{"id":1984,"date":"2025-04-16T18:41:31","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T18:41:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/?p=1984"},"modified":"2025-10-22T13:18:55","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T17:18:55","slug":"tick-creek-massacre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/16\/tick-creek-massacre\/","title":{"rendered":"Tick Creek Massacre"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group post-header\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full post-header-img\"><a href=\"https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Tick-Creek-Massacre-1.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-8xCe66EP\" data-magnific_type=\"image\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"818\" height=\"911\" src=\"https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Tick-Creek-Massacre-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2195\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Tick-Creek-Massacre-1.jpg 818w, https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Tick-Creek-Massacre-1-269x300.jpg 269w, https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Tick-Creek-Massacre-1-300x334.jpg 300w, https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Tick-Creek-Massacre-1-600x668.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 818px) 100vw, 818px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Bland Ballard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group post-header-info\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Tick Creek Massacre<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Bland Williams Ballard had an adventurous life. He fought in the Revolutionary War as a teenager and served as a Scout in numerous expeditions with George Rogers Clark, when Ohio was still a territory and Kentucky was an extension of Virginia. He was an escort during the Long Run Massacre, and he fought in the battles of Fallen Timbers in 1794 and Tippecanoe in 1811, being noted as a &#8220;reliable spy&#8221;. He continued his military service into his early fifties, during the War of 1812.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ballard settled near Tyler&#8217;s Station in a log cabin on Tick Creek in the 1780&#8217;s, after he was given land grants by Patrick Henry, presumably for his military service during the Revolution. On March 31st, 1788, fifteen to twenty Delaware Indians attacked Bland&#8217;s little cabin just six miles east of Shelbyville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Depending on the storyteller, Ballard killed anywhere from three to seven of the Indians that day, but not before Bland&#8217;s father, stepmother, a brother, and two sisters were murdered. One younger sister was scalped in the attack, but she amazingly recovered and lived to a ripe, old age. Bland had quite a reputation for killing Indians, and even displayed some of the scalps he had acquired over his fireplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Historian, Vince Akers, described Ballard as, &#8220;One of the bravest and most daring spirits in the early history of Kentucky.&#8221; Blandville, KY and Ballard County KY are both named in his honor.&nbsp; By Bland Williams Ballard&#8217;s death in 1853, there were no remaining Native Americans in the area.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Tick-Creek-Massacre-2.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-8xCe66EP\" data-magnific_type=\"image\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"531\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Tick-Creek-Massacre-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2196\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Tick-Creek-Massacre-2.jpg 531w, https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Tick-Creek-Massacre-2-249x300.jpg 249w, https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Tick-Creek-Massacre-2-300x362.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 531px) 100vw, 531px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Chief of Tick Creek (All points were found in Shelby Co.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tick Creek Massacre Bland Williams Ballard had an adventurous life. He fought in the Revolutionary War as a teenager and served as a Scout in numerous expeditions with George Rogers Clark, when Ohio was still a territory and Kentucky was an extension of Virginia. He was an escort during the Long Run Massacre, and he <a href=\"https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/16\/tick-creek-massacre\/\" class=\"more-link\">&#8230;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Tick Creek Massacre<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2195,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"post_folder":[67],"class_list":["post-1984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people-and-places"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1984"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5329,"href":"https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1984\/revisions\/5329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1984"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shelbykyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=1984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}