Editing Washington County, Tennessee (section)

==History==

===Watauga and the Washington District===
Washington County is rooted in the [[Watauga Association|Watauga settlements]], which were established in the early 1770s in the vicinity of what is now [[Elizabethton, Tennessee|Elizabethton]], in adjacent Carter County. At the outbreak of the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] in 1776, the Wataugans organized the "Washington District", which was governed by a [[committee of safety (American Revolution)|committee of safety]]. North Carolina initially refused to recognize the settlements as legal, but finally agreed to annex the district after the settlers thwarted an invasion by hostile Cherokees. The settlements were governed as the [[Washington District, North Carolina|Washington District]], which originally included all of what is now Tennessee. The district was reorganized as Washington County in 1777.<ref name=tehc>Mildred Kozsuch and Ruth Broyles, "[http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1472 Washington County]", ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture''. Retrieved: November 15, 2013.</ref>

===Washington County, North Carolina and Franklin===
From 1777 until 1784, North Carolina held nominal control over the county, but did little for the residents, at least in their eyes. So the area citizens formed, in 1784, the [[State of Franklin]] to meet their needs. Franklin was an early attempt to create a fourteenth state prior to [[Kentucky]] and [[Vermont]]'s admissions into the union. The county reverted to North Carolina control, however, following the failure of the Franklin state government in 1788.

===Part of Tennessee===
In 1790 the area became part of [[Southwest Territory]], and afterward it was admitted to the Union in 1796 as the 16th state.<ref name=tehc />  [[Jonesborough, Tennessee|Jonesboro]], the county seat of Washington County, is Tennessee's oldest town. With many buildings restored, it comprises one of the nation's most authentic historic districts of the period 1790–1870.

Washington County was divided between pro-Union and pro-secession sentiments at the outset of the Civil War. In Tennessee's Ordinance of Secession referendum on June 8, 1861, Washington Countians voted 1,445 to 1,022 in favor of remaining in the Union.<ref>Oliver Perry Temple, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=g8xYAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22The+detailed+vote+of+the+several+counties+was+as+follows%22&pg=PA199 East Tennessee and the Civil War]'' (R. Clarke Company, 1899), p. 199. Eric Lacy (''Vanquished Volunteers'', Appendix B) gives a much closer tally, 1,115 to 1,022.</ref>  One of the bridges targeted by the [[East Tennessee bridge burnings|East Tennessee bridge-burners]] in November 1861 was located in what is now [[Watauga, Tennessee|Watauga]] near the Washington-Carter county line.<ref>Temple, ''East Tennessee and the Civil War'', pp. 384-385.</ref>  [[Landon Carter Haynes]], a Confederate senator, hailed from Washington County.<ref name=tehc />

Johnson City, originally known as Johnson's Depot, was a major [[railway]] center for the southeastern states, connecting the region for freight transportation and passengers. It was the headquarters for both the standard-gauge Carolina, Clinchfield, and Ohio ([[Clinchfield Railroad]]), which required the excavation and blasting of 17 tunnels during its construction; and the narrow-gauge [[East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad]] (Tweetsie). Significant restoration is underway, as well as publicizing the railroad heritage of the Johnson's Depot Historic District. Other historic properties are being restored as representative of Johnson City's late nineteenth and early twentieth-century era as a railway center.