Biography

Isaac Shelby lived his entire life on the frontier. He was born in 1750 in western Maryland to a Welsh immigrant and fur merchant. As a teen he learned to survey and became deputy sheriff. A war with Native Americans destroyed the family business when Shelby was in his early 20s. The family moved to what now is northeastern Tennessee, then part of Virginia. His first military action came in the Virginia militia against Natives in 1774. Shelby worked briefly as a surveyor for famed frontiersman Daniel Boone’s land company and for Virginia. He was called back to the militia two years later for the Revolution. Until 1780 he mostly led units protecting supply and surveying missions, including one “which incidentally placed his home in North Carolina.”[1] His new state immediately made him a major in its militia. In that role Shelby was a leader of the Overmountain Men and brokered a change of command prior to their victory at the