page_title: History of Knoxville, Tennessee
section_title: Knoxville in the 1790s
hierarchical_section_title: History of Knoxville, Tennessee / Early Knoxville / Knoxville in the 1790s
caption_attribution_description: English: The Blockhouse at Knoxville, Tennessee, by artist Lloyd Branson. The painting depicts the federal blockhouse erected at Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, in 1794. NOTE: This image contains significant noise from the scan. For a clearer scan, see here.
context_page_description: The History of Knoxville, Tennessee, began with the establishment of James White's Fort on the Trans-Appalachian frontier in 1786. The fort was chosen as the capital of the Southwest Territory in 1790, and the city, named for Secretary of War Henry Knox, was platted the following year. Knoxville became the first capital of the State of Tennessee in 1796, and grew steadily during the early 19th century as a way station for westward-bound migrants and as a commercial center for nearby mountain communities. The arrival of the railroad in the 1850s led to a boom in the city's population and commercial activity.
  While a Southern city, Knoxville was home to a strong pro-Union element during the secession crisis of the early 1860s, and remained bitterly divided throughout the Civil War. The city was occupied by Confederate forces until September 1863, when Union forces entered the city unopposed. Confederate forces laid siege to the city later that year, but retreated after failing to breach the city's fortifications during the Battle of Fort Sanders.
  Following the war, business leaders, many from the North, established major iron and textile industries in Knoxville.
context_section_description: Following the sale of lots, Knoxville's leaders set about constructing a courthouse and jail. A garrison of federal soldiers, under the command of David Henley, erected a blockhouse in Knoxville in 1792.  The Cowan brothers, Nathaniel and Samuel, opened the city's first general store in August 1792, and John Chisholm's tavern was in operation by December 1792.  The city's first newspaper, the Knoxville Gazette, was established by George Roulstone in November 1791.  In 1794, Blount College, the forerunner of the University of Tennessee, was chartered, with Samuel Carrick as its first president.  Carrick also established the city's first church, the First Presbyterian Church, though a building wasn't constructed until 1816.
  In many ways, early Knoxville was a typical rowdy late-18th century frontier village. A detached group of Cherokee, known as the Chickamaugas, refused to recognize the Holston treaty, and remained a constant threat. In September 1793, a large force of Chickamaugas and Creeks marched on Knoxville, and massacred the inhabitants of Cavet's Station (near modern Bearden) before dispersing.  Outlaws roamed the city's periphery, among them the Harpe Brothers, who murdered at least one settler in 1797 before fleeing to Kentucky.  Abishai Thomas, an associate of Blount who visited Knoxville in 1794, noted that the city was full of taverns and tippling houses, no churches, and that the blockhouse's jail was overcrowded with criminals.
  In 1795, James White set aside more land for the growing city, allowing it to expand northward to modern Clinch Avenue and westward to modern Henley Street.  A census that year showed that Tennessee had a large enough population to apply for statehood.  In January 1796, delegates from across Tennessee, including Blount, Sevier, and Andrew Jackson, convened in Knoxville to draw up a constitution for the new state, which was admitted to the Union on June 1, 1796.  Knoxville was chosen as the initial capital of the state.
caption: Lloyd Branson's The Blockhouse at Knoxville, Tennessee, showing the federal blockhouse built in 1792
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