Mississippi Encyclopedia Staff

Bordering the Mississippi River in the southwestern part of the state, Adams County, the first county organized in the Mississippi…

Located along the Tennessee border in northeastern Mississippi, Alcorn County is named for James L. Alcorn, Mississippi’s twenty-eighth governor. The…

Named for the Amite River, which the French had named for the word amitié (friendship) in hopes or celebration of…

Attala is a hilly county located in the very heart of the state and bordered on the west by the…

Bordering Tennessee in north-central Mississippi, Benton County was organized during Reconstruction from sections of neighboring Marshall and Tippah Counties. Founded…

With the Mississippi River and Arkansas border forming its western edge, Bolivar County lies in the heart of the Delta.…

Phil Bryant was elected governor of Mississippi in the November 2011 Republican landslide. In that historic election, Republicans won all…

Located in north-central Mississippi on land historically populated by Choctaw and Chickasaw peoples, Calhoun County was founded in 1852 and…

Carroll County is a hilly area with fertile valleys in central Mississippi, flanked by the Big Black River along its…

Choctaw County, founded in 1833, is located in central Mississippi. The county is named for the Choctaw people. The Natchez…

Claiborne County lies directly east of Tensas Parish, Louisiana, between Vicksburg and Natchez. The county is bordered on the west…

Traversed from north to south by the Chickasawhay River, Clarke County borders Alabama in southeastern Mississippi’s Piney Woods region. The…

One of the counties organized during Reconstruction, Clay County in northeastern Mississippi was formed from parts of Chickasaw, Lowndes, Monroe,…

Coahoma County is located in the northern Delta, with the Mississippi River shaping much of the county’s winding western border.…

Copiah County is located in central Mississippi, just south of Hinds County. The Pearl River forms its eastern boundary, and…

Covington County lies in southern Mississippi’s Piney Woods region, with the Okatoma River running north–south through it. Covington County was…

Located in the northwestern corner of the state, DeSoto County is bounded by the Mississippi River to the west, Tennessee…

Located in the Piney Woods of southern Mississippi, the northern half of Forrest County is traversed by the Pascagoula River.…

Located in the southwestern part of the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta, Franklin County was founded in 1809 and named for Benjamin Franklin.…

Located in the Piney Woods region of southeastern Mississippi, George County is bounded to the east by the Alabama state…

Greene County is located in the Piney Woods region of southeastern Mississippi along the Alabama border. The Leaf and Chickasawhay…

Located in north-central Mississippi, Grenada County is traversed from east to west by the Yalobusha River. A significant portion of…

Hancock County is located on the Gulf Coast, with the Pearl River and Louisiana border forming much of its western…

Located on the Gulf Coast, Harrison County was established on 5 February 1841 from portions of Hancock, Jackson, and Perry…

As the home of Mississippi’s capital city, Hinds County has long been the center of the state’s government as well…

Holmes County, created in 1833 from part of Yazoo County and located in central Mississippi, was named for former governor…

Located in the central Delta and named for Confederate general and Mississippi governor Benjamin Humphreys, Humphreys County was founded in…

Founded from land ceded to the United States by the Choctaw Indians in 1820, Issaquena County was established on 23…

Named for Chickasaw leader Itawambe Miko (Levi Colbert), Itawamba County was founded in 1836 on land ceded by the Chickasaw…

Jackson County on the Gulf Coast played an important role in Mississippi’s early development. Founded in 1812, it was named…

Located in southeastern Mississippi, Jasper County’s lands have a long Native American history. Red Shoe, an eighteenth-century Choctaw chief and…

Originally named Pickering County, Jefferson County was one of Mississippi’s first counties and was established on 2 April 1799 by…

Named for the president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis County was created in 1906 from parts of Covington and Lawrence…

Founded in 1826 from portions of Covington and Wayne Counties, Jones County is located in southern Mississippi’s Piney Woods region.…

Located east of Jackson, along the Alabama-Mississippi border, Kemper County was founded on 23 December 1833. The Tombigbee River crosses…

Site of the University of Mississippi and the home of William Faulkner and the subject of much of his work,…

Located in southeastern Mississippi and named for congressman, secretary of the interior, and US Supreme Court justice Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus…

Founded in 1833 and named for Col. James Lauderdale, a US military officer killed during the War of 1812, Lauderdale…

Located in south-central Mississippi and founded in 1814, Lawrence County is named after naval officer James Lawrence, known for his…

Located in the center of Mississippi, Leake County was founded in 1833 with a small population of free people and…

Known to many as the county where Elvis Presley grew up and made his first music, Lee County in northeastern…

Located in the Mississippi Delta, Leflore County was formed during Reconstruction from portions of Carroll and Sunflower Counties. The Tallahatchie…

Lincoln County in southern Mississippi was formed in 1870, during the brief period of Republican Reconstruction, and was named after…

Located in eastern Mississippi on the Alabama border, Lowndes County was formed in 1830 out of a portion of Monroe…

Formed in 1828 from a part of Yazoo County, Madison County takes its name from Pres. James Madison. Located in…

Located in southern Mississippi, Marion County was formed in 1811. Named after Gen. Francis Marion, the county borders Louisiana to…

Founded in 1836, Marshall County borders Tennessee and was named for Supreme Court justice John Marshall. The county seat is…

The area that became Monroe County has evidence of the earliest human activity in the Mississippi area. The Hester Site,…

Located in central Mississippi, Montgomery County was founded in 1871 from parts of Carroll and Choctaw Counties. In its first…

Located in east-central Mississippi, Neshoba County was founded in 1833. Its name comes from a Choctaw word meaning “wolf.” The…

The area in east-central Mississippi that became Newton County had a substantial Choctaw population that moved west in the 1830s…

Long before its official founding in 1833, the area that became Noxubee County, in eastern Mississippi along the Alabama line,…

Like many other Mississippi counties, Oktibbeha County was formed in 1833 from lands ceded to the United States by the…

Panola County, located in northwest Mississippi in the Mississippi Delta, was established in 1836. According to oral tradition, its name…

Founded in 1890 from parts of Hancock and Marion Counties, Pearl River County initially had a population of just 2,957,…

Located in the Piney Woods of southeastern Mississippi, Perry County was established in 1820. Named after US Navy commodore Oliver…

Located in southern Mississippi, along the Louisiana border, Pike County was one of Mississippi’s original counties. Established in 1815, the…

The 1832 Treaty of Pontotoc Creek gave Pontotoc County a permanent place in the history of US-Chickasaw relations. The land…

By the time Prentiss County was founded in northeastern Mississippi in 1870, the area had already seen a number of…

Quitman County was established in 1877 from parts of four other Delta counties: Tallahatchie, Tunica, Panola, and Coahoma. The bill…

Founded 1828, Rankin County is located in central Mississippi and was formed from part of Hinds County. Named for political…

Scott County was founded in 1833 and named for Gov. Abram M. Scott. Forest is the county seat, and other…

Sharkey County is likely known most for the origins of the teddy bear and the birth of Muddy Waters. Yet…

Simpson County, founded in 1824, is located in south-central Mississippi and is named for Josiah Simpson, a judge and political…

Founded in 1833, Smith County, a small county on the edge of the Piney Woods region in south-central Mississippi, was…

Founded in 1916, Stone County is located in South Mississippi, near the Gulf Coast. In the early twentieth century, Stone…

Perhaps most famous as the home of Parchman Prison, Fannie Lou Hamer, Archie Manning, and various blues musicians and sites,…

Founded in 1833 and named for a Choctaw word roughly meaning “river of rocks,” Tallahatchie County is located in the…

Situated in the northwestern part of the state, thirty miles south of Memphis, Tate County was organized in 1873 and…

The career of Congressman Bennie Thompson reflects the arc of African American political power after the civil rights movement. Now…

Established after the 1832 Chickasaw land cession, Tippah County was created from land that included portions of Benton, Union, Alcorn,…

Founded in 1836, Tishomingo County is located in the northeastern corner of Mississippi, sharing borders with Tennessee and Alabama. Tishomingo…

Tunica County was established in 1840, close to three hundred years after Hernando de Soto traveled through the area. Both…

Founded in 1870, Union County was formed from sections of Tippah and Pontotoc Counties, with some land added from Lee…

Walthall County, located in southern Mississippi, in the longleaf pine belt on the Louisiana border, developed out of sections of…

Warren County, perhaps best known for the significance of the Siege of Vicksburg during the Civil War, was one of…

Washington County was founded in 1827 and named for George Washington. It is located in the Mississippi Delta region, bordering…

One of Mississippi’s first counties, Wayne County was founded in 1809 and was named for US Army general Anthony Wayne.…

Sumner County in central Mississippi was formed in 1874. By 1890 the county was renamed in honor of US secretary…

Roger Wicker has served as US senator from Mississippi since 2007, after serving in the US House of Representatives from…

Located in Mississippi’s southwestern corner, on the Louisiana border, Wilkinson County was one of the state’s original counties, formed in…

Located in central Mississippi, Winston County is named for Col. Louis Winston, a Natchez lawyer. The county seat is Louisville.…

Located in north-central Mississippi, Yalobusha County was founded in 1833. Named after the Yalobusha River, the county has two seats,…

Located on the edge of the Mississippi Delta, Yazoo County was established in 1832. Its county seat is Yazoo City,…