Tennessee's Governor Willie Blount-- Part 4

From the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture.

WILLIE BLOUNT (ca 1767-1835)

Governor, was born in Bertie County, North Carolina, to Jacob Blount.  He was half-brother to Tennessee's territorial Governor, William Blount.  Willie (pronounced Wiley) Blount studied law at Princeton and Columbia before returning home to read law with a North Carolina judge.

When William Blount began his term as governor of the Southwest Territory in 1790, Willie accompanied him to Tennessee, serving as one of his brother's three private secretaries.

In 1794, he secured a license to practice law and in 1796, the new state legislature elected him as a judge on the Superior Court of Law and Equity, a position he declined.

He settled in Montgomery County about 1802 with his wife and two daughters, and represented the county in the state legislature from 1807 to 1809.

--Brock-Perry

Tennessee Governor Willie Blount-- Part 3:

The War of 1812 took place during Willie Blount's second and third terms as governor.  During the first months of the war, he struggled with a  lack of communication with the U.S. War Department and waited for permission to order his state militia south to New Orleans.

Following the Fort Mimms Massacre, in Alabama, north of Mobile, in 1813, he issued a call to arms and 3,500 Tennesseeans answered it.  All this support earned Tennessee its nickname "Volunteer State."

Blount then raised $300,000 to fund the expedition.  This force was divided into two divisions and ordered south.  This ended with the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.

This success made him very popular with the people of Tennessee after the war.

--Brock-Perry