Davidson County is the oldest county in the 41-county region of
Middle Tennessee. It dates to 1783, shortly after the end of the
American Revolution, when the
North Carolina legislature created the county and named it in honor of
William Lee Davidson, a North Carolina general who was killed opposing the crossing of the
Catawba River by General
Cornwallis's British forces on February 1, 1781. The county seat, Nashville, is the oldest permanent European settlement in Middle Tennessee, founded by
James Robertson and
John Donelson during the winter of 1779–80 and the waning days of the Revolutionary War. The first white settlers established the
Cumberland Compact to establish a basic rule of law and to protect their land titles. Through much of the early 1780s, the settlers also faced a hostile response from
Native American tribes such as the
Cherokee,
Muscogee (Creek), and
Shawnee who used the area as a hunting ground; they resented the newcomers moving into the area in violation of treaties and competing for its resources. As the county's many known archaeological sites attest, Native American cultures had occupied areas of Davidson County for thousands of years. The first white Americans to enter the area were
fur traders. Long hunters came next, having heard about a large
salt lick, known as French Lick, where they hunted game and traded with the Native Americans. A number of the settlers came from Kentucky and the Upper South. Since the land was fertile, they cultivated
hemp and
tobacco, using the labor of enslaved African Americans, and also raised blooded livestock of high quality, including horses. Generally holding less land than the plantations of
Western Tennessee, many Middle Tennessee planters nevertheless became wealthy during this period. Davidson County was much larger when it was created in 1783. Its initial boundaries were defined as follows: - "[A]ll that part of this State lying west of the Cumberland mountain and south of the Virginia line, beginning on the top of Cumberland mountain where the Virginia line crosses, extending westward along the said line to Tennessee River, thence up said river to the mouth of Duck River, then up Duck River to where the line of marked trees run by the commissioners for laying off land granted the Continental line of this State intersects said river (which said line is supposed to be in thirty-five degrees fifty minutes north latitude) thence east along said line to the top of Cumberland mountain, thence northwardly along said mountain to the beginning". However, four more counties were carved out of Davidson County's territory between 1786 and 1856. •
Sumner County created in 1786 •
Williamson County, created in 1799 •
Rutherford County, created in 1803 (also included parts of Wilson County) •
Cheatham County, created in 1856 (also included parts of Dickson, Montgomery and Robertson counties) Following the outbreak of the
American Civil War in 1861, the voters of Davidson County voted narrowly in favor of
seceding from the United States: 5,635 in favor, 5,572 against. However, the Union Army occupied the county in February 1862, which caused widespread social disruption as the state's governing institutions broke down. ==Notable people==