Richard A. Blount, son of John and Mary (Ridley) Blount, was born 1 August 1774 in Virginia. He was educated in the Old Dominion, and, in his youth, traveled to the West Indies and then through Tennessee, the Carolinas, and several of the Northwestern states.
In the year 1798 Richard A. Blount left his home in Chuckatuck, Nansemond County, Virginia, and traveled to Savannah, Georgia, "a large and populous city of 250 or 300 dwellings." On his return trip to Virginia, he passed through the towns of Sandersville and Sparta in central Georgia.
In the year of 1800, Richard A. Blount and family settled in Washington County, Georgia. He was the postmaster of Lebanon, Georgia and a land owner in Washington and Baldwin Counties, Georgia. He also experimented with the grafting of apple trees on his three farms, which he named Belle Mont, Oconee, and Lebanon.
On 26 July 1806, R.A. Blount was nominated to run for the United States House of Representatives "to fill a vacancy occasioned by the resignation of the Hon. Joseph Bryan." In 1807, he served on the Hancock County Court House Construction Committee, and on 27 October 1813, he was chosen as a Justice of Inferior Court.
Richard A. Blount was commissioned "Aide De Camp with the rank of Major in the Second Division of the Militia of the State of Georgia" by John Irwin, Brigadier General, on 1 May 1816. On 3 July 1816, Blount was appointed "Aide de Camp to the Commander in Chief with the rank of Colonel." On 15 April 1817, R. A. Blount, Esq. was appointed "to continue as Aide de Camp with the rank of Colonel."