Charles McClung McGhee (January 23, 1828 – May 5, 1907) was an American industrialist and financier, active primarily in Knoxville, Tennessee.

His position with the railroad also gave him access to the northern capital markets, which he used to help finance dozens of companies in and around Knoxville.

[2] Historian Lucile Deaderick wrote that "perhaps more than anyone else," McGhee "brought about and symbolized Knoxville which developed in the last third of the nineteenth century.

His father was a wealthy planter of Scots-Irish descent who owned roughly 15,000 acres (6,100 ha) of land in the Little Tennessee River valley.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, McGhee pledged his support for the Confederacy and agreed to supply the Confederate States Army with bacon and other pork products.

[5] Nevertheless, McGhee took the Oath of Allegiance, agreed to support the Union Army in 1864, and quickly mended ties with the city's Unionists.

[4] McGhee also assisted a couple that had been formerly enslaved by him, Handy and Evaline, and they took his last name as "he aided them materially in securing employment and starting them in life."

[4] Using his access to northern capital markets, McGhee financed numerous business ventures in the 1870s and 1880s, often in partnership with his long-time associate, Edward J. Sanford.

[9] In 1884, McGhee and Sanford co-founded the Knoxville Woolen Mills, which by 1900 included a 4.5-acre (1.8 ha) plant and employed 600 workers.

[4] During the Coal Creek War of 1891–1892, McGhee and Sanford took a hardline stance against the miners, who were striking over the company's use of convict leasing.