Editing Kingston, Tennessee (section)

==History==
Kingston has its roots in [[Fort Southwest Point]], which was built just south of present-day Kingston in 1792. At the time, Southwest Point was on the fringe of the legal settlement area for Euro-Americans. A [[Cherokee]] village, headed by Chief Tollunteeskee, was situated just across the river, at what is now [[Rockwood, Tennessee|Rockwood]]. In 1805, [[Return J. Meigs, Sr.|Colonel Return J. Meigs]], who operated out of Southwest Point, was appointed Cherokee Agent, effectively moving the agency from the [[Tellico Blockhouse]] to Southwest Point. The city of Kingston was established on October&nbsp;23, 1799, as part of an effort to partition [[Knox County, Tennessee|Knox County]] (the initial effort to form a separate county failed, but succeeded two years later).<ref>Snyder Roberts, "[http://www.roanetn.com/rnhist.htm Thumbnail Sketch of Early Roane County History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509170738/http://www.roanetn.com/rnhist.htm |date=2008-05-09 }}," 1969.  Transcribed for web content by Pat Roberts McDonald, 2007.  Retrieved:  January 2, 2008.</ref>  Kingston was named after Major Robert King, an officer at Fort Southwest Point in the 1790s.<ref name=williams>Samuel Cole Williams, ''Early Travels in the Tennessee Country, 1540–1800'' (Johnson City, Tenn.: The Watauga Press, 1928), 500.</ref>

[[File:Kingston-capitol-building-1889-Steinwehr.jpg|left|210px|thumb|Building in Kingston used briefly as Tennessee's state capitol in 1807, photographed in 1889]]

On September 21, 1807, Kingston was Tennessee's [[List of capitals in the United States|state capital]] for one day. The [[Tennessee General Assembly]] convened in Kingston that day due to an agreement with the Cherokee, who had been told that if the Cherokee Nation ceded the land that is now [[Roane County, Tennessee|Roane County]], Kingston would become the capital of Tennessee. After adjourning that day, the Assembly resumed meeting in Knoxville.<ref>Roane County Heritage Commission, "[http://www.roanealliance.org/community/community_history.html History of Roane County] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051215181830/http://www.roanealliance.org/community/community_history.html |date=2005-12-15 }}," 1997.  Retrieved:  January&nbsp;2, 2008.</ref>

At the outset of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] in 1861, Kingston was selected as the site of the third session of the [[East Tennessee Convention]], which attempted to form a new, Union-aligned state in East Tennessee.  Due to the Confederate occupation of the region, however, this third session, which was scheduled for August 1861, never took place.<ref name=temple1>Oliver Perry Temple, "[https://books.google.com/books?id=g8xYAAAAMAAJ&dq=east+tennessee+civil+war+%22knoxville-greeneville+convention%22&pg=PA340 The Knoxville-Greeneville Convention of 1861]," ''East Tennessee and the Civil War'' (R. Clarke Company, 1899), p. 351.</ref>  In October 1861, [[William B. Carter]] and several co-conspirators planned the [[East Tennessee bridge burnings]] from a command post in Kingston.<ref name=madden>David Madden, "Unionist Resistance to Confederate Occupation: The Bridge Burners of East Tennessee," East Tennessee Historical Society ''Publications'', Vols. 52-53 (1980–1981), pp. 22-40.</ref> On November 24, 1863, [[Confederate Cavalry]] under [[Joseph Wheeler]] numbering about 500–1,000 men tried to take Kingston from the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] in the [[Battle of Kingston]], but they were unsuccessful.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.roanetnheritage.com/research/military/civil%20war/04.htm|title=The Civil War In Roane County|website=www.roanetnheritage.com|access-date=January 3, 2018}}</ref>

In 1955, the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]] completed work on the [[Kingston Fossil Plant]], which at the time was the world's largest coal-burning power plant. The plant, which consumes roughly {{convert|14000|ST|t}} of coal daily, can produce up to 1,456&nbsp;megawatts of electricity.<ref>"[http://www.tva.gov/sites/kingston.htm TVA: Kingston Fossil Plant]." Retrieved:  January 2, 2008.</ref>  The plant's 1,000-foot (305 m) smokestacks are a familiar sight to those driving on the Roane County stretch of [[Interstate 40 in Tennessee|Interstate 40]]. On December&nbsp;22, 2008, a {{convert|40|acre|km2|adj=on}} impoundment containing fly ash slurry from the power plant [[Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill|broke]], spilling more than {{convert|1|e9USgal|m3}} of waste into the surrounding area.