James K. Polk

James Knox Polk (1795-1849) was the eleventh President of the United States. He was born in what became Pineville, North Carolina and a monument was erected on the spot of his birth. This monument was site of the meeting between U.S. General Irving Morrell and Confederate President Don Partridge at which Partridge signed away Confederate sovereignty. Both men deemed a fit location the meeting because Polk had been President before the United States was divided by the War of Secession.

Prior to his Presidency, Polk had served as Governor of Tennessee and, before that, as Speaker of the House of Representatives.