Stephen Trigg

Stephen Trigg (1742–August 19, 1782) was an American pioneer and soldier in Kentucky. Colonel Trigg was killed in the Revolutionary War while leading the Lincoln County militia unit at the Battle of Blue Licks.

Stephen was born in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, the son of William and Mary (Johns) Trigg. The family was prominent on the Virginia frontier. His father served as a judge and the colony's House o Burgesses. Two of his brothers, John and Abram would later represent Virginia in the U.S. Congress. Stephen married Mary Christian in 1758.

Trigg followed the frontier west. He established his home at Trigg's Station about four miles north-west of Harrodsburg. In the political and military turmoil of the frontier, the place names and county boundaries were rapidly changing. In 1775 he became a member of the Finncastle County Committee of Correspondence. Then Kentucky County, Virginia was organized in 1776. This new county sent him as a representative to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1779 and 1780.

Stephen continued his service in the militia throughout this period. In 1780 Captain Trigg led his company of William Campbell's regiment in the Battle of King's Mountain. That same year, Kentucky County was divided into smaller units, and he became Colonel of the militia for the new Lincoln County. When the British staged an invasion of Kentucky in 1782, he led a part of his militia out to respond and into the ambush at the Battle of Blue Licks in which he died.

He was buried nearby, somewhere in what is now Nicholas County, Kentucky. Kentucky later named Trigg County to honor him. His descendants continued the western expansion of the country. His grandson and namesake Stephen Trigg Logan would serve in the Illinois state legislature, and was the law partner of Abraham Lincoln in Springfield.