Simon Kenton Simon Kenton ( April 3 , 1755 – April 29 , 1836 ) was a famous United States frontiersman and friend of Daniel Boone , Simon Girty , Spencer Records , Thomas S . Hinde , Dr . Thomas Hinde , and Isaac Shelby . Family and early life . Simon Kenton was born at the headwaters of Mill Run in the Bull Run Mountains April 3 , 1755 , in what is now Fauquier County , Virginia ( birthplace was part of Prince William County at time of his birth prior to formation of Fauquier in 1759 ) to Mark Kenton Sr . ( an immigrant from Ireland ) and Mary Miller Kenton ( whose family was Scot - Welsh in lineage ) . In 1771 , at the age of 16 , thinking he had killed a man in a jealous rage ( the fight began over the love of a girl ) , he fled into the wilderness of Kentucky , West Virginia and Ohio , and for years went by the name " Simon Butler . " He later discovered that the victim had lived , and Kenton readopted his original name . He is buried in Urbana , Ohio at N 40° 22 . 688 W 083° 39 . 399 . Noted activities . In 1774 , in a conflict later labeled Dunmore ' s War , Kenton served as a scout for the European settlers against the Shawnee Indians . In 1777 , he saved the life of his friend and fellow frontiersman , Daniel Boone , at Boonesborough , Kentucky . The following year , Kenton was in turn rescued from the Indians by Simon Girty after enduring many days of running the gauntlet and various other tortures that should have killed Kenton . Kenton served as scout on the famous 1778 George Rogers Clark expedition to capture Fort Sackville and also fought with " Mad " Anthony Wayne in the Northwest Indian War in 1793 - 94 . Kenton moved to Urbana , Ohio in 1810 , and achieved the rank of brigadier general of the Ohio militia . He served in the War of 1812 as both a scout and as leader of a militia group in the Battle of the Thames in 1813 . This was the battle in which the famous Indian chief Tecumseh was killed . Kenton was chosen to identify Tecumseh ’ s body but , recognizing both Tecumseh and another fallen warrior named Roundhead , and seeing soldiers gleefully eager to carve up Tecumseh ’ s body into souvenirs , he identified Roundhead as Tecumseh . There is a large boulder on the west side of the Ritter Public Library , 5680 Liberty Avenue , Vermilion , Ohio that was found on a farm a few miles to the south inscribed " KENTON " and is believed to have been carved by Kenton himself . ( no photo available ) ( no reference ) After Martha Dowden died in a tragic house fire , Simon Kenton married Elizabeth Jarboe and had 6 children in his second marriage . Kenton died in ( and was initially buried at ) New Jerusalem in Logan County , Ohio . His body was later moved to Urbana , Ohio . After Kenton ' s death , his widow and a number of descendents went to northwestern Indiana , to an area in Jasper , White , and Pulaski Counties which was heavily settled by families who migrated there from Champaign County , Ohio , where Kenton is buried . Simon Kenton was also called Cut - ta - ho - tha by the Shawnees . Namesakes . The city of Kenton , the county seat of northwestern Ohio ' s Hardin County , was named in honor of Simon Kenton . A local school for the developmentally disabled in Hardin County is named Simon Kenton . Kenton County , Kentucky is named for him , as is Simon Kenton High School in Independence , Kentucky , the county seat . A statue honoring him is along Covington , Kentucky ' s Riverside Drive Historic District , overlooking the Ohio River . There are two Simon Kenton Elementary Schools , one in Greene County , Ohio , in the city of Xenia , and one in Clark County , Ohio in the city of Springfield . Simon Kenton Road is a residential street in a development at the base of Bull Run Mountain in Prince William County , Virginia The Simon Kenton Council is the name of a geographical division of the Boy Scouts of America , spanning from Central Ohio to northern Kentucky . In the Frontiersman Camping Fellowship of the Royal Rangers Indiana is designated the Simon Kenton Chapter . The Simon Kenton Pub in Bath County , Virginia is named after this notable frontiersman . The Simon Kenton Inn in Springfield , Ohio is located where Simon first settled in Ohio during the spring of 1799 . References . In " The Frontiersman , " there is a story that Kenton stole a British Cannon during Captain Henry Bird ' s 1780 Invasion of Kentucky : that Kenton and another man upset a canoe with a three pounder in it along with ammunition ; killed four guards and Marking the cannon spot for later retrieval . However this report is Folklore for the following reasons :