Battle of Chillicothe

The Battle of Chillicothe was part of the western theater of the American Revolutionary War.

In May 1779, Colonel John Bowman of the Kentucky County militia, accompanied by Benjamin Logan and Levi Todd, led between 160 and 300 militiamen against the Shawnee town of Chillicothe. Dividing their forces, Bowman and Logan attacked the town from two sides but were eventually repulsed.

Unable to draw the Shawnee from their single blockhouse, Bowman burned much of the town and left with between 30 and 300 horses valued at $32,000. Although initially blamed for a defeat, as well as the eight or ten casualties suffered, Bowman and Logan were eventually credited by some with a major victory for the Kentuckians. With the destruction of a major Shawnee settlement and the death of Chief Blackfish, additional war parties were discouraged from moving against Kentucky colonists. According to Theodore Roosevelt in The Winning of the West, "the expedition undoubtedly accomplished more than Clark's attack on Piqua next year."