Lytle family


The Lytle family was a prominent American family that played significant roles in the settlement and development of Kentucky and Ohio from the late 18th to the mid-19th centuries. The family's prominence began with Captain William Lytle, who led settlers to Kentucky in 1780. His son, William Lytle II, became the first landed millionaire in the West and founded Cincinnati College and Cincinnati Law College. The family produced several notable figures, including William Haines Lytle, a lawyer, poet, and Brigadier General who died in the American Civil War. Lytles served in various conflicts, including the French and Indian War, the American Revolutionary War, the Mexican–American War, and the Civil War. The family's influence extended to politics, with members such as Robert Todd Lytle serving in the United States Congress. Their legacy is commemorated in Cincinnati's Lytle Park Historic District, which includes the site of the former Lytle mansion, donated to the city in 1903.

Captain William Lytle

Captain William Lytle, son of Christopher Lytle, 1693–1783, from Cumberland County. Pa. served in the British army in the French and Indian War and was deeded of land for service in the Revolutionary War. He solicited settlers to follow him with the promise of land in Kentucky, then part of Virginia. In April 1780, Capt. Lytle and his family led 63 Kentucky flatboats of settlers accompanied by 1,000 fighting men, down the Ohio to the falls of the Ohio. They passed the future site of Cincinnati April 11 where they attacked and chased an Indian party which escaped on horseback. They continued on to Beargrass Creek, landing on April 15, 1780. Lytle made his permanent home near Lexington, Ky, in August, 1787.
Three Lytle relatives were named Surveyor General of the Northwest Territory, based in Cincinnati after 1808. Family members included William Lytle II, the Surveyor General of Illinois, Congressman Robert Todd Lytle, Brig. Gen. William Haines Lytle, and members of the Livingood family. Captain Lytle gave land to his daughter Anne for a wedding gift on which she and her husband, Judge John Rowan, built the Federal Hill Mansion, in Bardstown, Kentucky, which, according to tradition, inspired the song My Old Kentucky Home.
  • **The following is asking for accuracy or clarification of the above historical account:
I question the accuracy of this. The image you show is of Captain William Lytle, a Revolutionary War hero, did not settle in Bardstown, Kentucky. He settled in and helped establish Murfreesboro, Tn.. Additionally, he donated land to build the town. He built his stately home there. His wife and one of several daughters were both named Nancy Ann. His daughter married a Tilford, and they lived in Murfreesboro. Because they may be distant cousins, Captain William Lytle of Murfreesboro and Captain Lytle in Kentucky along with General William Haines Lytle of Cincinnati are often confused; however, General William H. Lytle are also a generation apart. General Willam Lytle of Cincinnati was a Civil War soldier. Other confusing points may be that they were both members of the Society of Cincinnati and both families originated from Pennsylvania.
Captain William Lytle of Murfreesboro and his brother Lt. Archibald Lytle fought with George Washington. They both received land grants following the war. In addition, Lt. Archibald was awarded 26,000 thousand acres. Archibald died at an early age and gave the 26,000 acre land grant to his brother Captain William Lytle making him one of the largest landowners in TN. Most of this land was in TN.
By S. Henry great-great-great granddaughter of Captain William Lytle of Murfreesboro, TN.

William Lytle

His son, William Lytle, amassed a fortune surveying the lands of Revolutionary War veterans granted land in Ohio, and was a good friend of Andrew Jackson, serving in his "kitchen cabinet". Considered the first landed millionaire in the West, Lytle lost most of his money during a financial panic when western landowners could not pay their debts and the banks in Cincinnati failed. Using the land from his father's land grant, he founded Cincinnati College and Cincinnati Law College. He funded it with $500 of his personal money, land donated by his father William Lytle, and $500 he solicited from a group of prominent first citizens of Cincinnati. Each shareholder took turns serving on the Board of the Cincinnati College.
As a lad of only sixteen, William rode with Colonel Benjamin Logan on his famed "Logan's Raid," a punitive expedition against the Shawnee villages located near the headwaters of the Great Miami and Mad Rivers in west central Ohio in October, 1786. Lytle later penned his eyewitness account of the raid, and of the brutal murder of the great Shawnee chief Moluntha by Colonel Hugh McGary which Lytle himself attempted unsuccessfully to thwart.
The Lytles served in the French and Indian War, the American Revolutionary War, the Mexican–American War, and the Civil War.

William Haines Lytle

Brigadier Gen. William Haines Lytle was a lawyer, educated man and syndicated poet. His poems spoke of courage, loss, the glory of war and tales of gallantry. He led the Irish troops and was so admired by his troops that six weeks before his death they presented him with a medal to show their affection. His most famous poem, Antony and Cleopatra, was beloved by both North and South in antebellum America and regularly memorized by school children in the U.S. through the 1940s. General William Haines Lytle died leading a charge at Chickamauga in the Civil War. Lytle Hill, in Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, is named for him and a monument in the shape of a pile of cannonballs marks the spot where he fell. When he was shot, he fell from his horse with a half-finished poem in his pocket. A southern soldier who served with him in the Mexican–American War, stood guard over his body until arrangements could be made to return his body to the North. A Guard of Honor composed of fifteen officers and men from the 10th Ohio Volunteer Infantry was appointed to escort Lytle's body from Chickamauga to Cincinnati. Under a flag of truce, both southern and northern soldiers escorted his body to Louisville where it was loaded on a paddle-wheeler and returned to Cincinnati. Since most soldiers were buried where they fell in the Civil War, few bodies were returned to their families. The city immediately went into mourning with all the windows of the stores draped in black. His horse, Fallaballaugh, another gift from his troops, led a parade down 4th street, with Lytle's boots turned backwards in the stirrups to represent a riderless horse. A long line of dignitaries followed the coffin.
A branch of this family settled to the north in Butler County, where Judge Robert Lytle acquired a section of land from the U.S. and named it Milford Township. Prominent descendants include Sen. Homer Truett Bone, Secretary of Agriculture Claude R. Wickard, Gov. Andrew L. Harris, James McBride of Hamilton, and others.
Lytle Park, where the Lytle mansion was located, was donated to the city in 1903 by the family, with terms that it remain a park in perpetuity. When an expressway needed to be built downtown, the terms forced the Lytle Tunnel to be built under the park to preserve it. The statue of Abraham Lincoln at the entrance of the park was commissioned by the WPA Works Progress Administration.