AMERICA 250 THE FIGHT FOR BRYAN'S STATION (PT 2): SIMON GIRTY'S REVENGE

Summary of the Fight for Bryan’s Station & Simon Girty’s Revenge
🌾 The Fight for Bryan’s Station (August 15–17, 1782)
Bryan’s Station, a frontier fort in Fayette County, Kentucky, came under attack when Capt. William Caldwell led a combined force of Shawnee and Delaware warriors along with Canadian Rangers. The defenders—frontier families and militia—held out under constant skirmish fire. Reinforcements from Lexington arrived later that day, helping secure the fort.
The attackers, unable to break the defense, burned crops and killed livestock before withdrawing. Though the fort survived, the withdrawal was a trap: Caldwell’s force moved north and set an ambush that would lead directly to the Battle of Blue Licks.

🔥 Simon Girty’s Revenge (Battle of Blue Licks, August 19, 1782)
In the aftermath, Simon Girty, the infamous Loyalist frontiersman allied with Native forces, finally got the revenge he had been waiting for.
According to the historical narrative preserved in the 1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries podcast, the settlers at Bryan’s Station knew an attack was coming—but the real blow fell days later. At Blue Licks, one of the final battles of the American Revolution, Girty and the allied Native force decisively defeated the pursuing Kentucky militia, delivering a crushing loss to the frontier settlers.
This defeat is often described as Girty’s moment of “revenge,” as he had long been vilified by Kentucky settlers and had suffered personal grievances during the war. A monument was erected in 1896 to commemorate the battle, later restored in 2019.