Thomas Luttrell: Ft. Boonesborough, Ky.

Pioneer, Indian Fighter, Boonesborough Militia.

Thomas is not a direct ancestor of ours, but he was a first cousin of once removed of Robert Luttrell and therefore the 2nd cousin (thrice removed) of our John Daniel Littrell).
Thomas is the half brother of Col. John Luttrell, we don't know if Thomas, arrived with his brother John and Judge Henderson, or set out with the Boone party. We don't find mention of him in Henderson's diary along with the many times his brother John was mentioned, so we assume that he was with the Boone (Wilderness) Party. We have little information on Thomas other than land claims and probate papers for him¹ and his brother John (and later John's widow and her nefarious second husband). We believe he remained at Ft. Boonesborough after his brother returned to North Carolina.

Thomas does not appear to have established himself as well as the Colonel so his holdings at Ft. Boonesborough maintained his attention to a greater degree than John, who had affairs and estates in North Carolina, as well as a pregnant wife there.
We believe that Thomas Luttrell died in Kentucky and may have left descendants there.

After the Colonel's departure the history of the fort is filled with conflicts and events that we can only speculate that Thomas Luttrell may have been witness to. We do know that he did meet his settlement requirements for a land claim by '...raising a field of corn” during the first year of Fort Boonseborough's existence. He may have been dead by the end of the war. Failing to find any record of Thomas ever leaving Kentucky and the indications that he was alive at or near the end of the revolution we can then summarize that he was probably involved in at least one of three major events at Fort Boonesborough during the revolution:

1. Capture of Daniel Boone: With the food supply at Boonesborough running low, Daniel Boone led a party of thirty men to the salt springs on the Licking River. Boone's party was greatly outnumbered and captured by Chief Blackfish. Boone and his men were taken as prisoners to Blackfish's town of Chillicothe. Per Shawnee custom, Boone and some of the prisoners were adopted into the tribe to replace fallen warriors. The remainder were taken to Detroit, where Indians received a bounty for each prisoner (or scalp) taken. Boone eventually escaped. Boone eluded his captors and raced home, covering the 160 miles (260 km) to Boonesborough in five days. If Thomas was in the original Daniel Boone party that was captured then he probably spent the rest of the war in captivity in Detroit.
2. The Raid on Paint Lick Town: Upon his return, Boone lead a preemptive raid against the Shawnee village of Paint Lick Town on the other side of the Ohio River. This accomplished little.
3. The Siege of Fort Boonseborough: On September 7, 1778, Blackfish's force arrived outside Boonesborough. Boone counted 444 Native Americans and 12 white men. The former were mostly Shawnees, with a number of Cherokees, Wyandots, Miami’s, Delawares, and Mingos. The latter were French-Canadian militiamen from Detroit, now fighting on behalf of the British Crown. Although this was the largest force yet sent against the Kentucky settlements, taking a fortified position like Boonesborough would still be difficult without artillery to reduce the stronghold. After days of negotiations Blackfish demanded to know "by what right had the white people taken possession of this country." Boone replied that they had bought the land from the Cherokees at Sycamore Shoals (The Treaty of Watuaga). A Cherokee chief confirmed that this was true. Blackfish accepted this answer.What happened next is unclear, but a scuffle broke out, and marksmen from both sides opened fire. All but one of the Americans managed to scramble back into the fort-the last one had to take cover next to a tree stump by the main gate. Negotiations were over; the formal siege had begun. Gunfire was exchanged over the next several days. The Shawnees launched their final assault on September 17, again trying to set fire to the fort. They were beaten back, and a heavy rain helped to put out the fires. The Shawnees lost more men killed in this attack than on all previous days. The next day, they gradually broke off the siege.

¹we know his heir was another John Luttrell (probably Thomas's own son) who inherited as much as 1400 acres of land.

see also

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The above information is from: Military Role Call: The Littrell Family of Mississippi County, Missouri, The Littrell Family Journals Volume IV. (click here)
also:  Littrell Family Veterans Video

reposted from 10-18-2015:   35