Robert Todd ( pioneer ) Brigadier General Robert Todd ( c . 1757 - March 1814 or 1820 ) was an 18th - century American pioneer , politician and soldier . As an officer in the Continental Army under General " Mad " Anthony Wayne , he took part in the Indian Wars and the western campaign during the American Revolutionary War . Together with his brothers John Todd and General Levi Todd , he was involved in the early economic and political development of Kentucky prior to its admission into the United States in 1792 . Biography . Born in Pennsylvania as the second son of David Todd and Hannah Owen , he lived with relatives in Virginia as a child and attended the school of his uncle Parson John Todd . He studied law , reportedly in the office of General Andrew Lewis , before moving to Kentucky in the spring of 1776 . He was one of the founders of Lexington , Kentucky and soon became involved in local politics and public affairs in the Fayette County area . On December 29 , he was seriously wounded defending McClelland ' s Station against the Mingo chieftain Pluggy . He continued to be involved in defending the Kentucky frontier participated in expeditions with General Charles Scott . After the death of his brother John at the Battle of Blue Licks , Robert Todd was elected to succeed his brother as trustee of Lexington on December 12 , 1782 . He was also assigned by the council to survey the town . His reputation as an experienced and formidable Indian fighter led him to join General Anthony Wayne who he served as a captain during the Illinois campaign . In 1787 , acting on information by local Shawanese , he launched a preemptive strike against a Cherokee raiding party at Paint Lick killing three warriors and taking seven others prisoner . These men would escape the following day , however . In his later years , Todd became a distinguished statesman in Kentucky serving as a delegate for Kentucky County to the Virginia legislature and at least one of the conventions to draft a state constitution . He was also one of the commissioners selected to divide the land in Clark ' s Grant among the veterans of the Battle of Kaskaskia and Vincennes and later one of the original trustees of Clarksville , Virginia . In 1792 , following Kentucky ' s admission into the United States , Todd represented Fayette County in the first Kentucky senate , and served as a circuit judge for a number of years . He was again selected as one of three commissioners to choose a location of the new state capital . When the vote was tied between Frankfort and Lexington , he chose in favor of Frankfort as opposed to his hometown . As he possessed roughly near the settlement , he did not want his vote " " to be governed by selfish considerations " " . By the time of the Northwest Indian War , he was part of a contingent of mounted volunteers from Lexington and Fayette County which included General James Wilkinson and Thomas Lewis . In June 1792 , he was appointed a brigadier general under Wayne and participated in the Battle of Fallen Timbers commanding the 3rd Kentucky Mounted Volunteers . He kept a personal diary of his experiences in the Indian campaigns , however , it remains unpublished . He died at the home of his son , Dr . John Todd , in Lexington in March 1814 or in 1820 . Of his six children , his youngest son Thomas J . Todd was a member of the Indiana General Assembly representing Marion County in the Senate from 1843 to 1846 . His daughter Eliza was the wife of General William O . Butler .