Tennessee (river)

Tennessee (river), south-eastern United States, a tributary of the Ohio River. The Tennessee is formed by the confluence of the Holston and French Broad rivers, just east of Knoxville, in eastern Tennessee. It flows 1,049 km (652 mi) in a great U shape, south into Alabama, then turning north to pass through western Tennessee and Kentucky, where it joins the Ohio River near Paducah. The river has a drainage basin of some 101,000 sq km (39,000 mi). Since the establishment of the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1933, the river has been extensively dammed for navigation, flood control, and power production. Major reservoirs on the river include Guntersville and Wheeler lakes, located in Alabama, and Kentucky Lake, in Tennessee and Kentucky. In April 1862, the river valley was the site of the Battle of Shiloh, near Savannah, Tennessee.