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At its organization on February 9, 1836, DeSoto County stretched from the Tennessee state line on the north to the Panola County line on the south; from the Mississippi River and Tunica County on the west to Marshall County on the east. A mistake in surveying placed the state line at what is now Winchester Road in Shelby County, Tennessee. In 1838, the line was resurveyed and moved to its present location.
The state appointed Felix H. Walker, John D. Martin, G. B. Cartwright, Beverly G. Mitchell and John T. Mosley as an Organizational Committee. These men made the formal application for a Writ of Election. Whig Governor Charles Lynch, knowing the 10 new counties leaned toward Jacksonian Democratic politics which would weaken his Whig Party in the state, refused to sign the Writ of Application. The Mississippi Legislature then received the Writ and formed the counties.
The first elections chose the following officers: C. B. Payne, Sheriff; Robert Atchinson, Circuit Court Clerk; Samuel T. Cobb, Probate Court Clerk; Humphrey Cobb, Probate Court Judge; J. D. Hallum, State Senator; Felix H. Walker, State Representative; and William Hukey Brown, President of the Board of Police consisting of Thomas Reid; Samuel M. King; B. G. Cartwright; and William McWilliams.
Edward Orne, commissioner of the Boston and Mississippi Cotton Land Company, was instrumental in buying up thousands of acres of land in the cession for the consortium. On January 25, 1836, Section 13 Township 3 Range 8 West was awarded to Chickasaw Til-Look-Hi-Yea, who sold the section to Edward Orne on June 16, 1836. On August 16, Edward Orne donated 40 acres of this section to the Board of Police for a county seat.
This 40 acres was planned and laid out with a 450 foot public square surrounded by 172 lots. In the two blocks around the square there were five streets north and south and five streets east and west. This plan still forms the center of Hernando, the county seat.
A public sale of lots in August, 1836, produced funds to build a courthouse and a jail. The contract was let on December 1, 1836. The town was called Jefferson.
The Mississippi Senate changed the name from Jefferson to Hernando to avoid confusion with several other post office names in the state.
An early newspaper states, "On April 27, 1836, when the county was first formed its white population was 140 souls." The 1837 tax list names 204 early settlers who paid taxes. By 1840, 757 heads of households and 6,990 persons were counted in the federal census.
In 1837 the legislature chartered the Hernando Female Academy, the first institution of learning in the entire Chickasaw Cession. The Hernando Male Academy opened for its first session on March 14, 1840.
Hernando elected its first board of aldermen in July, 1839. Within two weeks the board printed in the Hernando Free Press 19 ordinances, the first of which imposed a fine of one dollar on any person "driving a cart, dray, or wagon, or riding a horse faster than a trot."
Edward Orne and the consortium he represented had put in place the Hernando Railroad and Banking Company, which, as was customary at the time, issued its own bank notes. In his efforts to get control of the wildly inflated national economy President Andrew Jackson in 1837, issued the "Specie Circular" ordering government agents to accept nothing but gold and silver in payment for public lands. The Hernando Railroad and Banking Company, like numerous other banks, failed and a serious depression struck the entire county.
Many local citizens had bought stock in the railroad which was to run from Hernando to Commerce Landing in Tunica County on the Mississippi River. The roadbed for part of the railroad to Commerce Landing had been constructed. Commerce Road used this route to layout the wagon road. In 1839, the county newspaper headline read "Good Road to Commerce at Last!"
J. M. Lacey and Felix LaBauve published in 1839, the Hernando Free Press, the first newspaper that is extant. John Lavin brought his printing press from Vicksburg, Mississippi, to Commerce Landing in Tunica County, Mississippi, and was printing the Commercial Reporter by 1839. In 1845, he moved to Hernando and founded The Phenix (sic), copies of which may be read on film at the First Regional Library in Hernando. John Lavin was soon elected mayor of Hernando with Nathan Bedford Forrest elected as his constable.
Early Indians and Hernando DeSoto
Indian artifacts collected in DeSoto County link it with prehistoric groups of Woodland and Mississippian Indians.
The Mississippian Indians met Hernando DeSoto when he explored North Mississippi and, traditionally, came through DeSoto County. Some scholars project that DeSoto discovered the Mississippi River west of present-day Lake Cormorant, built rafts there and crossed to Crowley's Ridge, Arkansas. The National Park Service declared a "DeSoto Corridor" from the Chickasaw Bluff (Memphis) to Coahoma County, Mississippi.
Over 200 years passed and the Mississippian Indians disappeared. Meanwhile, the Chickasaw tribe moved here. Their "Long Town," several villages close to each other, was near present-day Pontotoc. The Chickasaws claimed land here as their hunting ground.
Negotiations, begun September, 1816, between the United States government and the Chickasaw nation, concluded with the signing of the Treaty of Pontotoc in October 1832. During these 16 years government officials and Chickasaw tribesmen worked out and revised treaty details.
From 1832 to 1836, government surveyors mapped the 6,442,000 acres of the Chickasaw domain, dividing it into townships, ranges and sections just as it remains today. The Mississippi Legislature formed 10 new counties, including DeSoto, Tunica, Marshall and Panola Counties, from this land.
By treaty the land was assigned by sections (640 acres, or one square mile) to individual Indians. The Chickasaws, a numerically small tribe, were assigned 2,422,400 acres of land using this formula. The government disposed of the remaining 400,000 at public sale. The Indians received at least $1.25 per acre for their land. The government land sold for 75 cents per acre or less.
Days of Expansion 1850-1861
In 1852, the state legislature chartered a stock company to build a plank road 22 miles long from Memphis to Nesbit. A similar road was built from Holly Springs to Memphis. These were toll roads and travel on them was not cheap. However, they offered relief from dust and mud. Highways 51 and 78 of today reflect these routes.
The Tennessee and Mississippi Railroad was chartered in 1853. On February 12, 1856, the railroad opened 12 and one-half miles to Horn Lake Depot. The first train arrived in Hernando to great celebration on April 22, 1856. On October 8, 1856, the trains ran 37 miles to Senatobia Depot, where the traveler could make connection with a four-horse stagecoach and make the trip on to Grenada in only 18 hours.
Gradually recovering from the Panic of 1837, DeSoto Countians cleared and developed the rich farm lands and built communities throughout the area. They did not know of the great tragedy that lay just ahead for the county and the state.
The Civil War 1861-1865
DeSoto County sent James Chalmers, Stephen Johnston and Thomas Lewers as delegates to a convention in Jackson, Mississippi, that on January 9, 1861, adopted an Ordinance of Secession, the second state, after South Carolina, to secede from the Union. Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was elected president of the Confederacy.
Civil War hostilities started on April 12, 1861, when Southern artillery shelled Fort Sumter in the Charleston, South Carolina, harbor. DeSoto County men and boys flocked to join one of the many companies being formed, often thinking only of the adventure and glory of the battlefield.
Three DeSoto Countians served in the Confederate Army with the rank of general: I. Patton Anderson, James Chalmers and Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Early in 1863, Memphis fell to the Union and was occupied by the Federals. DeSoto County, between the lines of Confederate and Union Troops, suffered raids on all hands and received no protection. In June 1863, the Federals, under the command of Colonel George Bryant, destroyed the courthouse and main business houses of Hernando. These troops sacked and burned buildings for five days. In 1864, Hatch 's command visited Hernando and burned a hotel and other buildings.
There is no exact list of local soldiers in Confederate service or of deaths and injuries suffered by them. The Board of Police spent much time during the war years extending aid to the families of soldiers to prevent starvation on the home front.
The Civil War took more American lives than any other war in our history. Its four years of struggle left a nationwide history of grief and bitterness that has been hard to overcome. On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to General U. S. Grant. Other southern armies soon followed. Many DeSoto County families tell of their returning soldiers trudging miles on foot to reach home. They also remember those family members who died in the struggle.
Reconstruction Days 1866-1875
The industrial North became rich during the war years by manufacturing war goods, but the South, which had been ruined by fire and the sword, had a bitter story. The end of the war found DeSoto County bankrupt, its fields desolate of crops and its economic life destroyed. On December 12, 1867, a county meeting was called to discuss the prevention of famine during the months ahead.
An influx of new citizens arrived in DeSoto County from the north and from foreign countries by 1870. At the same time, members of many county families moved west to Arkansas, Texas and California.
Politically, following the surrender, DeSoto County, like all of Mississippi, was under military rule. Officials of the county were appointed by Adelbert Ames, the military governor. With the out- standing leadership of local citizens DeSoto County was able to avoid the bloody riots and the extravagant administrations other area experienced.
"Carpetbaggers" (newcomers arriving from the North with their possessions in satchels of carpet material) and "Scalawags" (local citizens who expediently cooperated with them) were appointed as county officials. DeSoto County was fortunate that many of these appointees were good citizens who attended faithfully to the welfare of the county.
At this time, the Board of Police was abolished and the Board of Supervisors established. After Tate County was formed the Beat or Supervisor District lines were redrawn in DeSoto County.
On February 25, 1870, Mississippi was readmitted to the Union. In 1876, Adelbert Ames was replaced as governor by Democratic Governor John M. Stone. The struggles of Reconstruction continued. Hotly contested elections followed in the next few years, but at least they were elections.
The Constitution of 1869 established the Mississippi Public School System. Most Mississippians opposed public schools because times were so hard and there was little money to pay school taxes. DeSoto County established its first free public schools in 1871.
Newspapers were practically nonexistent during the war. In May 1866, W. S. Slade published The People’s Press, the first DeSoto County paper after the hostilities ended. In the fall of 1868 he wrote in The People’s Press, "Notwithstanding the burning by Yankee soldiers and their stealings combined-notwithstanding the many failures of heretofore rich farmers who have been declared bankrupts- we can boast of more stores and a larger stock of goods than ever."
Two trains a day ran in and out of Memphis. County roads, in bad repair, trailed through the area. Major bridges had been destroyed during the war and smaller ones had fallen in making travel in the county hazardous.
DeSoto County still had a burned out shell for a courthouse. Court was held in any space available and witnesses had to wait outside in all weather for their turns in court. Concern about the lack of a courthouse led to bids from other communities to build a courthouse in that community if it could become the county seat.
The agitation was strongest from that part of the county that lay south of the Coldwater River. Petitions to probate court asked that the county be divided. In 1873, the state legislature divided the county and formed Tate County south of the Coldwater River. In 1870 the county's population stood just over 32,000 people. The division of the county caused the loss of about 10,000 as reflected on the 1880 census.
"Four Ways" was an inn and stage coach stop at Pleasant Hill Road and Old Highway 51 at Nesbit, Mississippi. In 1845 Dr. A.D. McNeese bought the property and built a log cabin on the hill above a spring. Sometime around 1861, he built the three story inn just East of the cabin. In 1862 he sold it to Dr. Nathaniel Winningham.
Nails for building the inn were hand forged. They were square with blunt ends. Concrete for the foundation of the cabin and inn, as well as fence posts, feed and water troughs was hand made by the laborers.
The mahogany stair case came from France in sections. It was shipped to New Orleans, then sent up the Mississippi on river boats, and on to Nesbit in wagons. It was put together with pegs. Marshall County Courthouse in Holly Springs has a double staircase of the same materials and design.
During the Civil War years, the inn was used as a military conference site by Jefferson Davis. As president of the Confederacy he met there with General Nathan Bedford Forrest and other officers.
Lex and Fronie Wooten bought "Four Ways" in 1946 and sold it in the early 1960s. The house was torn down in 1969.
On June 1, 1871, contractors Seebring and Lee had 22 workers on the square removing the ruins of the old courthouse with rebuilding to start immediately. DeSoto County had solved its most pressing problem with the courthouse completion in 1872.
The introduction of barbed wire to fence in livestock and the passing of state laws to make it illegal to allow livestock to run at large stirred the county. For many weeks farmers hotly debated the issue in "Letters to the Editor" in the county newspaper. The wire was expensive and many feared it would injure their stock.
Moving On 1876-1900
D.C. Campbell died on September 5, 1878, in Hernando of yellow fever. This dread illness, which had no known cause, nor cure, and few treatments, was a scourge in DeSoto County. The Hernando epidemic in six weeks killed almost half its inhabitants. There were also cases all over the county. The epidemic did not abate until frost came to the area on October 29. The people knew that cold weather would stop the illness, but did not know that destroying mosquitoes was the key.
At the turn of the century people still depended on horseback, wagon, buggy, or foot for personal transportation. Candles or the new, bright kerosene lamps provided light. Fireplaces or stoves vented into flues provided heat from burning wood or sometimes, coal. Brick lined cisterns caught rainwater during rainy spells. Elaborate gutter systems around the roofs of buildings caught rainwater in the cisterns or rain barrels. Main roads were gravel surfaced, but side roads were dirt-dust in dry weather, mud when it rained.
In 1886, the Illinois Central Railroad bought out the Mississippi and Tennessee Railroad. In the town of Hernando a few lawyers and merchants installed telephones. The Cumberland Telephone and Telegraph Company had its exchange at the corner of Holly Springs and Temple Streets. Across the street the post office sold the new prepaid two cent stamps, but many people still sent mail without postage and the person receiving the letter had to pay the bill.
The economy of the county rested on agriculture with cotton as the important crop. Farmers kept livestock for their own use and many town dwellers had vegetable gardens and kept chickens, a hog and a milk cow in the backyard. Hunting, fishing, organized picnics and traveling circuses furnished entertainment for everyone.
The social life in each community centered around the activities of its local school and church. There were over 80 small public schools in the county. A notice in the county newspaper stated that a school would be established where there were 25 children of school age. A trip to the county seat was event enough to get your name mentioned in the "Locals" column in the local press.
A New Century – 1901
In 1902 a steel fence was erected around the courthouse at the cost of $1,500. The county newspaper changed its name from The Hernando Press to The Times Promoter. Subscriptions were one dollar per year.
The Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad built a line through the western side of the county. Railroads offered "Excursion Tickets" at low prices to special events. For the Confederate soldiers annual convention in New Orleans the rate was one cent a mile each way.
A free booklet entitled How To Put Up Your Own Telephone Line was offered to those who wanted telephone service. Cotton sold for 10 cents a pound that fall.
In 1909 the supervisors had three public wells dug around the court house square. A gasoline powered pump was installed to furnish running water for the courthouse. The supervisors also proposed issuing $150,000.00 in bonds to gravel main roads over the county. This brought a flood of letters to the editor both for and against the bonds. A petition to require an election failed and the bonds were issued.
A citizen's request for an outside auditor to audit the county expenditures was denied because the board felt that if mistakes had been made they were unintentional. Public pressure made the board agree to hire an auditor and then found that they could not legally pay him from county funds.
The Board of Supervisors hired the county's first Agricultural Agent, Mr. W. T. Glenn, for $25.00 per month. In one month he reported working 26 days, traveling 471 miles, assisting 81 farmers and vaccinating 94 calves.
The DeSoto County Agricultural High School was established at Olive Branch, affording local students an opportunity to attend a boarding school. In 1912, Randle University School, a private school founded in 1899 by E. H. Randle, closed and its furniture was sold to the public by E. L. Rawls, Hemando merchant.
The first automobiles appeared locally about 1913. By 1915, automobiles were so numerous that they were bothersome. They frightened horses, ran too fast, made too much noise, and stirred too much dust. Horse runaway accidents caused by frightened animals were reported. A town speed limit was 12 miles per hour. Robbers and safe blowers came into town, did their dirty work and sped away in automobiles. The blown up Hemando Post Office safe was found in Horn Lake Creek.
In 1916, a power plant in Hernando furnished the first electricity for the area. It only operated from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
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