John Sevier | |
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Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 2nd district | |
In office March 4, 1811 – September 24, 1815 |
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Preceded by | Robert Weakley |
Succeeded by | William Grainger Blount |
1st Governor of Tennessee | |
In office September 23, 1803 – September 20, 1809 |
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Preceded by | Archibald Roane |
Succeeded by | Willie Blount |
In office March 30, 1796 – September 23, 1801 |
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Preceded by | William Blount (as Governor of the Southwest Territory) |
Succeeded by | Archibald Roane |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's 5th district | |
In office June 16, 1790 – March 3, 1791 |
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Preceded by | New office |
Succeeded by | William B. Grove |
Governor of Franklin (Extra-legal state) |
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In office March, 1785 – February, 1788 |
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Preceded by |
Richard Caswell (as Governor of North Carolina) |
Succeeded by |
Samuel Johnston (as Governor of North Carolina) |
Personal details | |
Born |
Rockingham County, Virginia |
September 23, 1745
Died | September 24, 1815 Alabama Territory |
(aged 70)
Resting place |
Knox County Courthouse Knoxville, Tennessee |
Political party | Democratic-Republican |
Spouse(s) | Sarah Hawkins (1761–1780, her death) Catherine "Bonny Kate" Sherrill (1780–1815, his death) |
Signature | |
Military service | |
Allegiance |
United Kingdom United States |
Service/branch |
Virginia Colonial Militia (1773-1774) |
Years of service | 1773–1796 (militias) |
Rank | Brigadier General |
Battles/wars |
Lord Dunmore's War American Revolutionary War • Fort Watauga (1776) • Kings Mountain (1780) Cherokee–American wars • Boyd's Creek (1780) • Flint Creek (1789) • Hightower (1793) |
Virginia Colonial Militia (1773-1774)
North Carolina Militia (1776-1784)
State of Franklin Militia (1784-1788)
John Sevier (September 23, 1745 – September 24, 1815) was an American soldier, frontiersman and politician, and one of the founding fathers, of the State of Tennessee. He played a leading role, both militarily and politically, in Tennessee's pre-statehood period, and was elected the state's first governor in 1796. Sevier served as a colonel in the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780, and commanded the frontier militia in dozens of battles against the Cherokee in the 1780s and 1790s.
Sevier arrived on the Tennessee Valley frontier in the 1770s. In 1776, he was elected one of five magistrates of the Watauga Association and helped defend Fort Watauga against an assault by the Cherokee. At the outbreak of the War for American Independence, he was chosen as a member of the Committee of Safety for the association's successor, the Washington District. Following the Battle of Kings Mountain, he led an invasion that destroyed several Chickamauga towns in northern Georgia. In the 1780s, Sevier served as the only governor of the State of Franklin, an early, unsuccessful, attempt at statehood by the trans-Appalachian settlers. He was brigadier general of the Southwest Territory militia during the early 1790s.
Sevier served six two-year terms as Tennessee's governor, from 1796, until 1801, and from 1803 to 1809, with term limits preventing a fourth consecutive term in both instances. His political career was marked by a growing rivalry with rising politician Andrew Jackson, which nearly culminated in a duel in 1803. After his last term as governor, Sevier was elected to three terms in the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1811 until his death in 1815.