William Whitley

William Whitley (August 4, 1749 – October 5, 1813), was an American pioneer. He was important to the early settlement of the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky and fought in the War of 1812.

Shortly after his marriage, Whitley began to talk with his wife about moving to the western frontier. When she approved this pursuit, he organized an expedition with his brother-in-law, George Clark. Shortly after their departure, they met another party of seven pioneers; the two parties combined and continued with their expedition. After scouting a location near a branch of the Dix River called Cedar Creek, they returned to Virginia to prepare their families for a permanent relocation. The families left Virginia in November 1775. Upon their arrival, Whitley planted 10 acres (40,000 m²) of corn to establish his claim to the land. Then, he and his family moved to the safety of the fort of St. Asaph's (present day Stanford, Kentucky).

Dissatisfied with the protection afforded by St. Asaph's (a complete stockade having not yet been erected), Whitley's family and the family of Benjamin Logan further removed to the protection of Fort Harrod near present-day Harrodsburg, Kentucky. It was during this time that Whitley saw the mutilated body of William Ray. Whitley would remark many years later when he dictated his memoirs to his son-in-law, Phillip Soublett, that Ray's body was the first time he had ever seen a man scalped. This mutilation remained indelibly etched into Whitley's perception of Indian brutality for the remainder of his life. Later on, in 1779, Whitley discovered the mutilated bodies of the Starneses near Blue Lick (south of Boonesborough, Kentucky) and documented the find. There is a plaque on the courthouse in Williamsburg, crediting Colonel Whitney with killing the last Indian in Whitley County.

Whitley volunteered for service in George Rogers Clark's expedition against Indians in the Northwest Territory. He was assigned to Captain John Montgomery's Company which accompanied George Rogers Clark's forces. Whitley would scalp many natives during his career as a militia leader and frontiersman. By 1779, Whitley had returned for his family and permanently settled on the land he had claimed years earlier.

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