Thomas Walker and John Lewis were key figures in the Loyal Company, formed to claim land amid British control. Granted 800,000 acres in 1749, Walker explored through the Cumberland Gap in 1750, opening access to central Kentucky and southern West Virginia. By 1754, around 200 families had settled, though Indian raids during the French and Indian War disrupted progress.

After the war, Britain’s 1763 ban on westward settlement angered colonists. The Loyal Company pushed back, helping negotiate the 1770 Treaty of Lochaber to expand Virginia’s territory. These disputes fueled tensions that led to the American Revolution.