John Adair was an American pioneer, soldier and statesman. He was the eighth Governor of Kentucky and represented the state in both the U.S. House and Senate. A native of South Carolina, Adair enlisted in the state militia and served in the Revolutionary War, during which he was twice captured and held as a prisoner of war by the British. Following the war, he was elected as a delegate to South Carolina's convention to ratify the United States Constitution.
After moving to Kentucky in 1786, Adair participated in the Northwest Indian War, including a skirmish with the Miami chief Little Turtle near Fort St. Clair in 1792. Popular for his service in two wars, he entered politics in 1792 as a delegate to Kentucky's constitutional convention. After Kentucky's separation from Virginia, Adair was elected to a total of eight terms in the state House of Representatives between 1793 and 1803. He served as Speaker of the Kentucky House in 1802 and 1803, and was a delegate to the state's second constitutional convention in 1799. He ascended to the United States Senate to fill the seat vacated when John Breckinridge resigned to become Attorney General of the United States, but failed to win a full term in the subsequent election due to his implication in the Burr conspiracy. After a long legal battle, he was acquitted of any wrongdoing, and his accuser, General James Wilkinson, was ordered to issue an apology, but the negative publicity kept him out of politics for more than a decade.
