Lieutenant Colonel John Montgomery (c. 1750–1794) was an American soldier, settler and explorer. He is credited with founding the city of

Clarksville, Tennessee Clarksville is the county seat of Montgomery County, Tennessee, United States. It is the fifth-largest city in the state behind Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga. The city had a population of 166,722 as of the 2020 United States ce ...

Montgomery County, Tennessee Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 220,069. The county seat (and only incorporated municipality) is Clarksville. The county was created in 1796. Montgomery Count ...

is named after him.

Life

In 1771, Montgomery first entered the area of the

Cumberland River The Cumberland River is a major waterway of the Southern United States. The U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 8, 2011 river drains almost of southern Kentucky and ...

. Much was learned in the expedition, but Native Americans forced the explorers back to Virginia. In 1775, Montgomery was one of the signers of the

Fincastle Resolutions The Fincastle Resolutions was a statement reportedly adopted on January 20, 1775, by fifteen elected representatives of Fincastle County, Virginia. Part of the political movement that became the American Revolution, the resolutions were addressed ...

, the earliest statement of armed resistance to the

British Crown The Crown is the state (polity), state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, British Overseas Territories, overseas territories, Provinces and territorie ...

in the American Colonies. During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, Montgomery served initially as a captain and finally as a lieutenant colonel under the command of

Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

George Rogers Clark George Rogers Clark (November 19, 1752 – February 13, 1818) was an American surveyor, soldier, and militia officer from Virginia who became the highest-ranking American patriot military officer on the northwestern frontier during the Ame ...

during his

Illinois campaign The Illinois campaign, also known as Clark's Northwestern campaign (1778–1779), was a series of events during the American Revolutionary War in which a small force of Virginia militiamen, led by George Rogers Clark, seized control of several B ...

. Under Clark's orders, Montgomery led an expedition against several

Indian tribe In the United States, an American Indian tribe, Native American tribe, Alaska Native village, tribal nation, or similar concept is any extant or historical clan, tribe, band, nation, or other group or community of Native Americans in the Unit ...

s to prevent the British from organizing them to attack Kentucky. For the remainder of war, he ran supplies between New Orleans and Clark's army in the north. Montgomery explored the area of the county that bears his name in 1775 while on a hunting expedition with

Kasper Mansker Kasper Mansker or Casper Mansker also, spelled Mäintzger and Minsker (1750–1820) was a longhunter and one of Middle Tennessee's first European explorers and settlers. Early life Kasper Mansker was born on the European immigrant ship, ''Christi ...

. In 1784, Montgomery purchased the land at the confluence of the Cumberland and Red Rivers from

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

for 100 British pounds. He then founded Clarksville. In 1789 he and

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

Martin Armstrong persuaded lawmakers to establish Clarksville as a

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

inspection point. Montgomery became the first

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

of the district. In 1780 he signed the

Cumberland Compact {{Short description, 1780 document establishing the law of settlers in present-day Tennessee The Cumberland Compact was both based on the earlier Articles of the Watauga Association composed at present day Elizabethton, Tennessee and is a foundat ...

and in 1793 commanded territorial troops in the

Nickajack Expedition The Nickajack Expedition in 1794 was a long-running battle fought from late summer to fall between American frontiersmen and the Chickamauga Cherokee. This Cherokee band had resisted the increasing American encroachment into their territory and rai ...

against the Creek tribe. Montgomery was killed near Eddy Creek,

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

on November 27, 1794, by an Indian ambush while hunting. His statue stands near Clarksville's Public Square.

Family

His family was of Scottish descent and settled in the

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colonial empire, English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertG ...

during the 17th century.

References

External links

John Montgomery Statue
Waymarking.com

Abstract to the George Rogers Clark Papers, Microfilm Roll #9, The Illinois Regiment

by Diana Gale Matthiesen, ''et al.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Montgomery, John 1750 births 1794 deaths Virginia militiamen in the American Revolution Signers of the Fincastle Resolutions People of pre-statehood Tennessee

Life

Family

References

Further reading

External links