Kentucky Colonel Common-Law Authority
One of the things a society often forgets are the customs and traditions of our ancestors as our society evolves and progresses from its origins. It was understood early in history that the origins and sources of laws made and established by the colonel would remain under the civil government that colonels created, but not always credited.
Given the Legal Authority in 1774/1775
Under the laws of the English Crown before the Revolutionary War the 13 colonies were under the authority of their governours that were designated by England. Prior to the breakout of the war, word had already spread of the coming revolution from Philadelphia to Georgia and colonels were ready to enact new laws on January 1, 1775 removing the crown's authority. Col. Daniel Boone's commission was from Col. Judge Richard Henderson shortly after he reformed the Louisa Company (under the English laws) into the new 'chartered' Transylvania Company (under North Carolina's new Patriot Law). By 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was signed all of the "colonies" were under the control and authority of "colonels" which became the "governors" and "heads of the colonies", it is as simple as that. Once in these roles, they did not all make new colonels, as the new heads of state they began removing the monetary system, titles, positions and laws.
Not the Laws of a Foreign Land
Common law is the body of law that was adopted as understood in law based on social norms (customs) and traditional culture that were intertwined with the colonies which were not particularly foreign or the Intolerable Acts from 1760-1779. Slowly but surely by 1851 (75 years since its founding) most of the laws that existed leftover from England and the the Colonia Era had been codified into the US Code or within the legislatures of the states.