Bellefontaine is a city in and the county seat of
Logan County,
Ohio, United States. The population was estimated at
13,322 in 2011. It is the center of the Bellefontaine Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of
Logan County, as defined by the United States Census Bureau in 2003. The highest point in
Ohio, Campbell Hill, is within the city limits of Bellefontaine. Around 1777, the Shawnee war chief Blue Jacket (Weyapiersenwah) built a settlement here, known as Blue Jacket's Town. Blue Jacket and his band had previously occupied a village along the Scioto River, but the American Revolutionary War had reached the
Ohio Country. Blue Jacket and other American Indians who took up arms against the American revolutionaries relocated in order to be closer to their British allies at Detroit. After the United States gained independence, its forces continued warfare against former Indian allies of the British. Blue Jacket's Town was destroyed in
Logan's Raid, conducted by Kentucky militia in 1786 at the outset of the Northwest Indian War. The expedition was led by
Benjamin Logan, namesake of
Logan County. Blue Jacket and his followers relocated further northwest to the Maumee River.9
Beginning in the 1800s, American Revolutionary War veterans and others from Virginia and elsewhere began settling in the area of Blue Jacket's Town.