Everything about William Blount totally explained
» For the English scholar see William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy.
William Blount, (
March 26,
1749 (
O.S.)/
April 6,
1749 (N.S.) –
March 21,
1800) was a
United States statesman. He was a delegate to the
Constitutional Convention for
North Carolina, the first and only governor of the
Southwest Territory, and
Democratic-Republican Senator from
Tennessee (
1796-
1797). He played a major role in establishing the state of Tennessee. He was the first
U.S. Senator to be expelled from the Senate and the only Senator expelled outside of the
Civil War.
Early life and Revolutionary War
Blount was born near
Windsor, North Carolina in
Bertie County into a family of distinguished merchants and planters who owned extensive properties along the banks of the
Pamlico River.
During the
Revolutionary War, Blount accepted appointment as the regimental paymaster for the
3rd North Carolina Regiment. Although a regimental paymaster wasn't a commissioned officer with command responsibility on the battlefield, Blount served under a warrant on the regimental staff and drew the same pay and allowances as a captain. He also participated in the regiment's march north in the late spring of
1777 when it joined
Washington's main army in defense of
Philadelphia against Sir
William Howe's Royal forces. Blount and his comrades had participated in one of the key battles of the war. By demonstrating Washington's willingness to fight and the
Continental Army's recuperative powers, the battle convinced
France that the Americans were in the war to the end and directly influenced France's decision to support the Revolution openly.
After the battle, Blount returned home to become chief paymaster of state forces and later deputy paymaster general for North Carolina. For the next three years he remained intimately involved in the demanding task of recruiting and reequipping forces to be used in support both of Washington's main army in the north and of separate military operations in defense of the southern tier of states.
The fall of
Charleston, South Carolina, to
British forces under
Sir Henry Clinton in May
1780 exposed North Carolina to invasion. The state again faced the difficult task of raising new units, this time to counter a force of British, Hessian, and Loyalist troops under General
Charles Cornwallis. Blount not only helped organize these citizen-soldiers but also took to the field with them. His North Carolina unit served under General
Horatio Gates, who hastily engaged Cornwallis in a bloody battle at
Camden, South Carolina. On
August 16 Gates deployed his units — his continentals to the right, the North Carolina and
Virginia militia on his left flank — and ordered an advance. The American soldiers were exhausted from weeks of marching and insufficient rations. Furthermore, the militia elements had only recently joined with the regulars, and disciplined teamwork between the two components hadn't yet been achieved. Such teamwork was especially necessary before hastily assembled militia units could be expected to perform the intricate infantry maneuvers of
18th century linear warfare. While the Continentals easily advanced against the enemy, the militia quickly lost their cohesion in the smoke and confusion, and their lines crumbled before the counterattacking British. Cornwallis then shifted all his forces against the continentals. In less than an hour Gates' army had been lost. This second defeat in the South, the result of inadequate preparations, provided the young Blount a lesson that would stand him in good stead in later years. It also marked the end of Blount's active military career.
Governor of Southwest Territory
Blount was appointed Governor of the Territory South of the Ohio River by President George Washington in 1790. Blount governed from the home of William Cobb,
Rocky Mount, located in current
Piney Flats, Tennessee. After concluding the
Treaty of Holston, he announced that the territorial capital would move to newly founded
Knoxville. Blount named Knoxville after the first
Secretary of War,
Henry Knox. After moving to Knoxville, construction began on his mansion, known as Blount Mansion, in
1792. The mansion still stands in downtown Knoxville and is a popular
museum.
Blount's political offices
U.S. Senate
While serving as U.S. Senator, Blount's affairs took a sharp turn for the worse. In 1797 his land speculations in western lands led him into serious financial difficulties. That same year, he also apparently concocted a plan to incite the
Creek and
Cherokee Indians to aid the British in conquering the Spanish territory of
West Florida. A letter he wrote alluding to the plan fell into the hands of
President John Adams, who turned it over to the Senate on
July 3,
1797. Four days later, on
July 7, the
United States House of Representatives voted to
impeach Blount and on
July 8 the Senate voted 25 to 1 to expel him from the Senate. The Senate began an impeachment trial on
December 17,
1798, but dropped charges two months later on the grounds that no further action could be taken beyond his dismissal.
[ That set an important precedent for the future with regard to the limitations on actions which could be taken by Congress against its members and former members.]
The episode didn't seem to hamper Blount's career in Tennessee. In 1798 he was elected to the Tennessee State Senate and rose to the speakership. He died two years later at Knoxville, where he's buried in the cemetery of the First Presbyterian Church.
Legacy
In 1792, while governor of the Southwest Territory, Blount built the Blount Mansion in Knoxville. The mansion is a National Historic Landmark.
Blount County, Tennessee is named after Blount. Grainger County, Tennessee and Maryville, Tennessee are both named after his wife, Mary Grainger Blount. William Blount High School, William Blount Middle School, and Mary Blount Elementary School are named after Blount and his wife. (Blount County, Alabama is named after his younger half-brother Willie Blount, later governor of Tennessee). Raleigh, North Carolina has a street named after Blount going though the center of its downtown.
Blount was the father of William Grainger Blount (1784-1827), Tennessee state representative and U.S. Representative from Tennessee, 1815-1819. He was half-brother of Willie Blount (1767–1835), Governor of Tennessee, 1809-1815. He was brother to Thomas Blount (1759-1812), Revolutionary War veteran and U.S. Representative from North Carolina, 1793-1799, 1805-1809, and 1811-1812.
Sources
National Archive & Records Administration
Soldier-Statesmen of the Constitution from the U.S. Army Center for Military History
United States SenateFurther Information
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