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106-560: Harris moved to Knoxville, Tennessee , as a child, where he worked variously as a silversmith, riverboat captain, and farmer. His earliest works were political satires published in the Knoxville Argus around 1840, and his earliest attributable works were four sporting stories published in the New York Spirit of the Times in 1843. He wrote his Sut Lovingood tales for various newspapers in

212-515: A Mississippi writer who had derided East Tennessee as bland and overly obsessed with religion. Over the next two years, he wrote several more stories for the Spirit , culminating with, "There's Danger In Old Chairs" in 1847. In the late 1840s, Harris turned to inventing and claimed to have prepared several articles for Scientific American , but no such articles have been found. Over the subsequent decade, he engaged in various enterprises, which included

318-634: A mixed-use baseball stadium complex in the Old City neighborhood. According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 104.2 square miles (269.8 km ), of which 98.5 square miles (255.2 km ) is land and 5.6 square miles (14.6 km ), or 5.42%, is water. Elevations range from just over 800 feet (240 m) along the riverfront to just over 1,000 feet (300 m) on various hilltops in West Knoxville, with

424-559: A steamboat known as the Atlas became the first to reach Knoxville from the Mississippi River . Harris built a small model of the Atlas and dazzled an audience by sailing it across the so-called "Flag Pond" on the north side of town. At age 15, Harris rode horses in "quarter races" (i.e., races over a quarter of a mile) at tracks in the Knoxville vicinity. In 1835, he was hired as captain of

530-523: A 100-pound fish caught at Forks-of-the-River in east Knox County. The fourth epistle describes a country dance at "Tuck-a-lucky" ( Tuckaleechee ) Cove in south Blount County. One of Harris's earliest successes was "A Snake-Bit Irishman," which appeared in the Spirit of the Times in 1846. The story involves several hunters in Morgan County who play a prank on an Irishman who had invited himself into their camp. The story relies on Irish stereotypes common at

636-408: A Union invasion, Buckner fortified Fort Loudon (in West Knoxville, not to be confused with the colonial fort to the southwest) and began constructing earthworks throughout the city. However, the approach of stronger Union forces under Ambrose Burnside in the summer of 1863 forced Buckner to evacuate Knoxville before the earthworks were completed. Burnside arrived in early September 1863, beginning

742-475: A common theme in the Sut Lovingood tales. In "Parson John Bullen's Lizards," for instance, Parson Bullen, a fire-and-brimstone preacher, beats Sut with a club after catching him in the bushes with a girl at a camp meeting . Later, when Bullen is preaching to a large crowd, Sut releases several lizards, which crawl up Bullen's legs, prompting him to strip off his clothes in terror. Another target of Sut's revenge

848-494: A counter and delivered a scathing retort. He described Davis as a "renegade and a traitor," and stated that Tennessee would not be "hood winked, bamboozled and dragged into your Southern, codfish, aristocratic, tory blooded, South Carolina mobocracy." Davis refuted Crutchfield's charges in a brief response. One report of the incident stated that Davis's supporters had "pistols drawn and cocked for immediate use," while others suggested that Davis considered challenging Crutchfield to

954-454: A daily average temperature of 38.2 °F (3.4 °C), with an average of 5 days where the high remains at or below freezing. The record high for Knoxville is 105 °F (41 °C) on June 30 and July 1, 2012 , while the record low is −24 °F (−31 °C) on January 21, 1985 . Annual precipitation averages just under 52 in (1,320 mm), and normal seasonal snowfall is 4.6 in (12 cm). The one-day record for snowfall

1060-671: A duel. In any event, Crutchfield's brother, Thomas, led Davis from the room, and further incident was avoided. Crutchfield attended the first session of the pro-Union East Tennessee Convention in Knoxville in late May 1861, and campaigned against secession in the Chattanooga area. He remained in Chattanooga for most of the Civil War. Amid the crackdown during the aftermath of the East Tennessee bridge burnings in November 1861, Crutchfield

1166-469: A friend of William Blount, visited Knoxville in 1794 and wrote that, while he was impressed by the town's modern frame buildings, the town had "seven taverns" and no church. Knoxville initially thrived as a way station for travelers and migrants heading west. Its location at the confluence of three major rivers in the Tennessee Valley brought flatboat and later steamboat traffic to its waterfront in

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1272-672: A hotel, student housing, and 300 multi-family residential units. In June 2020, the Knoxville City Council announced the investment of over $ 5.5   million in federal and local funds towards the development of a business park along the Interstate 275 corridor in North Knoxville . The project was first proposed by a study prepared Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission in 2007. In August 2020, UT President and Tennessee Smokies owner Randy Boyd announced plans of

1378-563: A joke, it caused considerable irritation for his fellow Republican congressmen who had been fighting for the bill, and generated outrage among white and black residents alike in the 3rd district. Crutchfield did not seek reelection in 1874. After his term in Congress, Crutchfield spent much of his time on his 500-acre (200 ha) orchard south of Chattanooga, where he produced fruit and engaged in other agricultural pursuits. He died in Chattanooga on January 24, 1890 (age 65 years, 69 days), and

1484-415: A large farm at Jacksonville that specialized in grain production and utilized innovative farming techniques. He was also elected a captain in the local militia. Inspired by Kentucky politician Henry Clay , he supported local Whig Party candidates. In 1850, Crutchfield moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee , where his father had acquired a considerable amount of land, and had established a successful hotel,

1590-517: A law school in an attempt to modernize the scope of the university. In 1879, the state changed its name to the University of Tennessee, at the request of the trustees, who hoped to secure more funding from the Tennessee state legislature. The post-war manufacturing boom brought thousands of immigrants to the city. The population of Knoxville grew from around 5,000 in 1860 to 32,637 in 1900. West Knoxville

1696-512: A lifelong partnership. Since articles in the Argus were typically published under generic pseudonyms, it is not known with certainty which articles Harris wrote. By early 1843, Harris had moved back to Knoxville to operate a metalworking shop. That same year, he published four "Sporting Epistles," the earliest known works attributable to him, in the New York Spirit of the Times . In 1845, he published "The Knob Dance: A Tennessee Frolic," in response to

1802-462: A metro government failed, while school boards and the planning commissions would merge on July 1, 1987. With further annexation attempts stalling, Knoxville initiated several projects aimed at boosting revenue in its downtown area. The 1982 World's Fair —the most successful of these projects, with eleven million visitors—became one of the most popular expositions in U.S. history. The Rubik's Cube made its debut at this event. The fair's energy theme

1908-468: A monument in his honor was erected at his burial site by Sigma Kappa Delta , an honor society for students studying English at two-year colleges . Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee , United States, on the Tennessee River . As of the 2020 United States census , Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in

2014-618: A new arts annex and gallery surrounded by many studios and new businesses as well. The Bijou and Tennessee Theatres underwent renovation, providing an initiative for the city and its developers to re-purpose the old downtown. Development has also expanded across the Tennessee River on the South Knoxville waterfront. In 2006, the city adopted the South Waterfront Vision Plan, a long-term improvement project to revitalize

2120-453: A pair of heavy, well-greased cowhide brogans that were the perpetual despair of the Pullman boot-blacks." In reporting on one of Crutchfield's speeches, the correspondent used eye dialect to depict to Crutchfield's thick Southern accent . Crutchfield's biggest accomplishment during his term in Congress was to obtain $ 600,000 (~$ 13.9 million in 2023) in appropriations for improvements to

2226-591: A prospective publisher. On December 11, while riding the train back to Alabama, Harris fell gravely ill somewhere near Bristol, Tennessee . When the train stopped in Knoxville, Harris, unconscious, was taken to the Atkin Hotel, which stood on North Gay Street . At the Atkin, Harris was examined by a doctor, who issued a preliminary diagnosis of apoplexy . Later in the evening, four other doctors arrived, including Harris's brother-in-law, John Fouche. These doctors rejected

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2332-445: A reported 26 square miles of " shoestring annexation " under the administration of Mayor Victor Ashe . Ashe's efforts were controversial, largely consisting of annexation of interstate right-of-ways , highway-oriented commercial clusters, and residential subdivisions to increase tax revenue for the city. Residents voiced opposition, citing claims of urban sprawl and government overreach. Knoxville's downtown has been developing, with

2438-509: A review of Sut Lovingood's Yarns for a San Francisco newspaper in which he suggested the book would "sell well in the west, but the eastern people will call it coarse and possibly taboo it." Faulkner read the Sut Lovingood yarns with "amused appreciation," and O'Connor ranked him among the top American "grotesque" writers. In the Cormac McCarthy novel, Suttree (which is set in Knoxville),

2544-544: Is 17.5 in (44 cm), which occurred on February 13, 1960. Knoxville is the central city in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area, an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) designated metropolitan statistical area (MSA) that covers Knox, Anderson , Blount , Campbell , Grainger , Loudon , Morgan , Roane and Union counties. Researchers have mapped the Knoxville Metropolitan area as one of

2650-645: Is Sicily Burns, a mountain woman who tricks Sut into drinking baking soda . In response, Sut causes a bull to wreak havoc at Sicily's wedding. Sut's dialect is an exaggerated version of the South Midland dialect , commonly called " Appalachian English ". Appalachian characteristics that frequently occur in Sut's speech include r-intrusion (e.g., "orter" for "ought to"), h-retention (e.g., "hit" instead of "it"), short "e" pronounced as short "o" (e.g., "whar" for "where"), and trailing t-intrusion (e.g., "onct" for "once"). Harris

2756-502: Is a caricature of a stereotypical farmer of rural Southern Appalachia. Knoxville historian Jack Neely describes Sut as "Huck Finn on amphetamines, a manic, perverse child of some backwoods holler where Idiocy and Genius fuse into one." Sut considers himself (somewhat proudly) to be a "durnder fool" than anyone, save his own father. He is fond of drinking whiskey and chasing girls, and relishes exposing hypocritical circuit riders and other religious figures and politicians. Revenge pranks are

2862-501: Is now Knoxville were indigenous people who arrived during the Woodland period ( c. 1000 B.C. to 1000 A.D.). One of the oldest artificial structures in Knoxville is a burial mound constructed during the early Mississippian culture period ( c. 1000–1400 A.D.). The earthwork mound has been preserved, but the campus of the University of Tennessee developed around it. Other prehistoric sites include an Early Woodland habitation area at

2968-520: The 1982 World's Fair helped reinvigorate the city, and revitalization initiatives by city leaders and private developers have had major successes in spurring growth in the city, especially the downtown area. Knoxville is the home of the flagship campus of the University of Tennessee , whose sports teams, the Tennessee Volunteers , are popular in the surrounding area. Knoxville is also home to

3074-503: The Battle of Campbell's Station (now Farragut ). On November 18, Union General William P. Sanders was mortally wounded while conducting delaying maneuvers west of Knoxville, and Fort Loudon was renamed Fort Sanders in his honor. On November 29, following a two-week siege , the Confederates attacked Fort Sanders but failed after a fierce 20-minute engagement. On December 4, after word of

3180-657: The Chickamauga Campaign . He assisted William B. Hazen and John B. Turchin at the Battle of Brown's Ferry in October 1863, and Ulysses S. Grant and George H. Thomas at the Battle of Missionary Ridge in November 1863. After the Union Army solidified its control of Chattanooga, Crutchfield provided assistance to General James B. Steedman and other post commanders until the close of the war. In his memoirs, General Philip H. Sheridan wrote that Crutchfield's "devotion to

3286-707: The Confederacy , General Felix Zollicoffer arrived in Knoxville as commander of the District of East Tennessee. While initially lenient toward the city's Union sympathizers, Zollicoffer instituted martial law in November, after pro-Union guerrillas burned seven of the city's bridges . The command of the district passed briefly to George Crittenden and then to Kirby Smith , who launched an unsuccessful invasion of Kentucky in August 1862. In early 1863, General Simon Buckner took command of Confederate forces in Knoxville. Anticipating

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3392-567: The East Tennessee Grand Division and the state's third-most-populous city after Nashville and Memphis . It is the principal city of the Knoxville metropolitan area , which had a population of 879,773 in 2020. First settled in 1786, Knoxville was the first capital of Tennessee. The city struggled with geographic isolation throughout the early 19th century; the arrival of the railroad in 1855 led to an economic boom. The city

3498-434: The Knoxville campaign . Like the Confederates, he immediately began fortifying the city. The Union forces rebuilt Fort Loudon and erected 12 other forts and batteries flanked by entrenchments around the city. Burnside moved a pontoon bridge upstream from Loudon , allowing Union forces to cross the river and to build a series of forts along the heights of south Knoxville, including Fort Stanley and Fort Dickerson. As Burnside

3604-634: The National Conservation Exposition in 1913. The latter is sometimes credited with giving rise to the movement to create a national park in the Great Smoky Mountains, some 20 miles (32 km) south of Knoxville. Around this time, several affluent Knoxvillians began purchasing summer cottages in Elkmont and began to pursue the park idea more vigorously. They were led by Knoxville businessman Colonel David C. Chapman , who, as head of

3710-693: The Opposition Party 's March 1859 Nashville convention, and three Sut Lovingood tales in 1861 that attacked President Abraham Lincoln . In early 1862, Harris fled Nashville ahead of invading Union forces and spent the remainder of the war evading the Union Army. After the war, Harris, with the help of future Chattanooga congressman William Crutchfield , was appointed president of the Wills Valley Railroad (which operated in Georgia and Alabama). In 1866, he published "Sut Lovingood Come to Life," an attack on

3816-653: The Radical Republicans . The following year, he published his only book-length work, Sut Lovingood: Yarns Spun By a Nat'ral Born Durn'd Fool , which was a collection of twenty-four Sut Lovingood tales, sixteen of which had been published in various newspapers prior to the war. Following the success of Sut Lovingood Yarns , Harris made plans to publish a new collection of stories entitled High Times and Hard Times . In late November 1869, he travelled from his new home in Alabama to Lynchburg, Virginia , to show his manuscript to

3922-665: The Spirit of the Times . For the remainder of the decade, his preferred outlet was the Nashville Union and American , edited by his old friend, Elbridge G. Eastman. As the rift between the North and South widened in the years leading up the Civil War , Harris, an ardent Democrat and secessionist, moved to Nashville and began writing political satires in support of the South. These included his four-part story "Love-Feast of Varmints," which lampooned

4028-429: The Spirit' s editor, William T. Porter . The first of these, entitled "Sporting Epistle from East Tennessee," was an account of a raccoon hunt in which the hunters mistook a bulge in a tree for a raccoon. The second involves a mountaineer who travels several miles to watch a quarter-race in south Knox County but misses the race due to drinking. The third epistle is a collection of anecdotes and observations, and mentions

4134-551: The Tennessee River , and smaller appropriations for improvements to the Little Tennessee and Hiwassee rivers. During heated civil rights debates in the House in early 1873, Crutchfield introduced a bizarre amendment to a civil rights bill that would have made it a crime for a white woman to refuse a proposal of marriage from a black man on the basis of "race, color, and previous condition of servitude." Though he intended this as

4240-643: The Tennessee Valley in the late 17th century. There is significant evidence that Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto visited Bussell Island in 1540. The first major recorded Euro-American presence in the Knoxville area was the Timberlake Expedition , which passed through the confluence of the Holston and French Broad into the Tennessee River in December 1761. Henry Timberlake , an Anglo-American emissary from

4346-782: The Thirteen Colonies to the Overhill settlements, recalled being pleased by the deep waters of the Tennessee after his party had struggled down the relatively shallow Holston for several weeks. The end of the French and Indian War and confusion brought about by the American Revolution led to a drastic increase in Euro-American settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains . By the 1780s, white settlers were already established in

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4452-559: The Treaty of Holston , which was negotiated and signed at White's Fort in 1791. Blount originally wanted to place the territorial capital at the confluence of the Clinch River and Tennessee River (now Kingston ), but when the Cherokee refused to cede this land, Blount chose White's Fort. Blount named the new capital Knoxville after Revolutionary War General and Secretary of War Henry Knox , who at

4558-810: The Welsh Tract in Pennsylvania to work in a rolling mill. These Welsh families settled in an area now known as Mechanicsville . The Richards brothers also co-founded the Knoxville Iron Works beside the L&;N Railroad , also employing Welsh workers. Later, the site was used as the grounds for the 1982 World's Fair . Other companies that sprang up during this period were Knoxville Woolen Mills, Dixie Cement, and Woodruff's Furniture. Between 1880 and 1887, 97 factories were established in Knoxville, most of them specializing in textiles, food products, and iron products. By

4664-628: The 18 major cities in the Piedmont Atlantic megaregion . The Knoxville Metropolitan area includes unincorporated communities such as Halls Crossroads , Powell , Karns , Corryton , Concord , and Mascot , which are located in Knox County outside of Knoxville's city limits. Along with Knoxville, municipalities in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area include Alcoa , Blaine , Maryville , Lenoir City , Loudon , Farragut , Oak Ridge , Rutledge , Clinton , Bean Station , and Maynardville . As of 2012,

4770-467: The 1830s, each of Tennessee's congressional delegations had included at least one "mountaineer character," and that Crutchfield filled this role in the Forty-third Congress . The correspondent described Crutchfield as "a sunburnt, wiry little man, with foxy hair and whiskers, and though, by report, of considerable means, wears the cheapest of homespun suits, a good deal frayed at the edges, and with

4876-408: The 1850s and 1860s, twenty-four of which he compiled and published as his only book, Sut Lovingood: Yarns Spun By a Nat'ral Born Durn'd Fool , in 1867. Harris died in Knoxville in 1869 after mysteriously falling ill on a train ride. The details of Harris's early life are obscure. His father, George Harris, and a companion, Samuel Bell, moved to Pennsylvania in the 1790s. Bell's son, also named Samuel,

4982-439: The 1890s, Knoxville was home to more than 50 wholesaling houses, making it the third largest wholesaling center by volume in the South. The Candoro Marble Works , established in the community of Vestal in 1914, became the nation's foremost producer of pink marble and one of the nation's largest marble importers. In 1896, Knoxville celebrated its achievements by creating its own flag. The Flag of Knoxville, Tennessee represents

5088-470: The 1950s and 1960s, and after the establishment of the Interstate Highway System in the 1960s, the railroad—which had been largely responsible for Knoxville's industrial growth—began to decline. The rise of suburban shopping malls in the 1970s drew retail revenues away from Knoxville's downtown area. While government jobs and economic diversification prevented widespread unemployment in Knoxville,

5194-476: The 1970s, were among Knoxville's first modern high-rise buildings. In 1947, John Gunther dubbed Knoxville the "ugliest city" in America in his best-selling book Inside U.S.A. Gunther's description jolted the city into enacting a series of beautification measures that helped improve the appearance of the downtown area. Knoxville's textile and manufacturing industries largely fell victim to foreign competition in

5300-464: The 3rd district during this period, Republicans experienced a statewide wave in 1872, and Crutchfield edged Key, 10,041 votes to 8,960, in the general election. Crutchfield's eccentric personality and unsophisticated manner of dress garnered frequent media attention during his lone term in Congress. In 1873, a correspondent for the Washington Star noted that since the tenure of Davy Crockett in

5406-431: The 750-acre waterfront fronting three miles of shoreline on the Tennessee River. The project's primary focus is the commercial and residential development over a 20-year timeline. Knoxville Baptist Hospital, located on the waterfront, was demolished in 2016 to make room for a mixed-use project called One Riverwalk. The development consisted of three office buildings, including a headquarters for Regal Entertainment Group ,

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5512-570: The Antebellum years was James White's son, Hugh Lawson White (1773–1840). White first served as a judge and state senator, before being nominated by the state legislature to replace Andrew Jackson in the U.S. Senate in 1825. In 1836, White ran unsuccessfully for president, representing the Whig Party . Anti-slavery and anti-secession sentiment ran high in East Tennessee in the years leading up to

5618-556: The CSA but not the Knoxville MSA, include Morristown, Rutledge, Dandridge , Jefferson City , Sevierville, Gatlinburg , Pigeon Forge , LaFollette, Jacksboro , Harriman, Kingston , Rockwood , and Newport. The combined population of the CSA as of the 2000 Census was 935,659. Its estimated 2008 population was 1,041,955. Knoxville is roughly divided into the Downtown area and sections based on

5724-695: The Cherokee against orders, killing the chief's wife. Peace was renegotiated in 1794. Knoxville served as capital of the Southwest Territory and as capital of Tennessee (admitted as a state in 1796) until 1817, when the capital was moved to Murfreesboro . Early Knoxville has been described as an "alternately quiet and rowdy river town". Early issues of the Knoxville Gazette —the first newspaper published in Tennessee—are filled with accounts of murder, theft, and hostile Cherokee attacks. Abishai Thomas,

5830-521: The Civil War. William "Parson" Brownlow , the radical publisher of the Knoxville Whig , was one of the region's leading anti-secessionists (although he strongly defended the practice of slavery). Blount County, just south of Knoxville, had developed into a center of abolitionist activity, due in part to its relatively large Quaker faction and the anti-slavery president of Maryville College , Isaac Anderson. The Greater Warner Tabernacle AME Zion Church

5936-485: The Confederate defeat at Chattanooga reached Longstreet, he broke his siege of Knoxville. The Union victories in the Knoxville campaign and at Chattanooga put much of East Tennessee under Union control for the rest of the war. After the war, northern investors such as brothers Joseph and David Richards helped Knoxville recover relatively quickly. The Richards brothers convinced 104 Welsh immigrant families to migrate from

6042-481: The Crutchfield House. After the elder Crutchfield died in 1850, William's brother, Thomas, took over the hotel's management. William was elected alderman in Chattanooga in December 1851, and reelected in 1854. In the late 1850s, he helped establish the city's fire and police departments. During the secession crisis that followed the election of Abraham Lincoln in late 1860, Crutchfield remained committed to

6148-781: The East Tennessee region; they are believed to have migrated centuries before from the Great Lakes region . They were frequently at war with the Creek and Shawnee . The Cherokee people called the Knoxville area kuwanda'talun'yi , which means "mulberry place". Most Cherokee habitation in the area was concentrated in what the American colonists called the Overhill settlements along the Little Tennessee River , southwest of Knoxville. The first white traders and explorers were recorded as arriving in

6254-496: The Great Smoky Mountains Park Commission, was largely responsible for raising the funds for the purchase of the property that became the core of the park. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park opened in 1933. Knoxville's reliance on a manufacturing economy left it particularly vulnerable to the effects of the Great Depression . The Tennessee Valley also suffered from frequent flooding, and millions of acres of farmland had been ruined by soil erosion. To control flooding and improve

6360-520: The Holston and French Broad valleys. The U.S. Congress ordered all illegal settlers out of the valley in 1785 but with little success. As settlers continued to trickle into Cherokee lands, tensions between the settlers and the Cherokee rose steadily. In 1786, James White , a Revolutionary War officer, and his friend James Connor built White's Fort near the mouth of First Creek, on land White had purchased three years earlier. In 1790, White's son-in-law, Charles McClung —who had arrived from Pennsylvania

6466-507: The James White Parkway and includes the neighborhoods of Parkridge, Burlington, Morningside, and Five Points. This area, concentrated along Magnolia Avenue, is home to Chilhowee Park and Zoo Knoxville . North Knoxville consists of the areas north of Sharp's Ridge, namely the Fountain City and Inskip-Norwood areas. This area's major commercial corridor is located along Broadway. As of the 2020 United States census , there were 190,740 people, 83,492 households, and 40,405 families residing in

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6572-537: The Opposition Party's state convention using anthropomorphic animals to portray party leaders such as John Bell , Henry S. Foote and Neill S. Brown . In 1861, Harris published his three-part attack on Abraham Lincoln entitled "Sut Lovingood Travels With Old Abe as His Confidential Friend and Advisor." His first writings after the Civil War included "Sut Lovingood's Dream" and "On the Puritan Yankee," which defended Southern values. In 1868, Harris published "The Forthcoming Early Life of Sut Lovingood, By His Dad," which

6678-591: The Tennessee in Knoxville include First Creek and Second Creek, which flow through the downtown area, Third Creek, which flows west of U.T., and Sinking Creek, Ten Mile Creek, and Turkey Creek, which drain West Knoxville. Knoxville falls in the humid subtropical climate ( Köppen : Cfa ) zone. Summers are hot and humid, with the daily average temperature in July at 78.4 °F (25.8 °C), and an average of 36 days per year with temperatures reaching 90 °F (32 °C). Winters are generally much cooler and less stable, with occasional small amounts of snow. January has

6784-487: The Union cause knew no bounds," and described the information he provided as critical to the Union Army's success in the Chickamauga Campaign. In April 1864, Crutchfield joined fellow Chattanooga-area Unionists Alfred Cate and Daniel C. Trewhitt as part of the Hamilton County delegation at the revived East Tennessee Convention in Knoxville. This meeting was bitterly divided over the issue of emancipation, however, and accomplished very little. In October 1865, Crutchfield

6890-451: The Union. On January 22, 1861, Jefferson Davis , the future president of the Confederacy who had just resigned his seat in the United States Senate, stayed at the Crutchfield House while en route to his home in Mississippi . In the hotel's dining room that night, Davis delivered a short speech praising secession and encouraging Tennessee to join the rest of the South. After Davis had finished, Crutchfield, who had been listening, leaped upon

6996-401: The areas west of U.T. and includes the suburban neighborhoods of Sequoyah Hills , West Hills , Bearden , Cumberland Estates , Westmoreland, Suburban Hills, Cedar Bluff , Rocky Hill , and Ebenezer. This area, concentrated largely around Kingston Pike, is home to thriving retail centers such as West Town Mall and Turkey Creek . East Knoxville consists of the areas east of First Creek and

7102-451: The book's title character is called "Sut" for short, which some writers suggest is a reference to Sut Lovingood. The mid-20th century brought revived interest in Harris's work. Literary historians compiled biographical materials regarding Harris's life, and scoured old newspapers to find and catalog Harris's work. In 1967, Thomas Inge published a collection of Harris's known works that did not appear in Sut Lovingood's Yarns in 1867. The book

7208-411: The city from the south, but lacking the necessary pontoon bridges he was forced to cross the river further downstream at Loudon on November 14 and march against the city's heavily fortified western section. On November 15, General Joseph Wheeler unsuccessfully attempted to dislodge Union forces in the heights of south Knoxville, and the following day Longstreet failed to cut off retreating Union forces at

7314-429: The city of Knoxville favored secession by a 2–1 margin. In late May 1861, just before the secession vote, delegates of the East Tennessee Convention met at Temperance Hall in Knoxville in hopes of keeping Tennessee in the Union . After Tennessee voted to secede in June, the convention met in Greeneville and attempted to create a separate Union-aligned state in East Tennessee. In July 1861, after Tennessee had joined

7420-532: The city sought to recover the massive loss of revenue by attempting to annex neighboring communities. Knoxville annexed the communities of Bearden and Fountain City , which were Knoxville's largest suburbs , in 1962. Knoxville officials attempted the annexation of the neighboring Farragut - Concord community in western Knox County, but the city failed following the incorporation of Farragut in 1980. These annexation attempts often turned combative, and several attempts to consolidate Knoxville and Knox County into

7526-451: The city's central business district and municipal offices, the Old City and Gay Street are mixed residential and commercial areas. South Knoxville consists of the parts of the city located south of the river and includes the neighborhoods of Vestal, Lindbergh Forest, Island Home Park , Colonial Hills, and Old Sevier. This area contains major commercial corridors along Chapman Highway and Alcoa Highway . West Knoxville generally consists of

7632-424: The city's progressive growth due to agriculture and industry. In 1869, Thomas Humes, a Union sympathizer and president of East Tennessee University, secured federal post-war damage reimbursement and state-designated Morrill Act funding to expand the college, which had been occupied by both armies during the war. Charles Dabney , who became president of the university in 1887, overhauled the faculty and established

7738-727: The city, and parts of McAnnally Ridge in the northeastern part of the city. The Tennessee River , which passes through the downtown area, is formed in southeastern Knoxville at the confluence of the Holston River , which flows southwest from Virginia, and the French Broad River , which flows west from North Carolina. The section of the Tennessee River that passes through Knoxville is part of Fort Loudoun Lake, an artificial reservoir created by TVA's Fort Loudoun Dam about 30 miles (48 km) downstream in Lenoir City . Notable tributaries of

7844-516: The city. As of the census of 2010, the population of Knoxville was 178,874, a 2.9% increase from 2000. The median age was 32.7, with 19.1% of the population under the age of 18, and 12.6% over the age of 65. The population was 48% male and 52% female. The population density was 1,815 persons per square mile. The racial and ethnic composition of the city was 76.1% white , 17.1% black , 0.4% Native American , 1.6% Asian , and 0.2% Pacific Islander . Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.6% of

7950-551: The confluence of the Tennessee River and Knob Creek (near the Knox – Blount county line), and Dallas phase Mississippian villages at Post Oak Island (also along the river near the Knox–Blount line), and at Bussell Island (at the mouth of the Little Tennessee River near Lenoir City ). By the 18th century, the Cherokee , an Iroquoian language people, had become the dominant tribe in

8056-711: The downtown area setting at just over 900 feet (270 m). High points include Sharp's Ridge in North Knoxville at 1,391 feet (424 m) and Brown Mountain in South Knoxville at 1,260 feet (380 m). Knoxville is situated in the Great Appalachian Valley (known locally as the Tennessee Valley), about halfway between the Great Smoky Mountains to the east and the Cumberland Plateau to

8162-603: The economy in the Tennessee Valley, the federal government created the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 1933. Beginning with Norris Dam , TVA constructed a series of hydroelectric dams and other power plants throughout the valley over the next few decades, bringing flood control, jobs, and electricity to the region. The Federal Works Projects Administration , which also arrived in the 1930s, helped build McGhee Tyson Airport and expand Neyland Stadium . TVA's headquarters, which consists of twin high rises built in

8268-402: The first ballot. His Democratic opponent, David M. Key , was an old acquaintance and former Confederate who had witnessed Crutchfield's encounter with Jefferson Davis at the Crutchfield House in 1861. At the end of the war in 1865, Key had written to Crutchfield to ask if it was safe for former Confederates to return to the city. Though Democrats were generally the more successful party in

8374-472: The first half of the 19th century, and Knoxville quickly developed into a regional merchandising center. Local agricultural products—especially tobacco, corn, and whiskey—were traded for cotton, which was grown in the Deep South . The population of Knoxville more than doubled in the 1850s with the arrival of the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad in 1855. Among the most prominent citizens of Knoxville during

8480-643: The founding of a glassworks and the cofounding of a sawmill, both of which apparently failed. He was elected an alderman for Knoxville in 1856 and appointed the city's postmaster the following year. Around 1854, Harris surveyed several copper mines in the Ducktown area in southeast Tennessee. While working in the area, it is believed he met a local farmer, William "Sut" Miller (d. 1858), who inspired his best-known character, Sut Lovingood. In November 1854, Harris published his first Sut Lovingood tale, "Sut Lovingood's Daddy, Acting Horse," which would also be his last entry in

8586-500: The four cardinal directions: North Knoxville , South Knoxville , East Knoxville , and West Knoxville . Downtown Knoxville traditionally consists of the area bounded by the river on the south, First Creek on the east, Second Creek on the west, and the railroad tracks on the north, though the definition has expanded to include the U.T. campus and Fort Sanders neighborhood, and several neighborhoods along or just off Broadway south of Sharp's Ridge ("Downtown North"). While primarily home to

8692-665: The headquarters of the Tennessee Valley Authority , the Tennessee Supreme Court 's courthouse for East Tennessee, and the corporate headquarters of several national and regional companies. As one of the largest cities in the Appalachian region, Knoxville has positioned itself in recent years as a repository of Appalachian culture and is one of the gateways to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park . The first people to form substantial settlements in what

8798-421: The initial diagnosis and suggested a possible morphine overdose. Around 10:00 PM, Harris briefly regained consciousness and managed to say one final word: "poisoned". He died shortly afterward, with the official cause listed as "unknown." No copy of his manuscript High Times and Hard Times has ever been found. Harris's earliest attributable works in the Spirit of the Times were four letters, or "epistles," to

8904-596: The opening of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and the Knoxville Convention Center , the redevelopment of Market Square , a new visitors center, a regional history museum , a Regal Cinemas theater, several restaurants and bars, and many new and redeveloped condominiums. Since 2000, Knoxville has successfully brought business back to the downtown area. The arts in particular have begun to flourish; there are multiple venues for outdoor concerts, and Gay Street hosts

9010-645: The population of the Knoxville Metropolitan Area was 837,571. The Knoxville MSA is the chief component of the larger OMB-designated Knoxville- Sevierville - La Follette Combined Statistical Area (CSA). The CSA also includes the Morristown Metropolitan Statistical Area ( Hamblen , Grainger , and Jefferson counties) and the Sevierville ( Sevier County ), La Follette (Campbell County), Harriman (Roane County), and Newport ( Cocke County ) micropolitan statistical areas . Municipalities in

9116-511: The population. People reporting more than one race formed 2.5% of the population. William Crutchfield William Crutchfield (November 16, 1824 – January 24, 1890) was an American politician who represented the 3rd congressional district of Tennessee in the United States House of Representatives for one term (1873–1875). He also served several terms as an alderman in his adopted hometown of Chattanooga , where he

9222-423: The previous year—surveyed White's holdings between First Creek and Second Creek for the establishment of a town. McClung drew up sixty-four 0.5-acre (0.20 ha) lots. The waterfront was set aside for a town common. Two lots were set aside for a church and graveyard (First Presbyterian Church, founded 1792). Four lots were set aside for a school. That school was eventually chartered as Blount College and it served as

9328-511: The starting point for the University of Tennessee , which uses Blount College's founding date of 1794 as its own. In 1790, President George Washington appointed North Carolina surveyor William Blount governor of the newly created Territory South of the River Ohio . One of Blount's first tasks was to meet with the Cherokee and establish territorial boundaries and resolve the issue of illegal settlers. This he accomplished almost immediately with

9434-553: The steamboat Knoxville . As captain of this vessel (later renamed the Indian Chief ), Harris took part in the Cherokee removal in 1838. In 1839, Harris left the steamboat business and purchased a farm near Maryville . Around 1840, he published his first political satires in the Knoxville Argus (later renamed the Standard ), a Democratic -leaning newspaper edited by Elbridge Gerry Eastman (1813–1859), with whom Harris would form

9540-475: The time was Blount's immediate superior. Problems immediately arose from the Holston Treaty. Blount believed that he had "purchased" much of what is now East Tennessee when the treaty was signed in 1791. However, the terms of the treaty came under dispute, culminating in ongoing violence on both sides. When the government invited Cherokee chief Hanging Maw for negotiations in 1793, Knoxville settlers attacked

9646-404: The time. In "A Sleep-Walking Incident," also published in 1846, Harris claimed to have once spent the night with a farm family in northeastern Tennessee, during which he sleep-walked his way into bed with the farmers' daughters. While the enraged farmer threatened to shoot Harris, he allowed him a brief headstart on his horse, and Harris managed to escape. Sut Lovingood, Harris's best-known figure,

9752-574: The vicinity. During the Union bombardment of Chattanooga in August 1863, he was again pursued by Confederate authorities, but eluded them by swimming across the Tennessee River and reaching Union lines. He provided the leaders of the Army of the Cumberland with invaluable information regarding Confederate troop positions, and would subsequently serve as an honorary captain and local guide to Union generals throughout

9858-475: The west. The Great Valley is part of a sub-range of the Appalachian Mountains known as the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , which is characterized by long narrow ridges flanked by broad valleys. Prominent Ridge-and-Valley structures in the Knoxville area include Sharp's Ridge and Beaver Ridge in the northern part of the city, Brown Mountain in South Knoxville, parts of Bays Mountain just south of

9964-407: Was interred at the family lot in Chattanooga's Citizens Cemetery. Crutchfield was a friend of noted author George Washington Harris , and helped Harris become president of the Wills Valley Railroad after the Civil War. In a fictional discussion with the title character in the "Dedicatory" of his 1867 book, Sut Lovingood: Yarns Spun by a Nat'ral Born Durn'd Fool , Harris proposes they dedicate

10070-726: Was a prominent figure and businessman. A Southern Unionist , he garnered regional fame and notoriety in January 1861 when he engaged in a heated debate with future Confederate States president Jefferson Davis at his family's Chattanooga hotel. Crutchfield was born in Greeneville, Tennessee , the son of Thomas Crutchfield Sr. , a brick contractor, and Sarah (Cleage) Crutchfield. He attended common schools. He moved to McMinn County, Tennessee , in 1840, and remained there for four years before settling in Jacksonville, Alabama , in 1844. He established

10176-522: Was a response to "The Early Life of Grant, By His Father," which had appeared in the New York Ledger earlier that year. One of Harris's last political stories, entitled "Well! Dad's Dead," was an allegory bemoaning the decline of the Southern way of life. Authors Mark Twain, William Faulkner, and Flannery O'Connor all acknowledged inspiration from George Washington Harris's work. In 1867, Mark Twain wrote

10282-547: Was a strong Democrat, and his political writings either extolled Democratic leaders or lampooned leaders of opposing parties, namely the Whigs and Republicans . In his 1856 story, "Playing Old Sledge For the Presidency," Harris has Sut Lovingood recount a dream in which presidential candidates James Buchanan , Millard Fillmore , and John C. Frémont play a card game for the presidency. Harris's 1859 story "Love-Feast of Varmints" mocked

10388-483: Was annexed in 1897, and over 5,000 new homes were built between 1895 and 1904. In 1901, train robber Kid Curry (whose real name was Harvey Logan), a member of Butch Cassidy 's Wild Bunch was captured after shooting two deputies on Knoxville's Central Avenue. He escaped from the Knoxville jail and rode away on a horse stolen from the sheriff. Knoxville hosted the Appalachian Exposition in 1910 and 1911 and

10494-425: Was arrested by Confederate authorities, but managed to escape. During the war, his family sold the Crutchfield House for $ 65,000 in Confederate money, and used the proceeds to purchase land and tobacco. Crutchfield would later sell the tobacco at a profit to Union soldiers. While Crutchfield never enlisted, he frequently provided information on Confederate troop movements to Union forces operating in Chattanooga and

10600-549: Was bitterly divided over the issue of secession during the American Civil War and was occupied alternately by Confederate and Union armies, culminating in the Battle of Fort Sanders in 1863. Following the war, Knoxville grew rapidly as a major wholesaling and manufacturing center. The city's economy stagnated after the 1920s as the manufacturing sector collapsed , the downtown area declined and city leaders became entrenched in highly partisan political fights. Hosting

10706-469: Was born in 1798. After the elder Bell died, Harris married his widow, Margaret Glover Bell, and they gave birth to George Washington Harris in Allegheny City (now part of Pittsburgh ) in 1814. In 1819, Harris's half-brother, the younger Samuel Bell, completed an apprenticeship at an arms factory and moved to Knoxville to open a jewelry store. Harris went with him and was apprenticed at the shop. In 1826,

10812-469: Was elected alderman in Chattanooga's provisional civil government, which was tasked with restoring order to the city. In December 1865, he was reelected to the same position for a full term. In 1872, Crutchfield announced his candidacy for the 3rd district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. At the local Republican Party convention in September, he was easily nominated over two other candidates on

10918-595: Was entitled, High Times and Hard Times , after Harris's lost manuscript. In 2008, George Washington Harris's final resting place was discovered in Brock Cemetery, Wildwood, Georgia . The literary/detective team was a group of scholars and writers from several states including Calhoun Community College faculty members located in Decatur, Alabama ; a local historian from Decatur; and a writer based in Georgia . On April 20, 2008,

11024-509: Was fortifying Knoxville, a Confederate army under Braxton Bragg defeated Union forces under William Rosecrans at the Battle of Chickamauga (near the Tennessee-Georgia line) and laid siege to Chattanooga . On November 3, 1863, the Confederates sent General James Longstreet to attack Burnside at Knoxville and prevent him from reinforcing the Union at Chattanooga. Longstreet wanted to attack

11130-621: Was reportedly a station on the Underground Railroad . Business interests, however, guided largely by Knoxville's trade connections with cotton-growing centers to the south, contributed to the development of a strong pro-secession movement within the city. The city's pro-secessionists included among their ranks J. G. M. Ramsey , a prominent historian whose father had built the Ramsey House in 1797. Thus, while East Tennessee and greater Knox County voted decisively against secession in 1861,

11236-467: Was selected because Knoxville was home to TVA's headquarters and for its proximity to Oak Ridge National Laboratory . The Sunsphere , a 266-foot (81 m) steel truss structure topped with a gold-colored glass sphere, was built for the fair and remains one of Knoxville's most prominent structures, along with the adjacent Tennessee Amphitheater . During the 1980s and into the 1990s, the city would see one of its largest expansions of its city limits, with

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