Esther Whitley

Feminine derring-do on the Kentucky frontier from Helen Deiss Irvin’s Women in Kentucky (Univ Press of Kentucky, 1979):

Of those who survived the immigration, some were better equipped than others for the rigors of frontier life. One who flourised naturally there was teh vigorous Esther Whitely, who came to Kentucky early, in 1775, when fine land was still plentiful. Esther and her husband, William Whitley, were colorful people, tempered by violence, and cool hands in a crisis. A crack shot, Esther Whitley was depended upon as a defender of Logan’s Fort. While other women molded bullets, Esther, along with Jane Manifee, took her place among the riflemen.

Her son related with pride that once when the men at Logan’s Fort were holding a shooting match in 1777, William Whitley walked in from hunting or scouting, casually handed his rifle to Esther, and urged her to join the contest. With her first shot, she beat all previous shots. Although the competition went on until nightfall, no one could beat her, and she took the prize: all the bullets scraped from the target, no insignificant matter in a poor frontier settlement where lead was scarce. [pp. 6-7]

Esther Whitley gets 4 pages in this terse little book that covers a couple of centuries in 125 pages.