Raccoon John Smith: Frontier Kentucky’s Most Famous Preacher

Lexington, Kentucky, has the honor of being the birthplace of the first genuinely homegrown American Christian faiths: the Disciples of Christ. Established in 1832 by the union of two Christian groups led by Alexander Campbell and Barton W. Stone, their descendent churches are now referred to by religious scholars as the Stone-Campbell movement. In the state’s best tradition, this historic movement soon acquired its own larger-than-life legend: Raccoon John Smith, the flamboyant frontier preacher of the southern Kentucky mountains. Smith moved to the lowland Bluegrass and braved considerable odds to preach and establish the self-described pure, nondenominational Christianity of Stone and Campbell throughout the state and beyond. The 1832 union of Stone and Campbell’s churches was in fact formalized not by Stone and Campbell, but by Stone together with Smith, who represented Campbell’s constituency in Kentucky. Raccoon John Smith occupies a well-deserved place both in Kentucky and Stone-Campbell history. All previous biographical studies have been colored by the religious faith he embraced and the legends that evolved around him, however, rather than giving an accurate account of Smith’s life. In Raccoon John Smith, Elder John Sparks fills this void in the literature about Smith, using historical sources to present a faithful portrait of a seminal frontier preacher and colorful figure in early Kentucky history.