Washington Knotts was born around 1856 in North Carolina. Knotts worked as a farm laborer and resided in Lilesville (Anson County), North Carolina. Knotts was charged with larceny and receiving stolen goods on April 22, 1878, and sentenced to five years in the North Carolina State Penitentiary. Knotts was recorded in the North Carolina State Penitentiary's Descriptive Register for the Years 1869-1884 as prisoner number 2675. In the descriptive register, Knotts's race is noted as Black. Knotts was twenty-two years old when he was arrested. Knotts was noted as possessing no formal education, meaning he could not read or write at that time. During his incarceration, Knotts was leased to the Western North Carolina Railroad Company to work on railroad construction. He died while incarcerated on September 20, 1879.