Bledsoe County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,913. Its county seat is Pikeville.
History
Bledsoe County was formed in 1807 from land that was formerly Cherokee Nation land as well as land carved from Roane County. The county was named for Anthony Bledsoe (1739–1788), a soldier in the Revolutionary War and was an early settler of Sumner County. He was killed in an Indian attack at Bledsoe's Station.
Like many East Tennessee counties, Bledsoe County opposed secession on the eve of the Civil War. In Tennessee's Ordinance of Secession on June 8, 1861, the county's residents voted against secession by a margin of 500 to 197. General James G. Spears, a resident of Bledsoe, served as a vice president at the pro-Union East Tennessee Convention in May and June 1861, and fought for the Union Army in the war.
Lynching of James Scales
James Scales, a Black teenager, was incarcerated at the Training and Agricultural School for Colored Boys in Bledsoe County after he was convicted for armed robbery. At the reformatory, James was tasked with cooking and building fires for the Superintendent Henry Eugene Scott's family, namely his wife Notie Bell Lewis Scott and their daughter Gwendolyn Scott McKinney, whose home resided on the grounds of the reformatory.
On November 23, 1944, McKinney was found murdered and her mother severely injured, later dying of her injuries. Scales was immediately suspected of the double murder. He was found later in the day by farmers who brought him to the reformatory, where he was later taken to the local jail in Pikeville.
At the local jail Scales was placed in a cell by the jail cook. Construction workers nearby impersonated reformatory personnel and requested Scales be released to them. The jail cook obliged and released Scales.
After Scales was kidnapped, he was taken to the reformatory grounds; at the grounds, a tree had been prepared for a lynching. A barrel was placed beneath the tree for Scales to stand on. A witness to the event attempted to stop the lynching, but Scales was shot 4 to 6 times by a member of the mob, killing him at the age of 16.
Geography
left|210px|thumb|Northern Bledsoe County, with the Cumberland Plateau on the horizon
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.08%) is water.
Adjacent counties
- Cumberland County (north)
- Rhea County (east/EST Border)
- Hamilton County (southeast/EST Border)
- Sequatchie County (southwest)
- Van Buren County (west)
State protected areas
- Bledsoe State Forest (part)
- Fall Creek Falls State Natural Area (part)
- Fall Creek Falls State Park (part)