Editing Carthage, Tennessee (section)

==History==

The earliest known European-American settler in what is now Carthage was William Walton (1760–1816), who arrived in the late 1780s after the United States achieved independence in the [[American Revolutionary War]].<ref name=history>"[http://smithcountychamber.org/history-of-smith-county/ The History of Smith County"], Smith County Chamber of Commerce, Retrieved: 17 January 2013.</ref>  ''Circa'' 1800, Walton directed the construction of the Walton Road (Cumberland Turnpike), an early stagecoach route connecting the [[Knoxville, Tennessee|Knoxville]] area in the east with Middle Tennessee.  The road, which was roughly paralleled later by the construction of what is now [[U.S. Route 70 in Tennessee|U.S. 70]], was influential to the development and early settlement of the Cumberland region.<ref>W. Calvin Dickenson, "[http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1460 Walton Road"], ''The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2009.  Retrieved: January 17, 2013.</ref> Walton operated a ferry across the Cumberland River and a tavern nearby along the road, around which a small community developed. In 1804, Walton's community was chosen as the county seat of the newly formed Smith County after a heated election, and the town of Carthage was laid out shortly thereafter.<ref name=tehc>Sue Maggart, "[http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1213 Smith County"],  ''The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture,'' 2009. Retrieved: January 17, 2013.</ref>

Carthage's location at the confluence of the Caney Fork and Cumberland rivers made it an important shipping and steamboat port throughout the first half of the 19th century. The area was developed for tobacco and hemp crops, as well as blooded livestock. Goods were shipped downstream to Nashville. During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Carthage became an important post in the Eastern [[Highland Rim]] area of Tennessee. Carthage was selected as part of the route Confederate General [[Braxton Bragg]] marched the [[Army of Mississippi]] through on his [[Confederate Heartland Offensive]] into [[Kentucky]]. Later on March 6, 1863,<ref>''Official Record of the War of the Rebellion'', Series I, Volume XXIII, Part II, No. 110</ref> Union Brigadier General [[George Crook]] established a Union outpost in Carthage to serve as a base for his effort to clear out the considerable Confederate [[guerrilla]] insurgency from East Tennessee through Middle Tennessee.

Carthage's prominence as a river port on the Cumberland River was superseded after the railroads replaced river traffic in the later 19th century. The area's industrial focus shifted to South Carthage and Gordonsville.<ref name=tehc />