuart |title= Colonel John Hardin and his letters to his wife – 1792|journal= The Filson Club History Quarterly |volume=39 |issue=1 |year=1965 |url= https://filsonhistorical.org/wp-content/uploads/publicationpdfs/39-1-2_Colonel-John-Hardin-and-His-Letters-to-His-Wife_Sanders-D.D.-Robert-Stuart.pdf |access-date= December 28, 2021}} *{{cite book|last1=Skidmore|first1=Warren|first2=Donna|last2=Kaminsky|title=Lord Dunmore's Little War of 1774: His Captains and their Men who Opened Up Kentucky & the West to American Settlement|location=Bowie, Maryland|publisher=Heritage Books|year=2002|isbn=0-7884-2271-5}} *{{cite book |last=Sword |first=Wiley |title=President Washington's Indian War: The Struggle for the Old Northwest, 1790–1795 |url=https://archive.org/details/presidentwashing0000swor |url-access=registration |publisher=Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press |year=1985 |isbn=0-8061-1864-4}} *{{cite magazine|last=Walworth|first=Mansfield Tracy|author-link= Mansfield Tracy Walworth|title=Colonel John Hardin|magazine=The Historical Magazine, and Notes and Queries Concerning the Antiquities, History, and Biography of America|volume=15|year= 1869|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jipAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA233 |pages=233–37}} {{refend}} ==External links== *[https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=66808 John Hardin Memorial] at [Saratoga National Historical Park](/source/Saratoga_National_Historical_Park) *[https://www.in.gov/history/state-historical-markers/find-a-marker/site-of-hardins-defeat/ Site of Hardin's Defeat], former historical marker {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Hardin, John}} Category:1753 births Category:1792 deaths Category:Frontiersmen Category:American murderers of children Category:American military personnel killed in the Northwest Indian War Category:Assassinated American diplomats Category:Perpetrators of the Native American genocide in the United States Category:Continental Army officers from Pennsylvania Category:People from Washington County, Kentucky John Category:People from Fauquier County, Virginia Category:Kentucky pioneers Category:People of Dunmore's War Category:People assassinated in the 18th century Category:18th-century murderers Category:18th-century American criminals --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [John Hardin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hardin) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hardin?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.