OUR HISTORY

The Battle of
King’s Mountain

The frontier settlers of Kentucky played a pivotal role in the Revolutionary War, specifically at the Battle of King’s Mountain on October 7, 1780.

The early settlers of Six Mile Creek, affectionately known as “Six-Milites”, jumped at the call to arms to battle the oppressive British rule their families had fled in what many historians have called the decisive battle between Patriot and Loyalist militias (let’s call them the home and away team for a reference of who’s who). Colonel Isaac Shelby was one of several Patriot militia leaders to defeat British Major Patrick Ferguson in Cherokee County, South Carolina, 9 miles south of King’s Mountain in present-day North Carolina.

History has not done justice to this significant battle. The Battle of King’s Mountain should stand alongside such important and notable battles as Lexington, Bunker Hill, Trenton, and Yorktown. Even great members of American history acknowledge the importance of this historic battle:

The Battle of King’s Mountain

“The turn of the tide of success.”
Thomas Jefferson

“This brilliant victory marked the turning point of the American Revolution.”
Theodore Roosevelt

“It was a little army and a little battle, but it was of mighty portent.”
Herbert Hoover

John Filson’s
1784 Map of ‘Kentucke’

John Filson created the first map of “Kentucke” in 1784 as a gift to General George Washington.

Written on the map are the following words:

“This map of Kentucke, drawn from actual observations is inscribed with the most perfect respect to the honorable the Congress of the United States of America, and to his excellency. George Washington, late commander in chief of their army.”

The most exciting part, in our opinion, is that on this brilliantly detailed document, “6 Mile Cr.” is clearly labeled! This historic document provides a particular foundation displaying the origins of our distillery and our beloved land.

The Patriots of Our Land

The Patriot

Inspiration for the Patriot came from the Battle of King’s Mountain which occurred on October 7, 1780. Overmountain Men came together of their own free will or “without orders, without pay, without commission, without equipment and without hope of a monetary reward”, to strike a decisive blow for their entire country during the Revolutionary War. General Washington called them “proof of the spirit and resources of our country.” Thomas Jefferson later called the Battle, “The turning point of the American Revolution.”

A 900-man force of Overmountain men led by Isaac Shelby (1st Gov. KY) fought and won an up-hill battle against a 1,100-man Loyalty force led by Major Patrick Ferguson in one hour. Loyalist casualties included 157 killed, 163 severely wounded who were left on the field, 698 captured, and 9 receiving frontier justice at the end of a rope. The marksmanship of the Patriots with their KY Long Rifles prevailed over the “Brown Bess” muskets of the Loyalists. King’s Mountain became the turning point of the War in the south which set off the events that led to the surrender of General Cornwallis’s Army at Yorktown to George Washington on October 19, 1781. Ironically, the defeat of King George III began on King’s Mountain.

Between 1720 and 1775, over two hundred thousand land hungry Scotch-Irish arrived in America and began leap frogging over each other into the wilderness. In defiance of King George III’s Royal Proclamation of 1763, prohibiting private settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains, they moved three times further into the frontier down the Philadelphia Wagon Trail and Wilderness Trail to the western frontier–KY. They were called Overmountain Men, Frontiersman, Mountaineers, Backwoodsmen, Hillbillies and Mongrels by some. Teddy Roosevelt later said they were the “most ambitious and bravest of the Americans…plunging into the wilderness…They were the first and last set of immigrants to do this; all others merely followed….”

The Overmountain man was the “type of man who was high-principled and narrow, strong and violent, as tenacious of his own rights as he was blind often to the rights of others, acquisitive, yet self-sacrificing, but most of all fearless, confident of his own power, determined to have and to hold.” Despite his insensitivity to others his prayer was: “Teach me, O Lord, to think well of myself.” He viewed himself simultaneously as a saint and a sinner. The American wilderness had produced the Patriot.

Allegorical Artist, James N. Muir, captures the Patriot in this monumental bronze sculpture filled with symbolic meaning with meticulous attention to historical detail. The statue is seven feet tall and weighs over 800 lbs., cast in bronze. The Patriot straddles a white oak tree rooted in his unalienable rights, ever vigilant, unremitting with Argus-eyes, fearless and confident of his own power.

Squire Boone

Squire Boone, Daniel Boone’s younger brother, was every bit as good an explorer and Indian fighter, with the same wanderlust. Squire – his name, not a title – was also one of the founding fathers of Kentucky, one of the area’s first whiskey distillers, a politician, and a master gunsmith.

Squire was an amazing frontiersman. He survived 17 violent encounters with Native Americans – some fought hand-to-hand. By the end of his life, his body sported eight bullet wounds, a right arm an inch-and-a-half shorter than his left because it had not mended properly after a gunshot wound, and a scar left by a tomahawk across his face.

In 1782, Squire purchased more than 12,000 acres of unclaimed land near present Shelby and Henry Counties, including what is now Six Mile Creek Distillery. As you enjoy your Six Mile Creek bourbon, raise a toast to the exploring spirit of Squire Boone and all the other brave pioneers who settled this country. Without them, we wouldn’t be here today.

G.W. Demaree

Much of what we know about the original patriots who settled Six-Mile Creek comes from newspaper articles written in 1873 and 1903 by George Whitfield Demaree. His ancestors were French Hugenots who migrated with the Low Dutch to Mercer County, Kentucky.

Demaree – also known as “Mr. D” by his contemporaries – was a lawyer, magistrate, breeder of prize Jersey cattle, and a renowned beekeeper on his farm in Christianburg, Kentucky. He was a pioneer in “swarm control,” and his findings allowed bees to be transported out West for the pollen-ization of crops that helped make permanent settlement possible.

Mr. D somehow found time in his busy life to be an amateur historian, too. In his newspaper articles, he documented the history of Six-Mile Creek – the “wonderfully meandering, famous stream” – from the early days of the pioneers to the Civil War. He noted the inhabitants were called the “Six-Milites” by those occupying higher and supposedly better ground.

Judging by the names, those Six-Milites were Irish, Scotch, Welsh, French, and Scotch-Irish – tenacious, strong, and fearless. They were attracted to Six-Mile Creek because of the abundant fish and game and the freedom to live as they chose. “The ‘old settlers of ‘Six-Mile Creek’ were … adventurers, depending solely on individual grit, unsupported by community aid,” Mr. D wrote.

He determined that the first permanent settler with a family on Six-Mile was Jiles Harlow, who lived to be nearly 100 years old. Harlow fathered more than 20 children, resided in a cabin with a dirt floor, and in his old age believed he had the gift of “conjuration” – the ability to heal the sick or injured.

On a hunting trip in the winter of 1849-50, Mr. D stopped at the Harlow cabin to warm himself and remembered that old Jiles and his wife became agitated about the current temperance movement. Harlow “went into a rage, and with the voice of a roaring lion said: ‘I fought for the rights of my country (in the Revolutionary War), I was a solder in the War of 1812, and I am ready as old as I am, to take up my musket for my liberty, to eat and drink what I please.’”

Spoken like a true patriot.

The Significance of Six Mile Creek

Six Mile Creek, or “6 Mile Cr.” as John Filson noted on his map to his excellency, General George Washington, was one of the best places to settle on the Kentucky frontier. Smaller tributaries to our creek didn’t have adequate water volumes for daily living and sustenance activities like milling.

Six Mile Creek provided a sustainable environment and location for early Kentucky pioneers. Here they could climb to the top of hills to stand lookout for hostile peoples, and they could also live down in the Six Mile Creek river basin, with a plentiful source of fresh clean water, and the ability to defend their settlements. These early pioneers milled corn, fermented it, and distilled the beer mash into the first Kentucky whiskeys.

Based on the lifestyle of the time, where all peoples distilled, combined with millstones and milling wheels found on the branches and creeks, we believe our property, settled and owned by Squire Boone, is “The Frontier of Kentucky Spirits.”

Six Mile Creek itself is home to many species of fish, including smallmouth bass, and one can see a myriad of fresh water mussels and their shells, the hallmark of a naturally healthy creek. Our remote location is free from runoff and other sediments, and this is why pioneer settlers, and Squire Boone, found the Six Mile Creek valley the perfect place to live.

SIX MILE CREEK DISTILLERY

12606 Castle Highway
Pleasureville, Kentucky 40057

(502) 518-6600

OUR HISTORY

The Battle of
King’s Mountain

The Battle of King’s Mountain

John Filson’s
1784 Map of ‘Kentucke’