Shelby, Isaac, 1750–1826, American frontiersman, b. Washington co. (then part of Frederick co.), Md. Around 1773 he settled in the Holston River country in what is now E Tennessee. In the American Revolution he was one of the frontier leaders who defeated the British at Kings Mt. (1780) in the Carolina campaign. Shelby moved to Kentucky in 1783, helped secure its separation from Virginia, and was the first governor (1792–96) of the new state. During his second term (1812–16) he organized and commanded a body of volunteers under Gen. William Henry Harrison at the battle of the Thames River (Oct., 1813) in S Ontario, one of the few American land victories in the War of 1812. In 1818, with Andrew Jackson, he was a member of the special commission that purchased the remaining lands of the Chickasaw in Kentucky and Tennessee.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: U.S. History: Biographies
