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Official Website
Marshall County was created in 1836. It was originally to be named Cannon County, but due to a clerical error at the time of formation, the names of Marshall and Cannon Counties, both formed in 1836, were accidentally swapped and never corrected. It was named after the American jurist, John Marshall, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
The economy was based on agriculture in the antebellum years and well into the twentieth century. Planters had depended on slaves to work the commodity crops of tobacco and hemp, as well as care for thoroughbred horses and other quality livestock. The breed known as the Tennessee Walking Horse was developed here.
After the war, blacks and whites struggled to adjust to emancipation and a free labor market. Freedmen founded Needmore as a community in Marshall County after the Civil War where they could live as neighbors and be relatively free of white supervision.
Whites committed violence against freedmen to re-establish and maintain dominance after the war. In the period after Reconstruction and into the early 20th century, whites in Marshall County committed eight lynchings of blacks.
Among these lynchings were the murders of John Milligan (also spelled Millikin) and John L. Hunter in the Needmore settlement near the county seat of Lewisburg in August 1903. Governor James B. Frazier offered a reward for information, as Whitecaps were blamed for the deaths, and the state was trying to eliminate this secret, vigilante group.
Three Tennessee governors— Henry Horton, Jim Nance McCord, and Buford Ellington— were each living in Marshall County at the time of their election as governor.
The Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders' and Exhibitors' Association is based here. In addition, the fainting goat is another animal breed developed here. To celebrate this unique breed, the county holds an annual festival known as "Goats, Music and More," drawing visitors from around the world.
Adjacent Counties
Cities, Towns & Communities
- Archer
- Beasley
- Belfast
- Caney Spring
- Chapel Hill
- Cochran
- Cornersville
- Delina
- Farmington
- Graball
- Holts Corner
- Lewisburg (County Seat)
- Lunns Store
- Milltown
- Mooresville
- Petersburg (part)
- Rich Creek
- Robertson's Fork
- Silver Creek
- South Berlin
- Verona
- Yell
Cemeteries
Links
National Register of Historic Places
