Colonial governor; born in
Tangier, Africa, in 1676; served in the army under the
Duke of
Marlborough; was wounded in the battle of
Blenheim; was governor of
Virginia in 1710-23.
In 1736 he was colonial postmaster, and in 1739 commander of the forces intended to operate against
Florida.
The
French, in pursuance of their policy for spreading their dominions in
America, had always concealed from the
English all knowledge of the country beyond the Apalachian range of mountains.
In 1714
Governor Spottswood resolved to acquire some knowledge of that mysterious region, and he went in person, with a few attendants, over those lofty ranges to the headwaters of the
Tennessee and
Kentucky rivers.
He made the first certain discovery of a passage through those everlasting hills; but the country was very little known to Europeans until the middle of the eighteenth century.
Spottswood was a zealous friend of the College of William and Mary and of efforts to Christianize the Indians.
He died in
Annapolis, Md., June 7, 1740.
