About American Colonels
Originally established in 1651 by the English colonists as a Title of Authority that could be designated to the landed gentry and to colonists born within the 13 colonies that were not related to the Lords or Dukes that "would be" and were the governors.
About the American Colonels Network
The American Colonels Network (Platform) is an independent non-state website presented as a creative work organized with an educational, genealogical, historic and literary interest in Colonelcy in the Americas and the role of the Colonel in the formation of the United States.
Our History
We began in 1998 as [colonel.org], the first website dedicated to Kentucky Colonels. Our prosperity was interrupted in 2001 after receiving legal threats from the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels causing us to cease operation of the website. Later in 2006 when the creator of the website noticed Kentucky colonels coming together online on Facebook forming a social media group and a new initiative was born to develop an international fellowship and promote the historic ideals of colonelcy and the traditions associated with the honorable title that was not aligned under the Honorable Order. In 2009 we started Kentucky Colonels International online with a Facebook page.
In 2016 our non-governmental organization and civil society development began generating interest from other Kentucky colonels in other independent groups, so we reintroduced the ideal of a public registry which we began in 1998 that allowed others to verify a person's honorary commissioned status and details. Again we were contacted by the Honorable Order which requested we make our disclaimer more prominent, claiming that our page was confusing others with them since they came online in 2015. In 2017 they also contacted us expressing an interest in the Kentucky Colonel Registry and offered to collaborate (however this never materialized). In 2019, we suggested preparing a merger proposal which they invited for presentation to their board in January 2020, this was rejected a week later.
Finding New Purpose in Creating Honor
This website was developed as a generic alternative based on the discovery of a rich illustrious history and the legal standing of colonels in Kentucky and America. In defending the lawsuit we discovered a rich and viable history behind the ideal and birth of the "Colonel" in the United States, a story which has never been told of thousands of figures both inside and outside of Kentucky dating back to 1651. The history of a timeline and story which can only be credited to Kentucky colonels, but also their link to thousands of colonels from Colonial America gives great posterity to our endeavor here with the creation of this website as an authoritative resource.
We also discovered in our research that the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels intentionally manipulated and obscured history to create a mythical and fictitious account which is best called their own, based on a propagandist version of events that has cheated many prominent figures of their own roles in history as Kentucky colonels. This faulty account of pseudohistory has become the official account for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, a number of books use this propagandized version and it has even influenced works prepared by the Kentucky Historical Society.
As a result of identifying this manipulated history readers should be aware that this website is being developed excluding information provided by the Honorable Order and is based mostly on references prior to their existence, unless relative to them specifically. There are actually several versions that they have promoted, all of them are blasphemous to academic researchers and historians despite the organization declaring itself as a historical custodian.
If you are curious about the lawsuit itself, we won when the case was dismissed, based on it presenting historical information that is of public record. It all began with the Honorable Order coveting secrets from their members, creating subjective manipulative control over their donors and their envy for our organization creating a potentially successful fraternal objective which they did not control. Kentucky Colonels International was sued in US Federal Court by the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels claiming the term "Kentucky Colonels" as their exclusive trademark for the commercial marketing of a clothing line, memorabilia, prepared food, cigars and services they provide using the term as a generic, descriptive, arbitrary, distinctive and suggestive trademarks and trade name of their organization without regard to other organizations that already existed to dominate and monopolize on it. In 2021 after settling the case with us, they trademarked bourbon using their mark and stopped the "Old Kentucky Colonel" brand from returning to the market.
Our Network (Platform) is Open-Source
This website is a creative work and open-source project developed to delineate and disambiguate the differences and similarities between these titles and recognize all those who have received the title as a civil honor or a military rank. We recognize all forms of North American Colonelcy as they all have emerged from the same common civil tradition beginning in the United States during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Our network is developed to help colonels elevate the title indiscriminately as a prestigious award and notable form of recognition by tracing the origin of the honorable title of Colonel in history. The network serves as an equal platform for all of its participants and users. Organizations and institutions listed here does not imply their direct affiliation or association with this network, but it does attempt to bring together all those organizations to mutually recognize one another and provide a complete informational record for the public. All content presented here is based on publicly-sourced information or that which is provided by contributors of the network. To submit information for consideration that is historical or contemporary in nature please send it to webmaster@colonels.net
To join us as an editor is easy, just write a professionally styled letter, attach a copy of your commission and a copy of a photo ID card and tell us what your ideas are. In December of 2022 we are launching a platform based objective and colonels will be able to become stakeholders in the platform.