James White | |
|---|---|
| Speaker of the Tennessee Senate | |
| In office 1797–1798 | |
| Preceded by | James Winchester |
| Succeeded by | William Blount |
| In office 1801–1805[1] | |
| Preceded by | Alexander Outlaw |
| Succeeded by | Joseph McMinn |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1747 Rowan County, North Carolina |
| Died | August 14, 1821 (aged 73–74) Knoxville, Tennessee |
| Resting place | First Presbyterian Church Cemetery Knoxville, Tennessee |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service | Colonial and state militias |
| Years of service | 1779–1781 (North Carolina Militia), 1790–1814 |
| Rank | Brigadier General |
| Commands | Hamilton District militia |
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 James 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.[2]
White had a reputation for patience and tactfulness that was often lacking in his fellow Euro-American settlers on the Appalachian frontier.[2] 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.[2]
- ^ Historical Constitutional Officers of Tennessee, 1796 - present, Territory South of the River Ohio, 1790 - 1796 Archived 2019-12-23 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed: 7 September 2012.
- ^ a b c Mary Rothrock, The French Broad-Holston Country: A History of Knox County, Tennessee (Knoxville, Tenn.: East Tennessee Historical Society, 1972), pp. 503-505.