1. In 1790, Tennessee Senator William Blount became the first United States government official to be impeached when he was accused of conspiring with the British to incite an Indian war. He was expelled from the Senate and the impeachment charges were dropped.

2. The Battle of Nashville, which took place in 1864 during the Civil War, was fought on this day. Union forces, led by General George H. Thomas, defeated Confederate General John Bell Hood's Army of Tennessee. The battle resulted in over 4,000 casualties and marked the end of Confederate control of Tennessee and most of the surrounding region.

3. In 1941, the U.S. Army opened Camp Forest in Tullahoma, Tennessee, which was used to train soldiers during World War II. It was also briefly used to house German prisoners of war in 1945 before closing the same year.

4. The Tennessee Valley Authority was established on April 17, 1933, as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. The TVA is a federally owned corporation that operates dams and power plants, controls flooding, improves navigation, and promotes economic development in the Tennessee Valley region.

5. In 1964, Tennessee became the first state in the country to make the beating of a wife a punishable offense. With the passage of the "Family Violence Prevention Act", which was signed into law on April 17, a person who struck his or her spouse or child could be convicted of a misdemeanor crime. The law has since been strengthened and expanded to include other forms of domestic violence.