The Place:
"Warren County was established November 26, 1807 by an act of the Tennessee General Assembly, becoming the 30th county created in Tennessee. It was organized as a county on February 1, 1808. On November 22, 1809, the General Assembly authorized the newly appointed County Court to appoint commissioners to purchase a site for a county seat, and lay off a town to be called McMinnville. These commissioners were appointed in March 1810, and on August 4, 1810, they obtained title to a 41 acre tract just north of the Barren Fork River. They laid off and sold lots in the newly platted town, reserving two acres in the center for a court house, jail and stocks.
Warren County was originally a part of White County created in 1806, and was that portion of White County lying south of the Caney Fork River along the Highland Rim with portions on the Cumberland Plateau on the east and in the Central Basin on the west. It extended to the Alabama border at creation, but was reduced in size by the creation of Franklin County just one week later.
Settlement had begun in the area as early as 1800, and consisted largely of Scots-Irish, English, and Hugenots from Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. With temperate climate, adequate rainfall, and traversed by the Collins, Rocky and Barren Fork rivers, along with the Hickory, Charles and Mountain creeks, it was well watered and covered with numerous free flowing springs. Heavily forested in the eastern portion, large areas in the western section were treeless, earning for the area the title of "Barrens," which continues to this day."
Reference: (
visit link)
The Person:
"Warren County was named for Revolutionary War hero Gen. Joseph Warren, the first general killed in the War of Independence."
Reference: (
visit link)
"Joseph Warren (June 11, 1741 – June 17, 1775) was an American physician who played a leading role in Patriot organizations in Boston during the early days of the American Revolution, eventually serving as President of the revolutionary Massachusetts Provincial Congress. Warren enlisted Paul Revere and William Dawes on April 18, 1775, to leave Boston and spread the alarm that the British garrison in Boston was setting out to raid the town of Concord and arrest rebel leaders John Hancock and Samuel Adams. Warren participated in the Battles of Lexington and Concord the following day, which are commonly considered to be the opening engagements of the American Revolutionary War.
Warren had been commissioned a major general in the colony's militia shortly before the June 17, 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill. Rather than exercising his rank, Warren chose to serve in the battle as a private soldier, and was killed in combat when British troops stormed the redoubt atop Breed's Hill. His death, immortalized in John Trumbull's painting, The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17, 1775, galvanized the rebel forces. He has been memorialized in the naming of many towns, counties, streets, and other locations in the United States, by statues, and in numerous other ways."
Reference: (
visit link)