James White (General)

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James White (General) bigraphy, stories - American militia general

James White (General) : biography

1747 – August 14, 1821

James White (1747 – August 14, 1821) was an American pioneer and soldier who founded Knoxville, Tennessee, in the early 1790s. Born in Rowan County, North Carolina, White served as a captain in the county’s militia during the American Revolutionary War. In 1783, he led an expedition into the upper Tennessee Valley, where he discovered the future site of Knoxville. White served in various official capacities with the failed State of Franklin (1784–1788) before building White’s Fort in 1786. The fort was chosen as the capital of the Southwest Territory in 1790, and White donated the land for a permanent city, Knoxville, in 1791. He represented Knox County at Tennessee’s constitutional convention in 1796. During the Creek War (1813), White served as a brigadier general in the Tennessee militia.East Tennessee Historical Society, Mary Rothrock (ed.), The French Broad-Holston Country: A History of Knox County, Tennessee (Knoxville, Tenn.: The Society, 1972), pp. 503-505.

White had a reputation for patience and tactfulness that was often lacking in his fellow Euro-American settlers on the Appalachian frontier. As lieutenant colonel commandant of the Knox County militia, White managed to defuse a number of potentially hostile situations between the settlers and the local Native Americans. He donated the land for many of Knoxville’s early public buildings, and helped establish Blount College (now the University of Tennessee). White’s descendants continued to play prominent roles in the political and economic affairs of Knoxville into the twentieth century.

Biography

Early life

White was born in what is now Iredell County, North Carolina, but was then part of Rowan County, to Moses White and Mary McConnell White, who were of Scots-Irish descent. In 1770, White married Mary Lawson. White served as a captain in the Rowan County militia during the American Revolution, which would subsequently entitle him to a tract of land as payment for his service.

As a result of North Carolina’s Land Grab Act, which opened up lands in what is now East Tennessee to settlement, White and several others explored the Tennessee Valley as far west as what is now Lenoir City in 1783. White eventually obtained a grant for a tract of land at what is now Knoxville, and in 1784 he was elected to the senate of the new State of Franklin, a position which kept him preoccupied for the next two years. White relocated to what is now Knox County in 1785, initially settling at the Riverdale community east of modern Knoxville. Within a year, however, he had moved to his tract along the confluence of First Creek and the Tennessee River, and built what became known as White’s Fort.East Tennessee Historical Society, Lucile Deaderick (ed.), Heart of the Valley: A History of Knoxville, Tennessee (Knoxville, Tenn.: East Tennessee Historical Society, 1976), pp. 3-4.

White’s Fort

In 1786, White and fellow explorer James Connor erected White’s Fort on a hill overlooking the confluence of First Creek and the Tennessee River. William Blount, governor the Southwest Territory (created in 1790), chose the fort as the Territory’s capital, and appointed White justice of the peace and a major in the Hawkins County militia. The following year, White set aside a portion of his land for the creation a territorial capital, named "Knoxville" after Secretary of War Henry Knox. The new city was platted by White’s son-in-law, Charles McClung, and lots were sold in October 1791.

Upon creation of Knox County in 1792, White became lieutenant colonel commandant of the new county’s militia. This appointment came during the latter years of the Chickamauga Wars, a period of heightened hostilities between the Chickamauga Cherokee and the white settlers. In 1793, White defused a potentially violent situation when he dispered a mob of angry settlers that had amassed at Gamble’s Station for a march against the Overhill towns. The Cherokee considered White a man of honor,Charles Faulkner, . Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, 2002. Retrieved: 24 June 2010. and the Creeks praised his "goodness." In 1798, White helped negotiate the First Treaty of Tellico.