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Campbell County was named for Colonel Arthur Campbell, a soldier of the Revolutionary War and Indian Wars. He was born in 1742 in Augusta County, Virginia and was the son of David Campbell. At age fifteen, Campbell joined the Virginia Militia to help protect the Virginia Frontier. While stationed at a Dickerson's Fort on the Cowpasture River in Bath County, VA, he and several others were out picking plums when a group of Wyandotte Indians surprised the group. A skirmish followed, and Campbell was captured after being slightly wounded in the knee. He spent the next three years as a prisoner of the Indians and spent much of the time wandering through the Great Lakes territory. Eventually, an Indian chief took him under his protection and then took him to the French fort located near present-day Detroit. With his knowledge of the western frontier, he was eventually able to escape the Indians and make his way to a group of British soldiers more than 200 miles away. The British were on a campaign into Western Indian Territory and engaged Campbell as a guide. Campbell was later awarded a grant of 1000 acres near present-day Louisville, KY as reward for his services.
During his lifetime, he was involved in many aspects of military and political life. Some of which include
• January 1775 - He served as a member of the comitte that drfted the Address of the Freeholders of Fincastle, VA.
• 1776 - He was chosen to represent Fincastle County, VA in the General Assembly.
• January 1777 - He was appointed county lieutenant and commander in chief of the militia.
• During the Revolutionary War, Campbell enlisted in the Virginia Militia and became commander of the 70th Regiment of the Virginia Militia.
• During 1781, Campbell was tone of the commissioner responsible for negotiating the Indian Treaties of 1781.
After the wars, Colonel Campbell settled on an estate on Yellow Creek, at the present site of Middlesboro, KY. He married his cousin, Martha Campbell. He lost two of his sons in the war of 1812: Captain James Campbell died at Mobile, AL and Colonel John B. Campbell fell at the battle of the Chippewa. Colonel Campbell died August 8, 1811 at the age of seventy-three.
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Colonel Arthur Campbell was one of the most distinguished pioneers of the Southeastern Kentucky. He was of Scottish extraction and was born in Augusta County, Virginia, November 3, 1754, old style, and died at site of present Middlesboro, then Knox, now Bell County, August 8, 1811. He was a man of importance and very influential in the early affairs of Southwestern Virginia and Southeastern Kentucky. He represented Fincastle County in the first constitutional convention of Virginia in 1776; was one of the first justices of the peace of Washington County, and of Fincastle County, 1773; was county lieutenant of Washington County; and was a lieutenant colonel of the (Washington County), Virginia militia. (1)
Colonel Campbell married his cousin, Margaret Campbell, daughter of Charles and sister to General William Campbell. In 1766 with his wife, he settled at Royal Oak, a mile east of present Marion, Smyth County, Virginia. Subsequently he settled on his plantation on Yellow Creek, site of present Middlesboro, Kentucky. He had acquired a very large estate of lands in Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky, negro slaves and other personal property at date of death, which was bequeathed to his widow and their children by will which was proved in the Knox (Kentucky) County Court in 1811.
(Listed 11 of the 12 children)
When Middlesboro first attracted the attention of the business people and was being developed, the grave of Colonel Arthur Campbell was discovered in an out-of-the-way place. The remains were removed by his Tennessee relatives and the grave newly marked. The grave was marked by an iron slab bearing the inscription:
"Sacred to the memory of Colonel Arthur Campbell, who was born in Augusta County, Virginia, November 3, 1754, old style, and after a well-spent life, as his last moments did and well could approve, of sixty-seven years, eight months and twenty-five days, ere a constitution preserved by rigid temperance and otherwise moral and healthy, could but with reluctance consent. (4) The lamp was blown out by the devouring effects of a cancer on the eighth day of August, 1811, leaving a widow, six sons and six daughters to mourn his loss and emulate his virtues.
"Here lies, entombed, a Revolutionary sage,
An ardent patriot of the age.
In erudition great, and useful knowledge to scan-
In philanthropy hospitable, the friend to man,
As a soldier brave Virtue, his morality.
As a commander, prudent His religion, charity.
He practiced temperance to preserve his health
He used industry to acquire wealth.
He studied physic to avoid disease.
He studied himself to complete his plan.
For his greatest study was to study man.
His stature tall, His person portly,
His features handsome, His manners courtly.
Sleep, honored, sire In the realms of rest
In doing justice to thy memory, A son is blest.
A son is inheriting in full thy name,
One who Aspires to all thy fame.
COLONEL ARTHUR CAMPBELL''