Note 95 — JOURNAL OF ANDRÉ MICHAUX

Knoxville was settled by James White in 1787, and at first called White’s Station. In 1791 a town was laid out, named in honor of General Knox, which after the establishment of territorial government became the capital. The first governor of the territory was William Blount, who was born in North Carolina in 1749, and was active both in the War of the Regulators (1771), and in the Revolution. Blount was a member of the North Carolina legislature and later of the national constitutional convention. Washington appointed him governor of Southwest Territory, and on the admission of Tennessee as a state he was chosen first state senator. For intriguing with foreign emissaries he was impeached, and expelled from the Senate. The people, however, showed their confidence by choosing him to the state senate (1797). He died in Knox County in 1800.—​Ed.