James White (General)

James White
Speaker of the Tennessee Senate
In office 1797–1798
Preceded by	James Winchester
Succeeded by	William Blount
In office 1801–1805
Preceded by	Alexander Outlaw
Succeeded by	Joseph McMinn
Personal details
Born	1747 Rowan County, North Carolina
Died	August 14, 1821 Knoxville, Tennessee
Resting place	First Presbyterian Church Cemetery Knoxville, Tennessee
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	Colonial and state militias
Years of service	1779–1781, 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 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.

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.

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.

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