Isaac Shelby, "Old Kings Mountain"

Maryland-born Isaac Shelby fought at Point Pleasant in Lord Dunmore's War, then helped lead the Overmountain Men to victory at Kings Mountain in 1780, a blow that cracked British control in the South. He moved to Kentucky in the 1780s, helped push statehood, and in 1792 the electoral college unanimously made him the commonwealth's first governor.

Sixteen years later he came back as the fifth governor and personally led Kentucky militia at the Battle of the Thames in the War of 1812. The county carved from Jefferson in June 1792 still carries his name.