1559 – Part of Tristán de Luna's expedition under Mateo del Sauz moves into the Chattanooga area in August in order to return the Napochie tribe to vassal status under the Coosa chiefdom so that the Spaniards could receive food from the Coosa. Sauz's expedition succeeds and returns south around August 1560.[5]
1567 – Part of Juan Pardo's expedition under Hernando Moyano de Morales moves into Tennessee and stays at Chiaha, building a fort called San Pedro. Pardo later came to Moyano at Chiaha before the expedition returned to Santa Elena in modern South Carolina.[6]
October 5 – During the French and Indian War, the British begin construction of Fort Loudoun in modern-day Monroe County to protect the local Cherokee, making the fort one of the first British structures in modern-day Tennessee.[9]
1760
February-August – Relations between the British and the Cherokee worsen, leading to the Anglo-Cherokee War. Fort Loudoun is besieged, and surrenders with most of its garrison killed or captured.
c. 1768 – The first white settlers begin moving into the Watauga, Nolichucky, and Holston areas in violation of the Royal Proclamation of 1763. They believe they are in Virginia.[10]
May – Watauga and Nolichucky settlers negotiate a 10-year lease with the Cherokee and create a constitution called the Articles of the Watauga Association based on the laws of Virginia. The settlers build a courthouse and jail at Sycamore Shoals, and their government becomes known as the Watauga Association.[11]A map of the colonies during the American Revolution with the Washington District shown as part of North Carolina
Surveyors from Virginia and North Carolina survey the modern Tennessee–Virginia border. The North Carolinians' "Henderson Line" is two miles north of the Virginians' "Walker Line", creating a disputed area between the states.[15]
1783
April 18 – Greene County is created from Washington County.
April 6 – The Tennessee House of Representatives votes on resolutions to expel three of its Democratic members, ostensibly for breaking the body's decorum rules by leading personal protests for gun reform on the House floor in the wake of the March 27 school shooting. The resolutions for the expulsions of Justin Jones and Justin Pearson pass and they are removed from office, while the resolution against Gloria Johnson fails and she is allowed to retain her seat.
