by Ralph Barnes
Citizens Voice & Times
November 14, 1996
Most of the counties that surround Estill are named for national heroes or
former governors. For example, Jackson and Madison are named after presidents;
Lee and Clark honor generals; Breathitt and Owsley are named for governors.
Estill County may be the only community in the known world named for a lost
cause. Actually the county was named for the commander of a lost battle known
as Estill’s Defeat.
When the danger from Indian raids abated after 1780, the more daring settlers
moved from the stockaded forts to more livable accommodations known as
stations. A station was simply a cluster of cabins built close together to
provide protection from Indian raids. Stations sprouted up all over central
Kentucky as the pioneers went into the back country to claim their preemption
land. The man for whom our county was named, James Estill, established a
station approximately fifteen miles from Boonesborough near the present site of
Richmond.
On March 19, 1782, an event occurred that was to cost Estill his life and would
forever immortalize his name. An empty Indian raft, a sure sign that the
Indians were in the area, was seen floating down the Kentucky River past
Boonesborough. The alarm was sent to all of the surrounding stations including
Estill’s. Estill immediately rounded up twenty-five men from the nearby
stations and set out to find the Indians. Nearly all of the available men
accompanied the search party and hardly any were left to defend the station.
The following morning twenty-five marauding warriors suddenly appeared at
Estill’s Station. A young girl and a slave named Monk were captured during the
surprise attack. To the horror of the helpless women in the station, the
Indians immediately killed and scalped the girl. Monk, in an effort to save the
nearly defenseless women and children, told the braves that there was a strong
force of men inside the station. Evidently the ruse worked and the Indians beat
a hasty retreat. Two young boys were dispatched to find the search party and
inform them of the raid. Estill’s party had gone to the Kentucky River in what
is now Estill County to look for Indian tracks on the sandy banks of the river.
The boys finally caught up with the group on the twenty-first near the mouth of
Drowning Creek and gave them the bad news.
The trackers soon uncovered the trail left by the Wyandots and the pursuit
began. The Indians were fleeing in the direction of what is now Montgomery
County. Estill’s group caught up with them on March 22, 1782, at the Little
Round Mountain near present day Mt. Sterling. They came upon three Indians that
had stopped on Hinkston Creek to skin a buffalo. The surprised buffalo skinners
bolted to the other side of the creek to join the main body of Indians. Heavy
gunfire commenced immediately as both sides sought cover behind trees. At the
onset of the fight each of the warring groups had about twenty-five members.
However, a Lieutenant named Miller, under the pretense of flanking the Indians
from the rear, fled the scene with six men leaving the Americans at a
disadvantage in the fight. The thickly wooded terrain also favored the Indian
mode of warfare.
The battle probably was a short one and covered an area of only a few acres.
After Miller and his group fled, the Wyandots could detect from the slack
firing that their opponents were undermanned. To take advantage of the weakness
they rushed across the creek and engaged Estill’s force in hand-to- hand combat
with knives and tomahawks. At least seven and perhaps nine of Estill’s men were
killed in the charge. Captain Estill, who was recuperating from a broken arm
from a previous battle, was again wounded during the charge. Estill became
engaged in a knife fight with an Indian much larger than himself. When his weak
arm gave way, his adversary was able to plunge a knife into Estill’s chest
rendering a mortal wound to his heart. Joseph Proctor was watching the unequal
struggle but was unable to get a clear shot at the Indian until after Estill
fell. Proctor immediately killed the Wyandot but never publicly acknowledged it
because of his religious beliefs that prohibited killing. Proctor would only
say that he never heard of that big Indian doing any more mischief.
William Irvine, for whom our county seat is named, also was wounded in the
battle. Irvine was shot in the groin and a Wyandot warrior, seeing his weakened
condition, moved in for the kill. Irvine repeatedly bluffed the Indian with an
unloaded rifle. Joseph Proctor, who could not reach his fallen comrade, advised
him to mount the horse belonging to the slain James Estill and ride to safety.
After several attempts the badly wounded Irvine was able to get on the horse
and ride to a designated spot where Proctor could help him. At great risk to
his own personal safety, Joseph Proctor found Irvine and escorted him to
Bryan’s Station some twenty miles distant. Irvine eventually recovered and
lived nearly forty more years.
A group of fifty men returned to the battle site to bury the dead and were
overcome with the carnage they witnessed. Only a handful of Estill’s men
survived the battle with the Wyandots. The Indians won the skirmish but,
according to Wyandot legend, none survived to return to their village. People
in the area told of finding human skeletons and lost weapons for years
afterwards. The site of the battle was eventually forgotten. Even Joseph
Proctor could not identify the spot when he was taken to the area shortly
before his death.
Estill and Irvine never lived in the county and neither played a role in the
County’s development. In spite of that, their names have been honored by our
citizens for two centuries. Joseph Proctor, perhaps the greatest hero of the
battle, spent the remainder of his life here and was one of the pillars of the
community. He not only contributed to the founding of the secular government
but also was instrumental in establishing the Methodist Church in this part of
the country. Ironically neither the County nor the Methodists have honored
Proctor. There was a town in Lee County named Proctor but the newer town of
Beattyville eclipsed that community. Proctor is buried in the abandoned
cemetery near the Methodist Church on Main Street. Estill was buried on the site
of the battle and Irvine is buried in Madison County.
Perhaps a blue ribbon commission should be appointed to develop a name that
will honor all three heroes and, at the same time, give the community a unique
name that everybody will remember. The media people in Lexington often
mispronounce the county’s present name during those infrequent occasions when
we make the news. Any advertising executive, worth his or her salt, will tell
you that having an easily recognizable name is critical to success in the modern
world. Perhaps the best approach is to use letters from all three of our heroes
and form a unique new name for the county. For example, we could use the
P-R-O-C-T from Proctor’s name; an -I- to represent Irvine and the T-I-S from
Estill. At first blush, the name sounds a little wacky but there are obvious
advantages as well. The county will have a name that is a household word. Most
media people, through personal experience, are familiar with the word and are
unlikely to mispronounce it during newscasts. Cartographers are sure to
highlight the county on future maps and tourists will bypass Rabbit Hash and
Rooster Run and come here to spend their money. The "PREPERATION H"
people probably could be enticed to move their world headquarters here. The
County’s new name alone should win them over. Think of the great upsurge in
community pride when the headlines announce: PROCTITIS WINS OVER
"PREPERATION H" or when our basketball team beats a neighboring
county: PROCTITIS OVERWHELMS POWELL COUNTY. On the other hand, maybe we should
just forget the whole thing.
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