Kentucky Colonelcy
Heritage, Origin and Traditions of the Kentucky Colonel
Authoritative History From 1775 Pioneers to the Present
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Are you a Kentucky Colonel? Preserve your legacy, get listed in the Kentucky Colonels Handbook last published in 1930.
Explore the authentic history, legacy, origin and purpose of the Kentucky Colonel starting in 1775. Discover the most famous Kentucky Colonels, learn about the award and commission, uncover the truth behind the title, and separate fact from fiction. Our website is recognized as the most complete factual source of accountable Kentucky Colonel history.
Kentucky Colonel: 1st American Honorific Title of Authority, Greatness, and Prestige
Kentucky Colonel: 1st American Honorific Title of Authority, Greatness, and Prestige
Colonial and Early American history reveals a rich tradition of civilian leadership embodied by the title of 'colonel.' These individuals, often appointed by their peers, were instrumental in establishing communities and shaping the nascent democracy of the new nation. In the decades following 1775, colonels held considerable authority, frequently transitioning into roles of governance and leadership. Their contributions laid the foundation for the societal structures and cultural identity that characterize Kentucky and much of America today.
While the exact origins of the term "Kentucky Colonel" are multifaceted, the connection to Daniel Boone's pioneering role in Kentucky's establishment is undeniable. This association solidified in 1833 with the London production of "The Kentuckian," a play that further cemented the image of the Kentucky Colonel in the popular imagination. The title thus evolved into a cultural symbol, representing the spirit of independence, leadership, and the unique heritage of the Kentucky region.
Semiquincentennial of the Kentucke Magna Charta!
Semiquincentennial of the Kentucke Magna Charta!
Join Us in Celebrating the Original Recognition of the Founding of America's 1st Free Colonial Democracy by the Kentucky Colonel with the 250th Anniversary of the Traditional Office of the Kentucky Colonelcy from 1775-2025 at Boonesborough on the Kentucky River.
1st Kentucky Colonel found on the Wilderness Road in 1775
1st Kentucky Colonel found on the Wilderness Road in 1775
Commissioned painting for Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, titled Gateway to the West – Daniel Boone Leading The Settlers Through The Cumberland Gap, 1775 "Col. Daniel Boone is the best historical evidence we have of the origin of the Kentucky Colonel!" -Col. George Chinn (1902-1987)
Kentucky State Historical Society
Kentucky State Historical Society
The story of the First Kentucky Colonel being Daniel Boone is factually and historically correct, it is not folklore or fiction, if anyone else can be credited with the creation and origin of the pioneer government of Can-tuck-ee, Colonel Boone is right there as one of its 13 first colonels, delegates and colonist settlers drafting what has become known as the "Kentucke Magna Charta" (Transylvania Constitution) in 1775. Most of the laws established by these colonels and their colonists remain in common-law today and were included by other state constitutions.
They never would have called themselves a "Kentucky Colonel," but they were in fact the "Colonels" and they wrote laws that created the governments, made peace with the natives, surveyed the frontier and made their mark one that has survived to the present creating the customs and traditions we observe today. The fact that all this plays out in Kentucky with "colonels" as the sovereign "heads of the colony" is not a coincidence with anything more than it taking place during the Revolutionary Period before the founding of the United States or the fact that Boone originally hunted in Can-tuck-ee since June 7th, 1769.
Col. Daniel Boone is actually credited as the protagonist of the founder of the Transylvania Company, which was formed after Boone lost his son in his first settlement attempt in Kentucky. Col. Judge Richard Henderson of North Carolina befriended Boone, commissioning him a Colonel of the company that built the Wilderness Road (Wild Road) and Boonesborough. It would be almost two years before one of Boone's lieutenants, John Bowman is sent to Williamsburg to meet with Governor Patrick Henry to make the Transylvania Colony part of Virginia. The Governor made Transylvania Lt. Col. John Bowman into Commonwealth Colonel John Bowman of Kentucky County. When Col. Bowman returned to Transylvania he commissioned Daniel Boone a "Lt. Colonel" as well as many others. After that little is known of John Bowman except that he continued to commission new colonels until 1783. What we can also say about Col. Daniel Boone is that he was the "First Colonel" to be commissioned under the Patriot Law by a Private Chartered Company which was enacted on January 1, 1775, we also know he commissioned many other colonels.
Commissioned Colonel of the Transylvania Company in 1775 by the head-of-colony Richard Henderson, makes a treaty and purchase from the Cherokee, becomes the founder of Boonesborough, and a writer of the first democratic constitution in America which today is known as the Kentucky Magna Charta.
Colonel Daniel Boone - The man, the legend, his adventures and the myths surrounding him, he was the most famous living and mythical person in America before the War of 1812. The famous painting by Chester Harding in 1820 is the only living portrait of Daniel Boone, painted the year of his death at his home in Missouri. The work is located at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; partial gift of the William T. Kemper Foundation and of the Chapman Hanson Foundation.
Kentucky Colonel becomes its Greatest Statesman
Kentucky Colonel becomes its Greatest Statesman
In contemporary state history Col. Daniel Boone is not recognized by the Commonwealth of Kentucky as its founding statesman, that title would go to Isaac Shelby who worked for Col. Daniel Boone 16 years earlier as a surveyor for the Transylvania Colony. When working for Col. Boone, Shelby a young impressionable surveyor learned the secret order of the colonel. Isaac Shelby the surveyor was paid in-kind with food, money and a deed for a parcel in the Transylvania Colony before returning to Southern Virginia on the Wild Road built by Daniel Boone.
In 1776 under the new patriot laws Shelby found a commission from the Virginia Committee of Safety appointing him captain of a company of Minutemen. In 1777, Virginia governor Patrick Henry appointed Shelby to a position securing provisions for the army on the frontier. He served a similar role for units in the Continental Army in 1778 and 1779. With his money, Shelby purchased provisions for John Sevier's 1779 expedition against the Chickamauga, a band of Cherokees who were resisting colonial expansion in the Extralegal State of Franklin.
Shelby was elected to represent Washington County in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1779. Later that year, he was commissioned a major by Governor Thomas Jefferson and charged with escorting a group of commissioners to establish a frontier boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina. Shortly after his arrival in the region, North Carolina Governor Richard Caswell made him magistrate of newly formed Sullivan County and elevated him to the rank of colonel of the Sullivan County Regiment. While he was a colonel, Shelby assisted other colonels establish the State of Franklin before moving to his property in the Kentucke region. Engaging in local politics later creating the Commonwealth of Kentucky with more than a 12 other colonels who made him their first governor. Most of Kentucky's counties today are named after the historic colonial and pioneer colonels that migrated there following Boone and Shelby.
Kentucky Colonel Isaac Shelby
Kentucky Colonel Isaac Shelby
Colonel Isaac Shelby, First Governor of Kentucky, Former surveyor of the Transylvania Company working under Col. Daniel Boone in August 1775. Selected the First Governor by a unanimous vote of fellow colonels. Portrait painting of Isaac Shelby by artist Matthew Harris Jouett, c. 1816-1820. Source: Gift of Eleanor Robertson Stokes and Rev. Vernon W. Robertson, The Filson Historical Society
Kentucky Colonel Nomination Procedure
Kentucky Colonel Nomination Procedure
In deed, the Kentucky Colonel Award or Title is the highest form of recognition bestowed to individuals by the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
A Kentucky colonelcy can only be granted by the Governor and the Secretary of State based upon being nominated by another colonel, being recommended by a third party, or being individually recognized by the state's governor for a noteworthy act that commands the governor's attention (or the state). Historically there have been cases where the governor has recognized noteworthy individuals as Kentucky colonels based on formal written suggestions by citizens and other officials of the Commonwealth.
Nominations for the title of Kentucky Colonel must be made by an independent third party, it is not recommended that family members living at the same address make nominations because they may be rejected. The Office of the Governor is permitted implicitly in law to perform a background check on nominees and nominators.
Recommendations can be made directly on the Governor's Website.
Official Seal of the KY Colonel 2023
Official Seal of the KY Colonel 2023
Many believe the Kentucky Colonel Seal depicts Col. Daniel Boone and Kentucky Statesman Col. Isaac Shelby. There are 15 official artistic versions of the Seal that are accepted.
Kentucky Colonel, Honorable Title of Authority and Leadership
Kentucky Colonel, Honorable Title of Authority and Leadership
Kentucky Colonel is the highest civil Title of Authority and Honor bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The recognition entitles the holder of the commission to enjoy the usufruct rights, privileges and responsibilities as the benefits of the Kentucky Colonelcy as their lifetime office. "Commissions for Kentucky colonels are given on occasion by the Governor and the Secretary of State to individuals in recognition of noteworthy accomplishments, personal achievements, individual deeds and outstanding service in a person's community, state, or nation."
The Governor of Kentucky bestows the "Honorable" title upon someone with a colonelcy commission through the issuance of letters patent (Kentucky Colonel Certificate). The commission is a legal act of the Office of the Governor and lifetime appointment as a civil officer of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The official practice of naming civilians as Kentucky colonels began in 1895 with Governor "Colonel" William O'Connell Bradley who himself was known as a Kentucky Colonel since his adolescence, so perhaps the practice of making colonels has much deeper roots?
This is not where the Colonelcy began, long before Governor Bradley came to office Kentucky was full of colonels, in Colonial Virginia being a colonel meant a person was recognized as the "head of the colony"; the same common law colonelcy exists today as it did in 1775, when the colonies turned to states the colonels had done their job and the title remained an honorable one used by the civil state.
The Kentucky Colonel Commission is a Title of Authority and a Title of Honor issued in the form of Letters Patent, it is difficult to reproach a Kentucky Colonel in modern society for their activities taken under this grant of recognition.
Kentucky Colonel Certificate
Kentucky Colonel Certificate
Governor Ruby Laffoon commissioned his colonels as Aide-de-Camp or Colonel-Admirals on the idea of a vacated military order recognizing himself as their Commander-in-Chief. It is unknown if Governor Laffoon was a Kentucky Colonel before taking office in December 1931. His activity with the Kentucky Colonel Commission placed the original ideas of the Kentucky Colonel under harsh criticism by other states causing confusion when he commissioned movie stars. In 1936 all the commissions were cancelled in law by the Attorney General. This was reverted 30 days later and the commission's wording was reduced and the Kentucky Colonel Commission continued.
Kentucky Colonel as Job Position or Professional Occupation
Kentucky Colonel as Job Position or Professional Occupation
People often ask themselves why they would want to become a Kentucky Colonel, if all the benefits, privileges and responsibilities of common-law colonelcy have been surrendered to past histories and legacies?
Many people even view it as a joke, but the Title: Kentucky Colonel is not a joke it is quite the contrary; despite its history of 250 years the Office of the Colonelcy is very real, an attorney knowledgeable of this will tell you the Kentucky Colonel Commission is a Title of Authority, it is not just an honorary award despite the references. In 1953, soon to be Governor, Justice Bertram Combs said on the bench that a Kentucky Colonel is an officer of the Commonwealth with greater or equal powers than that of a Notary Public. The Kentucky Colonel may even be likely to have created the First Notary Office.
While the original rules and traditions may have been subdued as the first colonels (our sovereign leaders) built the government up around them, the honor and integrity of the engineers of government were incorporated with them in today's civil award (commission), the difference today is that it is more difficult to apply the wisdom of the freemen with the vision they had considering our environment and the existing civil society. Any legal expert most likely knows the actual authority the title gives them, however they will also tell you that there is no way to exercise all the powers except by leading others in your own endeavors.
Kentucky Colonel Coat of Arms
Kentucky Colonel Coat of Arms
United We Stand, Divided We Fall - Historic representation of the Kentucky Coat of Arms (c. 1876), note that the Coat of Arms uses the Motto of the Kentucky Colonel, "United We Stand Divided We Fall". A phrase attributed to Founding Father John Dickinson in his pre-Revolutionary War song "The Liberty Song", first published on July 7, 1768. The song was a favorite of Boone and Shelby. This coat of arms serves as our website logo in the public domain.
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