Lauderdale County is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

located on the western edge of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, with its border the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,143. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

is Ripley. Since the antebellum years, it has been developed for cotton as a major commodity crop.

History

Lauderdale County was created in 1835 from parts of

Tipton Tipton is an industrial town in the West Midlands in England with a population of around 38,777 at the 2011 UK Census. It is located northwest of Birmingham. Tipton was once one of the most heavily industrialised towns in the Black Country, w ...

, Dyer and

Haywood Haywood may refer to: Places Canada * Haywood, Manitoba United Kingdom * Haywood, Herefordshire * Great Haywood, Staffordshire * Little Haywood, Staffordshire United States * Hayward, California, formerly Haywood * Haywood, Kentucky * Haywood, ...

counties. It was named for Lieutenant Colonel James Lauderdale, who was killed at the

Battle of New Orleans The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815 between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson, roughly 5 miles (8 km) southeast of the French ...

in the War of 1812. Planters developed large cotton plantations along the waterways, and used enslaved African Americans in gangs to work and process this commodity crop. After the American Civil War, many freedmen initially stayed in the area, working the land as

sharecroppers Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...

tenant farmers A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...

. Whites used violence to enforce white supremacy after the war, continuing after Reconstruction. In the period after Reconstruction and into the early 20th century, whites in Lauderdale County committed eight lynchings of blacks. This was the fifth-highest total of any county in the state, but three other counties also had eight lynchings each in this period.''Lynching in America, Third Edition: Supplement by County''
, p. 9, Equal Justice Initiative, Mobile, AL, 2017

Battle of Fort Pillow

In 1861, the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

built extensive defensive fortifications in Lauderdale County along the Mississippi River and named the site for General Gideon J. Pillow. Because of its strategic location, the fort was taken over by the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

in 1864, which had occupied the state since 1862. In 1864, Confederates attacked and overran the fort's Union defenders, who were about evenly split between white and black soldiers. They were reported to have refused to surrender, but historians have disputed this account. The Confederates gave the soldiers no quarter, and killed black soldiers in twice the proportion of white ones. After the Union Army established the

United States Colored Troops The United States Colored Troops (USCT) were regiments in the United States Army composed primarily of African-American (colored) soldiers, although members of other minority groups also served within the units. They were first recruited during ...

(USCT), made up of numerous recruits who were escaped slaves, Southern military officials vowed to kill them rather than take them prisoner.John Cimprich and Robert C. Mainfort, Jr., "Fort Pillow Revisited", 1982, in ''Race and Recruitment'', ed. John David Smith, Kent State University Press, 2013, p. 214 People in the North considered this event to be a massacre, and blacks in the Union Army used the cry, "Remember Fort Pillow!" to rally during the remainder of the war.

Fort Pillow State Park Fort Pillow State Historic Park is a state park in western Tennessee that preserves the American Civil War site of the Battle of Fort Pillow. The 1,642 acre (6.6 km²) Fort Pillow, located in Lauderdale County on the Chickasaw Bluffs over ...

has a museum to interpret the battle and also has reconstructed fortifications on the original site of the fort.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (7.0%) is water. The county's western boundary is formed by the

, its northern boundary with Dyer County is formed by the

Forked Deer River The Forked Deer River system is the main drainage of the central portion of West Tennessee. Locals pronounce the first word of the river's name with two syllables, as in “Forkéd” (). The Forked Deer consists of various streams designated ...

, and its southern boundary with Haywood County is formed by the

Hatchie River The Hatchie River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 3, 2011 river in northern Mississippi and southwestern Tennessee. It is of considerable geographic, cultural, a ...

. Lauderdale County is situated on the southeastern edge of the

New Madrid Seismic Zone The New Madrid Seismic Zone (), sometimes called the New Madrid Fault Line, is a major seismic zone and a prolific source of intraplate earthquakes (earthquakes within a tectonic plate) in the Southern and Midwestern United States, stretching t ...

, an area with a high

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

risk.

Adjacent counties

* Dyer County (north) *

Crockett County Crockett County is the name of two counties in the United States, both named for frontiersman and politician Davy Crockett: * Crockett County, Tennessee * Crockett County, Texas Crockett County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in t ...

(east) * Haywood County (southeast) * Tipton County (south) *

Mississippi County, Arkansas Mississippi County is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,685. There are two county seats, Blytheville and Osceola. The county was formed on November 1, 1833, and named for the M ...

(west)

National protected areas

Chickasaw National Wildlife Refuge Chickasaw National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge located along the Mississippi River in the northwestern part of Lauderdale County in West Tennessee. The area is noted for a diversity of wildlife, notably white-tailed deer, wild ...

Lower Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge Lower Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge, part of the U.S. National Wildlife Refuge system, is a area of wetlands associated with the confluence of the Hatchie River and the Forked Deer River in West Tennessee near the confluence of the Hatchie Riv ...

(part)

State protected areas

Cold Creek Wildlife Management Area Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...

Alex Haley House and Museum Alex Haley House and Museum State Historic Site is one of the Tennessee Historical Commission's state-owned historic sites and is located in Henning, Tennessee, United States. It is open to the public and partially funded by an agreement with t ...

(state historic site) * Sunk Lake State Natural Area *

John Tully State Forest John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

John Tully Wildlife Management Area John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

Major roads

* Future Interstate 69 *

U.S. Highway 51 U.S. Route 51 or U.S. Highway 51 (US 51) is a major south-north United States highway that extends from the western suburbs of New Orleans, Louisiana, to within of the Wisconsin–Michigan state line. As most of the United States Numbered Highw ...

Tennessee State Route 19 State Route 19 (SR 19) or the Tina Turner Highway is a State highway#United States, state highway in Haywood County, Tennessee, Haywood and Lauderdale County, Tennessee, Lauderdale counties in Tennessee, United States.http://www.tdot.state.tn.us/ ...

(Tina Turner Highway) *

Tennessee State Route 87 State Route 87 (SR 87) is a secondary state highway located in Lauderdale and Haywood counties in West Tennessee. SR 87 runs west to east through mixed terrain of bluffs and rolling hills in Lauderdale County and mostly river bottoms in Haywood ...

Tennessee State Route 88 State Route 88 (SR 88) is a west-east state highway in West Tennessee. The route traverses Lauderdale County, Tennessee, Lauderdale and Crockett County, Tennessee, Crockett Counties. Route description Lauderdale County SR 88 begins at a dead ...

* Tennessee State Route 180 *

Tennessee State Route 181 State Route 181 (abbreviated SR 181) is a primary state highway running through Lake, Dyer, and Lauderdale counties in Tennessee. This highway traverses very sparsely populated areas and is located entirely within the flood plains of the Mississip ...

Tennessee State Route 371 State Route 371 (abbreviated SR 371) is a very short secondary state highway in western Lauderdale County, Tennessee. This highway begins and also ends at SR 87. SR 371 passes through the small communities of Pleasant Hill and Cherry. The entire ...

Demographics

2020 census

As of the

2020 United States census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...

, there were 25,143 people, 9,675 households, and 6,753 families residing in the county.

2000 census

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of 2000, there were 27,101 people, 9,567 households, and 6,811 families residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

was 58 people per square mile (22/km²). There were 10,563 housing units at an average density of 22 per square mile (9/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 63.82%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

, 34.08%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.62% Native American, 0.16%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 0.02%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

, 0.52% from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

, and 0.78% from two or more races. 1.16% of the population were

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race. There were 9,567 households, out of which 32.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.70% were married couples living together, 17.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.80% were non-families. 25.60% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.06. In the county, the population was spread out, with 24.80% under the age of 18, 10.30% from 18 to 24, 31.20% from 25 to 44, 21.70% from 45 to 64, and 12.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 108.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 109.00 males. The median income for a household in the county was $29,751, and the median income for a family was $36,841. Males had a median income of $28,325 versus $21,238 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the county was $13,682. About 16.20% of families and 19.20% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 24.70% of those under age 18 and 26.50% of those age 65 or over.

Culture

Sleepy John Estes

Sleepy John Estes John Adam Estes (January 25, 1899 or 1900June 5, 1977),
known as Sleepy John Estes, was an Am ...

was a

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

and

vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

, born in

Ripley, Tennessee Ripley is a city in Lauderdale County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 8,445 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Lauderdale County. Geography Ripley is located at (35.743115, −89.533872). According to the United States ...

.Biography at 7digital.com from the Encyclopedia of Popular Music - accessed February 2008
He died on June 5, 1977, in his home of 17 years in Brownsville, Haywood County, Tennessee.Bob Koester and Ray Harmon
Sleepy John Estes
, ''All About Jazz''. Retrieved: 17 February 2013. Sleepy John is buried at Elam Baptist Church Cemetery in Durhamville, Lauderdale County.

Veterans' Museum in Halls

The Veterans' Museum on the grounds of the former Dyersburg Army Air Base in Halls is dedicated to the preservation and documentation of materials related to military activities from

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

to the present day wars and conflicts, as well as documenting the history of the air base itself.

Government and infrastructure

The

Tennessee Department of Corrections The Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) is a Cabinet-level agency within the Tennessee state government responsible for the oversight of more than 20,000 convicted offenders in Tennessee's fourteen prisons, three of which are privately mana ...

operates the West Tennessee State Penitentiary in

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

Lauderdale County, near Henning.West Tennessee State Penitentiary
"

Tennessee Department of Correction The Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) is a Cabinet-level agency within the Tennessee state government responsible for the oversight of more than 20,000 convicted offenders in Tennessee's fourteen prisons, three of which are privately man ...

. Retrieved on September 26, 2010. Previously the Cold Creek Correctional Facility was located in the area.Cold Creek Correctional Facility
"

. February 3, 1999. Updated July 13, 1998. Retrieved on September 26, 2010.

Communities

City

* Ripley (county seat)

Town

Gates Gates is the plural of gate, a point of entry to a space which is enclosed by walls. It may also refer to: People * Gates (surname), various people with the last name * Gates Brown (1939-2013), American Major League Baseball player * Gates McFadde ...

* Halls * Henning

Unincorporated communities

* Arp * Cherry * Durhamville *

Fulton Fulton may refer to: People * Robert Fulton (1765–1815), American engineer and inventor who developed the first commercially successful steam-powered ship * Fulton (surname) Given name * Fulton Allem (born 1957), South African golfer * Fult ...

* Glimp * Golddust * Orysa

Notable natives

Sleepy John Estes John Adam Estes (January 25, 1899 or 1900June 5, 1977),
known as Sleepy John Estes, was an Am ...

born in Ripley * Alex Haley - author of ''Roots'' * Jim Hickman - Professional Baseball All-Star *

Miles O'Keeffe Miles O'Keeffe (born June 20, 1954) is an American film and television actor. O'Keeffe got his first big break playing the title role in the 1981 version of '' Tarzan, the Ape Man''. Youth O'Keeffe was born in Ripley, Tennessee. A star footb ...

, television and film actor best known for starring in the 1981 film Tarzan, the Ape Man, and the

Ator ''Ator'' is a film series of four Italian movies made in the 1980s by director Joe D'Amato, under the pseudonym David Hills. D'Amato wrote and directed the first, second, and fourth films in the series, himself disregarding the existence of the t ...

movies.

References

External links

The Lauderdale County Home PageLauderdale Chamber / Economic and Community Development

Lauderdale County, TNGenWeb
- free genealogy resources for the county *
Lauderdale County Department of Education
{{authority control 1835 establishments in Tennessee Populated places established in 1835 Tennessee counties on the Mississippi River West Tennessee

History

Battle of Fort Pillow

Geography

Adjacent counties

National protected areas

State protected areas

Major roads

Demographics

2020 census

2000 census

Culture

Sleepy John Estes

Veterans' Museum in Halls

Government and infrastructure

Communities

City

Town

Unincorporated communities

Notable natives

See also

References

External links