William Lytle

Lytle's gift of sixty acres for the county seat came after a long debate over where the town should stand. Born in Hillsboro, North Carolina, in 1755, he rose to captain in 1779 and fought at Briar Creek, Stono Ferry, Guilford Court House and Eutaw Springs. He moved to Tennessee in 1790 with his wife Nancy and came to hold nearly 26,000 acres, partly awarded for his service and partly inherited from his brother Archibald. The town took the name of Hardy Murfree, Archibald's former commander. He died on September 4, 1829.

What the plaque says

William Lytle A captain in the Revolutionary Army, he received for his services a large grant of land in this area. From this he donated land on which Murfreesboro was built. His house was about 200 yards west. He is buried in the family cemetery about 50 yards from this point.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Stones River National Battlefield — 2.5 mi
  The Murfreesboro battlefield of December 1862, with a national cemetery built by Black soldiers, a Trail of Tears route and the story of the freedmen's settlement called Cemetery.
• Henry Horton State Park — 25 mi
  A Duck River park on Governor Henry Horton's former farm in Marshall County, with a mill ruin from 1845, kayak floats and the grave of a governor the House declined to impeach.
• Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration — 25 mi
  The Shelbyville show grounds where the Tennessee Walking Horse has been crowned world grand champion each late summer since 1939, and where the practice of soring is part of the story.
• Carnton — 26 mi
  The McGavock farm in Franklin, worked by 44 enslaved people in 1860, that became the largest field hospital of the Battle of Franklin.

More markers nearby

• Fortress Rosecrans — 0.4 mi
• "Charles Egbert Craddock" — 0.4 mi
• Robert Smith Sanders, M. D. — 0.5 mi
• Hardy Murfree — 0.5 mi