The detailed narrative of events connected with East Tennessee, and especially Knoxville, during the first few years of its existence, will convey some idea of the fearful and imminent perils amidst which its infancy was passed, and give some faint impression of the more marked traits of character which its early inhabitants possessed, in common with those of the inhabitants of the whole country. Their glowing love of country, their lofty independence, their devoted courage, their high religious trust, their zeal for education, as the consequence of their deep regard for the welfare of their descendants; all demand our applause and emulation!
On the 7th of August, 1790, William Blount, of North Carolina, received his commission as governor of the territory south of the river Ohio, by appointment of President George Washington, and arrived in the country the following October. He took up his residence at the dwelling-house of Mr. Cobb, on the banks of the Watauga, early in 1791, and soon after settled permanently at the infant Knoxville. A manuscript narrative of an old soldier, who, with a company of militia, on their way to Cumberland, encamped for six weeks about that time near the creek west of the town -- where, according to his account, the soldiers wrestled so much, as to give the place the name of Scuffletown, which it yet bears -- mentions the encampment of John Watts, Esq., and Double Head, Esq., before the cabin of Gov. Wm. Blount, on the knoll between the hill on which East-Tennessee University now stands, and the river.
The treaty of Holston, concluded with the Cherokees on the 2d of July, 1791, was held on the bank of the river at the foot of Water street, where a few rude shanties were erected for the reception of government stores; and in the words of an ancient act: "Gov. Wm. Blount having determined to fix the seat of government on the spot," it was deemed expedient there to establish a town, which was accordingly laid out in February, 1792, immediately below the second creek that runs into the Holston on the north side, below the mouth of French Broad (the present residence of our esteemed friend, J. G. M. Ramsey), by Gen. James White, original proprietor of the soil, and called Knoxville, in honor of Maj. Gen. Henry Knox, then Secretary of War. It will be observed, that this determination of Gov. Wm. Blount is given in the act, as: "the reason par excellence" for the establishment of the town, and most sufficient reason was it.
Gen. James White lived in the neighborhood, and had a blockhouse to guard his family. At the treaty of Holston they used river water entirely, until Trooper Armstrong, Esq., discovered the spring to the right of the street leading from the court-house to what is now called Hardscrabble. He, at the time, requested Gen. James White, in a jest, to let him have the lot, including the spring, when the town was laid off; and when that was done the General preserved the lot and made him a deed to it.
In February, 1792, Col. Charles McClung surveyed the lots and laid off the town of Knoxville. It excited no particular interest at the time. The whole town was then a thicket of brushwood and grape vines, except a small portion in front of the river, where all the business was done. There never was any regular public sale of lots; Gen. James White sold anybody a lot who would settle on it, and improve it, for eight dollars; and in this way, at this price, the lots were generally disposed of. Gov. Wm. Blount lived on Barbary [sic] Hill, a knoll below College Hill and between it and the river, and the principal settlements in the country were on Beaver creek.
All the families lived in forts pretty much in those days; and when the fields were cultivated, there was always a guard stationed around them for protection. There was a fort at Campbell's Station, which was the lowest settlement in East-Tennessee. The next fort and settlement were at Blackburn's, west of the Cumberland Mountains; the next at Fort Blount, on the Cumberland river; the next was a fort at Bledsoe's Lick; and then the French Lick, now Nashville.
On the 11th of June, 1792, Knox county was established by an ordinance issued by the governor, Wm. Blount. His excellency being sincerely devoted to the interests of the country, and anxious that all important intelligence should be promptly brought to the knowledge of the people, induced the immigration of Mr. Roulstone, a printer, who arrived in the country with the materials of his trade in 1791; Knoxville, at that time, having no existence beyond a prospective one, based upon the governor's intention, the disciple of Faust stopped at Rogersville, and in that place, on the 5th of November, 1791, issued the first number of the Knoxville Gazette. The office was, however, soon removed to Knoxville itself. The Gazette was the first paper published within the limits of the present State of Tennessee.
Notwithstanding the pledges of perpetual amity made by the Cherokees at the treaty of Holston, they very soon afterward gave decided evidences of hostility. The white man was shot down at his plough by an unseen hand; children gathering berries were tomahawked and scalped; the quiet family were aroused at midnight by a war-whoop, and the morning sun looked down upon their butchered forms and the smoking ruins of their dwellings. A terrible apprehension hung round every fireside!
The treaty of Holston provided for the delivery of certain valuable goods to the Cherokees, and the annual payment to them of a thousand dollars; but in the following December, the President was unexpectedly visited by an embassy, headed by Bloody Fellow, intent, among other objects, upon the substitution of $1,500 in goods for the $1,000 in money. This request was granted, and the division of this treasure was to take place at Coyatee, in May, 1792.
The Spanish authorities in Florida and Louisiana had watched with much jealousy the extension of the settlements in the valley of the Mississippi. Mr. Panton, a British merchant in Pensacola, who had realized immense gains from the Indians, and whose interest urged him to encourage them to hostilities with the Americans, addressed a letter to John Watts and Bloody Fellow. This letter invited them, in the name of O'Neal, governor of Florida, to visit Pensacola with ten pack-horses, promising them arms and ammunition from the governor, and goods from Panton to the extent of their wants. The letter of Panton was written from the house of McDonald, a Scotch resident in the nation, to which place Watts instantly departed, and being furnished with a letter from McDonald to Gov. O'Neal, started without delay for Pensacola. Upon Watts' return in August (1792), from Pensacola, Gov. Wm. Blount invited him to visit Knoxville, but he treated the request with entire neglect, and proceeded to Willstown, where the Cherokees were assembling to hear his report. Watts addressed them, told of his visit to Florida, lauded the Spaniards, denounced the Americans, and advised war. Bloody Fellow replied in opposition. "Look!" said he, "at that flag! Don't you see the stars in it? They are not towns; they are nations!"
The party numbered six hundred. Calculating upon an accession of two or three hundred, it was resolved to form four equal divisions, attack and desolate the Holston settlements, as high up as the Big Island of that river, then scatter in small companies, and perform the same offices upon the French Broad settlements up to its head.
The same day on which John Watts arrived at Pensacola, another Cherokee chief, Unacatahe (White-Man Killer), came with his wife to Knoxville, and feasted upon the hospitality of Gov. Wm. Blount for ten consecutive days. He made no professions of business, but abundant professions of friendship. It is not improbable, that he was delegated by John Watts to spy out the nakedness of the place. He at length departed with a canoe laden with whiskey, and landed, on the same day on which his tawny brethren determined in council, at Lookout Mountain town, upon their attack on the Cumberland settlements, with his liquid treasure, at the mouth of Lookout Mountain creek, fifteen miles distant. The news of his arrival soon reached the council-men, and a deputation was instantly started for the fire-water. Of course there was no talk the next day, for the warriors were stupid with intoxication. Had Unacatahe represented Knoxville and the adjoining settlements as open to attack, the arms of the party would, no doubt, have been turned against them.
Deraque, a Frenchman, and Finnelston, a half-breed, were sent to Nashville, with a promise to return in ten nights with a report of the country's condition for defence [sic]. The warriors at Lookout Mountain town, however, did not wait the return of their faithless emissaries; but after recovering from the effects of the fire-water at Knoxville, dispersed, and only two hundred of them, headed by John Watts, were shortly afterward repulsed from Buchanan's Station. Watts was severely wounded, and, moved by the apprehension that Gen. Sevier would enter the nation and destroy their villages, he sent a delegation to Gov. Wm. Blount with pacific assurances. They arrived at Knoxville, on the 5th of January, 1793.
The early inhabitants of the country were gifted, in an eminent degree, with a high-toned spirit of independence. It was this, when suffering acutely under a sense of wrong, that led them to spurn the injustice, real or imaginary, of their rulers, and to the formation of the short-lived State of Franklin. The President, although unable to meet the wishes of the borderers in regard to offensive operations, was sedulous to cultivate a friendly temper among the Indians, and requested of Gov. Wm. Blount to invite the Cherokees to send a deputation with him to Philadelphia.
Gov. Blount accordingly held a conference with them at Henry's Station, on the 17th April, 1792, when he earnestly pressed them to a compliance with the President's request, but they declined a decision at the time. The Chickasaws had been the fast friends of the Americans, and many of them had fought gallantly under our flag. To the Shawnees they were highly obnoxious, and the Creeks, too, regarded them with bitter feelings. The Chickasaws were brave, but too few, unaided, to contend successfully with their haughty and insolent foes. They called upon the white man for help, and reminded them of their mutual agreement to be as one man in regard to both enemies and friends. Two Chickasaws, who were at Gov. Wm. Blount's on a visit, went with a Cherokee, who was attached to their company, into the woods to look for their horses.
About six hundred yards from the Governor's house, they were fired upon by some dastardly whites, to whom it was supposed the Cherokee was odious, and one of the Chickasaws received a mortal wound. He died the next day and was buried with military honors, the governor walking with the brother of the departed warrior at the head of the funeral procession, as chief-mourners, followed by a large number of the citizens of the town and adjacent country. The regret and indignation were general. A reward of one hundred dollars was proclaimed by his excellency for the detection of the offenders, and mounted men scoured the country in search of them.
Prior to Gov. Wm. Blount's departure for Philadelphia, a party of Indians murdered Mr. Gilham and his son in the neighborhood of Bullrun block-house, sixteen miles from Knoxville, and Major Beard, with a company of fifty-six men, was dispatched in pursuit of the marauders, under instructions not to cross the Tennessee river. These orders were transcended, and, about daybreak of the 12th of June (1793), they reached the house of Hanging Maw, where a number of Cherokees had assembled, by invitation of the government, for purposes of business with Maj. King and Daniel Carmichael.
In the blindness of their rage, Beard's men attacked the party, killed sever al, including Hanging Maw's wife, wounded the old chief himself, and only desisted from burning the house at the earnest instance of King and Carmichael. Smith, the secretary of state -- Gov. Wm. Blount being absent -- wrote from Knoxville to Hanging Maw and other chiefs, urging them not to take redress into their own hands, but to visit their great father, the President, and he would give them satisfaction.
The reply of Hanging Maw is too good to be lost:
"COYATEE, June 15, 1793.*
"FRIEND AND BROTHER: It is but a few days since you were left in the place of Gov. Blount. While he was in place, nothing happened. Surely they are making their fun of you. Surely you are no head-man or warrior. I am just informed you will take satisfaction for me, and I shall reckon it just the same as if I had taken it myself. I reckon you are afraid of these thieves, when you talk of sending to Congress. If you are left in the place of governor, you ought to take satisfaction yourself. It was but a few days since I was at your house, and you told me that nothing should happen to me nor any people at my house; but, since that, blood has been spilt at both our houses. I reckon that the white people are just making their fun of you.
Governor Blount always told me that nothing should happen me as long as I did live, but he had scarcely got out of sight until I was invaded by them, and like to have got killed. I think you are afraid of these bad men. They first killed the Chickasaws at your house, and this is the second time of their doing mischief. I think you are afraid of them. When is the day that a white man was killed at my house? I think the white men make fun of you. Now, blood is spilt at both our houses by your people. I think they are making fun of you and won't listen to your talks."
Since April, 1793, the Spaniards had made professions of amicable interference between the United States and the Indians, but were either insincere or fickle in their policy, for it is unquestionable, that they did not hesitate to invite the latter to the proposed descent upon the Holston settlements, which contemplated the destruction of Knoxville. On the 12th of September, 1793, Jaudenes, with the approval of the Baron de Carondelet, Spanish governor at New-Orleans, transmitted instructions by Little Turkey to Governor White, at Pensacola, to furnish the Cherokees with seven hundred pounds of powder and fourteen hundred of ball for this intended foray.
Knoxville, the object of plunder and ruin, could at that time muster but forty fighting men; but these forty were no cravens to fly at approach of danger, deaf to the call of duty. Here were their homes, their families, their all! A knowledge of Indian cunning induced them to conclude, that the approach of the savages to the town would not be made by the main western road, but in a more northern and circuitous direction; and they determined to meet them on the ridge, over which the road to Clinton now passes, about one and a half miles from town, and there, by a skilful [sic] arrangement of their little company, check their march, and, if possible, alarm and intimidate them.
Leaving the two eldest of their number to mould [sic] bullets in the block-house, which stood on the spot now occupied by the Mansion House, and which contained three hundred guns belonging to the United States, the other thirty-eight proceeded, under the command of Col. James White, to station themselves on the south side of the ridge above mentioned, with an interval of twenty feet between each man. Orders were given to preserve their fire, until the Indians were brought within the range of every gun, when, at a given signal, they were to pour in upon them a well-directed volley, and, before the savages could recover from their surprise, secure their own retreat to the block-house.
Happily, the Indians were so delayed by their own dissensions, that they were unable to reach Knoxville before daylight, and therefore abandoned the attack. This delay was mainly attributable to their differences in consultation upon a point which Providence intended should never come within reach of their decision. The question arose among them, whether they should massacre all the inhabitants of Knoxville, or only the men. Hanging Maw, less sanguinary than others, protested earnestly against an indiscriminate slaughter. They determined finally it was prudent to forbear the attack. They had marched all night, except the time consumed in fruitless debate, and about sunrise of the 25th of September (1793), commenced their attack on Covet's [Cavet's] Station, eight miles from Knoxville; but were received with such spirited resistance by the three men in the building, who alone were armed with guns, that two of their number were soon killed and three others wounded.
Through Bob Benge, a half-breed, who spoke English, a conference was opened with the whites, and assurances given them, that their lives should be spared upon surrender, and their persons exchanged for Indian prisoners. Covet [sic] and his party, including women and children, thirteen in number, consented to the proposal, but had scarcely crossed the threshold of the door, when the ferocious Double Head and his followers fell upon and murdered them all, with the exception of a child, who was saved by John Watts, taken as a prisoner to the Creek nation and afterward tomahawked. It is due to Bob Benge to state, that he strove to avert their fate.
Gen. Sevier, with a force of seven hundred men, who were formed into two divisions -- that from the Washington district under Col. Blair, and the other, from Hamilton district, under Col. Christy reached Eustanaula on the Coosa on the 14th of October (1793). Learning there that the Indians under Watts had passed by but a few days previous, on the way to a town on Hightower, they pressed on to that place, and, on the 17th of October, arrived at the junction of the Hightower, or Etowah, and Coosa. The savages were repelled with some loss and fled with precipitation. Several Spanish guns were found in their encampment. Sevier's army crossed the Coosa unmolested, and returned to Knox county with the loss of only three men.
The feelings of impatience in the territory, under the forbearing policy of the government toward the Indians, were given vent to in October (1793), by the grand jury of Hamilton district, composed of the counties of Knox and Jefferson, in an address to the governor, expressing the hope, that Congress would now regard an appeal for the protection of the territory, and suggesting to his excellency the fact, that they were entitled to an assembly of representatives, under the Congressional ordinance of 1787, which accorded them the right, whenever their free male inhabitants numbered 5,000. Two days after the governor ordered an election of members to a territorial assembly; the election was held on the 22d and 23d of December (1793); thirteen members were chosen from nine counties, Knox sending two, and the assembly met in Knoxville on the 4th Monday of February, 1794.
On Monday nothing was done except the appointment of the speaker and clerk. On Tuesday a procession was formed of the members, and, preceded by their speaker and the Governor, they went to a place of worship, where the Rev. Mr. Carrick delivered a sermon, the text of which may be found in Paul's Epistle to Titus, i, 2, 3. The assembly recommended to the governor offensive measures against the Indians, if possible, and adopted an address to Congress, recounting the grievances of their constituents, and urging a declaration of war against the Creeks and Cherokees; and a bill was introduced into Congress for the relief of the territory, but it eventually failed. Upon the conclusion of its labors, the assembly was prorogued by the governor to the 4th Monday in August (1794), when it again met.
Wisely regarding learning as the handmaid of religion, and essential to the perpetuity of liberal principles and free government, in September (1794) they established a college in the vicinity of Knoxville, which was called " Blount," in honor of the governor. This institution preserved its corporate existence until 1807, when the trustees resolved that, provided the general assembly established East Tennessee College within two miles from Knoxville, the act for the establishment of Blount College might be repealed, and its funds incorporated with those of the former; and the resolution, by the compliance of the legislature with this provision, was carried into effect.
East Tennessee College was established by law on the 26th of October, 1807, as one of the two colleges in the State, for which one hundred thousand acres of land, south of French Broad and Holston, and west of Big Pigeon river, had been set apart by act of Congress the previous year. The act of the legislature contemplated its establishment on ten acres of ground, two miles from Knoxville, conveyed in trust for that purpose by Moses White, Esq.; but the trustees being authorized to use the building previously occupied by Blount College, it was retained in town and not removed, until many years afterward, to the present site of the University.
At the same session, in 1794, Knoxville was established by law, and Col. James King, John Chisolm, Esq., Joseph Greer, Esq., George Roulstone, Esq., Samuel Cowan, Esq., were appointed commissioners. After the expedition of Gen. Sevier, the Indians were less active in the prosecution of hostilities than before, and in May, 1794, strong professions of a disposition for peace were made by Hanging Maw, on behalf of the nation.
In July (1794), Mr. John Ish was killed and scalped a few yards from his block-house, eighteen miles below Knoxville. John Boggs, with eight or ten Indians, under the direction of Major King, were instantly dispatched in pursuit of the murderers, a party of Creeks, and found one of the fugitives at a village near Hiwassee. He was tried, condemned, and executed, and died with stoical indifference. He was designated in the bill of indictment, as: Obonghohego of Toscaucaugee on Oakfuskee.
Several circumstances concurred about this time, to impel the Cherokees to measures of amity.
An expedition, commanded by Major Ore, of East Tennessee, in September (1794), attacked and burnt the towns of Nickajack and Running Water, upon the Tennessee, where the Creeks usually crossed in their irruptions [sic]; and the destruction of the towns was at tended with much loss of life to the savages.
Another event that happened to cool the hitherto inveterate ardor of the Hotspurs of the lower towns, was the victory of Gen. Wayne, on the Miami, in August (1794), of which a few of them were witnesses.
To add to their apprehension, was the current rumor of an early invasion of their country by a formidable body of men under the command of Gen. Logan and Col. Whitley of Kentucky.
The 13th of October (1794), brought to Gov. Wm. Blount a peace-talk from Double Head, the hero of the slaughter at Covet's Station, and who had just returned from a visit to the President.
John Watts became deeply penitent, and solicited, through Hanging Maw, a conference with the governor at Tellico. Four hundred warriors assembled on the 7th and 8th of November (1794). Watts offered the governor a string of white beads, as "a true talk and a public talk" from them, and appealed to Scolacutta to corroborate his assertions. Hanging Maw answered the appeal, and interceded in their favor.
The governor received the overtures of friendship with much gratification.
The 18th of December (1794), was designated by agreement, for an exchange of prisoners and other spoils of war, and the meeting ended with the social enjoyment of a smoke by the trio of head men from the pipe of peace.
Subsequent events did not belie the sincerity of these professions from the Cherokees, as a nation; but the Creeks continued their ravages.
On the night of the 25th of May, 1795, Mr. George Mann, living nineteen miles above Knoxville, heard a noise at his stable, and leaving his house to discover the cause, his return was intercepted by Indians, who fired upon and dangerously wounded him. He fled for concealment to a cave at a short distance, but was followed by the savages, dragged from his hiding-place and slain. The wife had heard the retreating footsteps of the Indians, as they pursued her husband, and having locked the door, sat in silent expectation, with her sleeping children around her. She is about to rush out and meet them; but she hears their voices in a strange tongue. The rifle is instantly in her hands. Stealthy steps are moving along the wall; the door is pressed against -- it yields -- is partly open -- a savage is on his hands and knees at the entrance -- another behind, and still another. Her finger is upon the trigger -- she thinks of her children and fires! The first Indian falls heavily to the ground the second screams with pain -- the others gather up the wounded and fly!
That lone woman, by her courage and presence of mind, had repulsed twenty-five savage warriors. Had a word escaped her lips after the explosion of the rifle, the lives of herself and children would have been lost. The perfect silence impressed the Indians, and believing armed men to be in the house, they fled.
In July, 1795, notable events occurred in the opening of the road from Knoxville to Nashville, so far as to allow the passage of a loaded wagon, and in the arrival at Knoxville, of two wagons from South Carolina, by way of the Warm Springs.
Peace, with its healing influences, was dawning upon the territory, so long distressed by a ruthless war; and the people rejoiced at the evidence of a free and safe intercourse with each other and with adjoining States, as the harbingers of rapidly increasing population and prosperity.
The governor had issued his proclamation for the meeting of the territorial legislature to consider the erection of the territory into a State, and on the 29th of June, 1795, the assembly convened, and provided by-laws for taking a census of the inhabitants, and, contingent upon the result of enumeration, for the election of members to a convention to form a State constitution. The inhabitants were found to number more than the requisite 60,000, and elections of five delegates to the convention, for each county, were held on the 18th and 19th of December, 1795. The convention met at Knoxville, on the 11th day of January, 1796, under fair auspices. The constitution was adopted on the 6th of February following, and on the 6th of June, 1796, Tennessee was admitted, by act of Congress, into the Union.
The constitution provided that Knoxville should be and remain the seat of government until 1804. Subsequent legislatures continued it so until 1807, when, on the 21st of September, the Legislature met at Kingston, but, two days afterward, adjourned to Knoxville. The final removal of the seat of government to Murfreesborough took place in 1817.
In 1796, Knoxville had somewhat increased in population and, although its external appearance would but ill compare with that it now wears, it presented a favorable contrast to its condition soon after the treaty of Holston.
The buildings were, without exception, of logs, not weatherboarded, and, public and private, were some forty in number, of which five were taverns, showing the place to have been one of considerable resort. Roulstone's printing office, occupied a spot that is now about the centre of business.
The present population of Knoxville is about 5,000.
It is a business place of considerable importance, both of dry goods and groceries, being the central trade of East Tennessee and Western Virginia. There are four wholesale and six retail dry goods houses, and five large wholesale grocery establishments; among the latter the house of Messrs. C. Powell & Co. ranks as the most prominent and deserving of the most liberal patronage.
The manufacturing trade comprises articles of wood and iron; confined principally to wagons, carriages, buckets, tubs, stoves, railroad cars, &c., &c. With regard to education, no town in the South or West of it size is more amply supplied with materials, with which to endow the seeker of intelligent accomplishments, than Knoxville.
The East Tennessee University, above mentioned, is beautifully located on a hill, overlooking the entire town and the fine scenery of Holston river. Rev. Mr. Wm. Carnes presides over the institution with entire satisfaction to the community at large, and is assisted by a corps of learned professors. The present attendance of students is about one hundred, and increasing annually. Connected with the University are the libraries of the institution itself and those of the two societies, amounting to many thousand volumes. The philosophical apparatus, and geological and botanical collections, are of the first order.
Rev. Mr. Carnes, since his advancement to the presidency, has constructed a well-arranged gymnasium, thus affording to the students a most excellent opportunity for developing the physical as well as the mental.
In addition to the University there are other academical male schools in the town, which are liberally patronized, as well by her own citizens as by those of the adjoining States.
The Deaf and Dumb Asylum, an institution handsomely endowed by the State, is most beautifully located in the western portion of the town, and presided over by Mr. A. G. Scott. It is capable of accommodating about two hundred pupils, all of whom are educated free of charge. The present attendance numbers about seventy-five. The building itself and the grounds are the most beautiful and interesting sights the town affords.
The East Tennessee Female Institute, under the charge of Mr. R. Kirkpatrick, is one of the best institutions in the State of the kind, being provided with all the facilities for conferring an elegant and accomplished education upon the young ladies of the country.
We cannot but speak in the highest praise of the boarding-school of Miss Sterchi, now in its infancy, but destined, we hope, to become a permanent institution of the town. Her patrons are men of wealth and refinement, and her pupils are considered as members of one family. In this way, all the opportunities, necessary to procure a full knowledge of the modern languages, are afforded to each of the young ladies. Miss Sterchi is ably assisted by Professor Steinhagen, a gentleman, combining, with an accomplished scholarship in the modern languages, great skill and learning in vocal and instrumental music.
With churches Knoxville is amply provided: one (first) Old-School Presbyterian, and one (second) New-School Presbyterian church, two Methodist churches, one Baptist, one Episcopal one Roman Catholic, and one African church, the ministers of which are men of learning and Christian-like deportment.
It has been frequently remarked by strangers visiting this place, that Knoxville contains the most church-going people, for a town of its population, that has ever come within the range of their observation.
There are two railroads entering the city, the East Tennessee and Georgia, and East Tennessee and Virginia, both of which constitute links in the great thoroughfare, connecting New-York, Richmond, and Lynchburg, with Memphis, Nashville, New-Orleans, and Mobile.
Two other railroads are also in course of construction, the Knoxville and Charleston Railway (the "Blue Ridge"), and the Knoxville and Kentucky Railroad.
When these air-lines are finished, Knoxville will be in more direct communication with Charleston on the Atlantic seaboard, and Cincinnati in the basin of the Ohio.
The town is well supplied with gas-lights.
The banking facilities are of the highest order, both public and private, having a branch of the Union and of the State Banks, and two private establishments: the Bank of Knoxville and the Farmers' Bank of Tennessee.
The most prominent exchange and brokerage business here is, almost exclusively, done by Mr. S. Morrow, who is a gentleman of the strictest integrity.
The Press of the city is represented politically by the Knoxville Register, weekly, and Knoxville Whig, tri-weekly and weekly; and religiously by the Presbyterian Witness.
To Mr. James W. Newman, assistant-editor of the first-named paper, who rendered us invaluable service in procuring statistical information for this article, our thanks are due.
There are three first-class hotels here: Lamar House, under the charge of Messrs. James W. Bridges and W. L. Robinson; Franklin House, and Bell House. My present abode is at the first. No expenses are spared for the comfort of its guests, and every one is surprised that such a city can boast of the Lamar House, unsurpassed as it is by any in the South.
Located in the centre of East Tennessee, hundreds of feet above the level of the sea, fanned by the breezes of the Cumberland mountains on the north and west, and of the Alleghany range of mountains on the east and south, and supplied by living streams of gushing springs, all combine to render Knoxville the most healthy location of any city in the South or West.
Invalids are daily crowding her hotels as well as the hospitable mansions of her citizens.
It is a singular coincidence, worthy of relating, that a gentleman of Knoxville received on the same day a communication from the two extremes of the Union, Mobile and Boston, applying for the facilities afforded to consumptive individuals and persons afflicted with all kinds of pulmonary diseases.
When the railroad enterprises are completed we will venture the prediction, that Knoxville will be the emporium of no inconsiderable commerce, and the centre of Athenian elegance and intellectual refinement, as well as the focus of the health and pleasure-seeking society of the South.
--------------------------------
* The reader will have observed, that in some of the details which we here give, we have liberally quoted from Ramsey's History of Tennessee, an able work, which every Tennessean ought to have in his library, and whose personal acquaintance we had the pleasure of making at his residence in Mecklenburg, Knox county, Tenn., and also from the pages of Rev. T. W. Hume's semi-centennial address, delivered at Knoxville, on the 10th of February 1842.
All HTML code on this page was created by and copyrighted 1999-2002 to Billie R. McNamara. All rights reserved. Please direct all questions and comments to Ms. McNamara. Background graphic image was borrowed from Fred Smoot. Used by permission.