A brief Hstory of DeSoto County
Courtesy of the DeSoto County Geneological Society
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.
