As we continue to move toward our nation’s semiquincentennial, I’m still focusing on elements of the Revolutionary War effort of attaining independence and the related contributions and connections of families of the Fork, the Knox County lands between the French Broad and Holston Rivers.
Most people drive along Strawberry Plains Pike in the heart of the Fork and never know it’s there. It’s the home of Alexander McMillan, which is more than 230 years old.
Alexander McMillan came to America from Ireland in 1775 to join family members in Virginia, but soon joined the Continental troops that moved up into Quebec, fighting the British along the way. He reportedly lost a finger to frostbite there while on picket duty. By 1778, he had made it to Virginia and married his first cousin, Margaret Martha McMillan. In 1780, he joined other Overmountain Men who fought at the Battle of King’s Mountain. (He also fought at the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812, even though he was 66 years old.)…