Benjamin C. Nance

Located in present-day Jackson County, Fort Blount was established in 1794 at the point where the Avery Trace, which connected the Eastern and Mero Districts, crossed the Cumberland River. Named for territorial governor William Blount, this post replaced an earlier…

This Revolutionary War-era fort was located on the north side of the South Fork of the Holston River near the upper end of Long Island at present-day Kingsport. Its predecessor was a fort constructed in the winter of 1760-61 by…

Originally named Fort Caswell, Fort Watauga was constructed near the Sycamore Shoals of the Watauga River near present-day Elizabethton. Settlement in the Watauga Valley had begun before 1768, despite an earlier proclamation by British authorities forbidding encroachment into Native American…