In 1780, the Virginia legislature divided the previous Kentucky County into three smaller units: Fayette, Jefferson, and Lincoln.

However, the only sizable expedition against the Native Americans that Breckinridge County settlers took part in culminated in the Battle of Saline Creek in August 1786, in Illinois.

Captain William Hardin had commanded the Kentucky volunteers, many of whom also were killed or wounded.

Hardin's militia brought home 16 Shawnee scalps, nine captured horses, 17 muskets, and "a mighty nice sword".

[8] During the American Civil War, raiding Kentucky Confederate cavalry burned the courthouse, as it was being used by Union troops as a barracks, though most of the records were saved.

On March 12, 1865, Jerome Clarke, a well known Confederate guerrilla, claimed by some to have been Sue Munday, was captured near the Breckinridge–Meade County line.

During the nineteenth century, the Victoria Coal Mines, named in honor of British Queen Victoria, were the first to produce coal oil, and Cloverport exported it to Great Britain, where it was used to light Buckingham Palace.

On June 6, 1932, at Hardinsburg, Sam Jennings became the penultimate person to be publicly executed in the United States.

In the 1950s, Rough River Dam State Resort Park was developed at the southern border of the county.

A Roman Catholic seminary school operated in the Mount Merino community from 1838 to 1843.

Benedict and Richard Wathen, Mount Merino Seminary would today be considered a high school.

Founded by John Wesley Hughes, Kingswood College closed during the Great Depression.