William Graham Swan William Graham Swan ( 1821 – April 18 , 1869 ) was an American attorney and politician active primarily in East Tennessee during the mid - 19th century . Swan served in the Confederate States Congress during the American Civil War , and served one term as mayor of Knoxville , Tennessee , from 1855 until late 1856 . He also helped establish the town of East Knoxville ( later annexed by Knoxville ) , and served as its first mayor in the late 1850s . In 1854 , Swan and his brother - in - law , Joseph Mabry , donated the initial land for the formation of Market Square in downtown Knoxville . Biography . Early life . Swan ' s early life is obscure , but he was likely born in East Tennessee or Alabama . He graduated from East Tennessee College ( now the University of Tennessee ) in 1838 , and studied law afterward . By 1843 , he had a law office on Gay Street in Knoxville , and he attended courts in Knox , Anderson , Roane , Campbell , and Claiborne counties . He served as Attorney General of Tennessee 1851 until 1853 . 1850s . Throughout the early 1850s , Swan speculated in land along the periphery of Knoxville , especially in what is now East Knoxville , which he helped develop . In 1854 , he and Mabry purchased several acres of land then located north of Knoxville ( the boundary at the time being Union Avenue ) . They donated a portion of this land to the city for creation of a Market House , laying the foundation for what is now Market Square . That same year , Swan and William Montgomery Churchwell founded the Knoxville Gas Light Company , which installed the first gas lights on Gay Street . Swan was elected Mayor of Knoxville in 1854 , succeeding James C . Luttrell , and served in this capacity from 1855 through most of 1856 . He made a number of progressive proposals , including the construction of a tunnel to allow development over the railroad , and the digging of a canal between First Creek and Second Creek to give factories navigable access to the Tennessee River ( both proposals were rejected ) . A measure was also passed during Swan ' s tenure that attempted to rein in the city ' s growing number of noisy saloons by giving the city recorder the authority to close saloons for an indefinite period of time . In 1855 , Swan met John Mitchel , an Irish nationalist visiting in Knoxville while in exile . Swan and Mitchel established a radical newspaper , the " Southern Citizen " , in 1857 . This newspaper defended the South and the practice of slavery , and went so far as to call for the reopening of the Atlantic slave trade . In 1856 , Swan was elected the first mayor of East Knoxville , which he had helped incorporate the previous year . Swan served as the new city ' s mayor until 1859 . East Knoxville was annexed by Knoxville in 1868 . Civil War . In the years leading up the Civil War , Swan was a staunch secessionist . Radical pro - Unionist William " Parson " Brownlow , whose " Knoxville Whig " had been quarreling with the " Knoxville Register " ( which was co - owned by Swan ) since the early 1850s , stepped up his attacks on Swan , calling him an unprincipled politician who had defected to the Democratic Party only after being snubbed by the Whigs . When Brownlow was arrested by Confederate authorities in late 1861 , Swan wrote a letter to Jefferson Davis demanding that Brownlow be hanged . Swan was elected to the First Confederate Congress in November 1861 , having easily defeated Knoxville attorney John Baxter , and was reelected in 1863 . As a congressman , Swan proposed high import taxes on European nations that refused to recognize the Confederacy , rejected federal taxation , and rejected the arming of slaves . In 1864 , Swan made national headlines when he attacked fellow Tennessee congressman Henry S . Foote , who had criticized Swan ' s friend , John Mitchel . After the war , Swan settled in Memphis , Tennessee , where he practiced law . He died on April 18 , 1869 , and is interred in Elmwood Cemetery .