West Virginia, "The Mountain State," was the western part of the Commonwealth of Virginia until June 20, 1863, and was settled by Germans and Scotch-Irish. Kentucky, named for the Kentucky River bearing an Indian name and called the "Dark and Bloody Ground," became a line of defense between the English and French during the French and Indian War from 1754 to 1763, was explored by Daniel Boone in 1769, was settled at Harrodsburg in 1774, became a Virginia county in 1776, and entered the Union as a state in 1792.