[2] As lieutenant colonel commandant of the Knox County militia, White managed to defuse a number of potentially hostile situations between the settlers and the local Native Americans.

He donated the land for many of Knoxville's early public buildings, and helped establish Blount College (now the University of Tennessee).

White's descendants continued to play prominent roles in the political and economic affairs of Knoxville into the twentieth century.

White eventually obtained a grant for a 1,000-acre (400 ha) tract of land at what is now Knoxville, and in 1784 he was elected to the senate of the new State of Franklin, a position which kept him preoccupied for the next two years.

White relocated to what is now Knox County in 1785, initially building a simple cabin at what is now the Riverdale community east of modern Knoxville.

The following year, White set aside a portion of his land for the creation a territorial capital, named "Knoxville" after Secretary of War Henry Knox.

In 1793, White defused a potentially violent situation when he dispersed a mob of angry settlers that had amassed at Gamble's Station for a march against the Overhill towns.

[2] Following the Fort Mims massacre of August 1813, Andrew Jackson and John Coffee led the Tennessee militia into northern Alabama in October of that year to engage a contingent of hostile "Red Stick" Creeks.

[6] On November 11, Cocke ordered James White, leader of the Hamilton District militia, to destroy the Hillabee towns.

[6] In 1800, White moved to his country estate east of Knoxville, perhaps having grown weary of the city, which had developed into a rowdy frontier capital.

A subsequent archaeological survey of the site led by University of Tennessee archaeologist Charles Faulkner confirmed the cabin was probably built by White.