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Sumter County was established by an act of the state legislature on December 26, 1831, four years after the Creek Indians were forced from the region when the state acquired the territory from them in the 1825 Treaty of Indian Springs. The county was named for former General and United States Senator Thomas Sumter (1734–1832) of South Carolina. When the county was organized, Sumter was 97 years old and the last surviving general of the American Revolution (1775–1783).
During the American Civil War (1861–65), the small village named Andersonville, nine miles north of Americus on the county's northern edge, was selected by Confederate authorities as the site for a prisoner-of-war camp. The Andersonville prison was built in neighboring Macon County, and became the largest such prison in the South. During the camp's 14 months of operations, some 45,000 Union prisoners suffered some of the worst conditions and highest casualties of any of the camps. Today, the Andersonville National Historic Site serves as a memorial to all American prisoners of war throughout the nation's history. The 495-acre park lies in both Macon and Sumter Counties and consists of the historic prison site and the National Cemetery, which originally was reserved for the Union dead.
U.S. President Jimmy Carter was born and raised on a peanut farm in Plains, a small community on the county's western edge. His election to the presidency in 1976 brought the small town considerable attention from journalists and tourists, which it continues to receive as the former President and his wife, and much of their family, still make Plains their home. Carter's birthplace and childhood home has been designated a National Historic Site, and is open for tours.
Adjacent Counties
- Macon County
- Dooly County
- Crisp County
- Lee County
- Terrell County
- Schley County
- Marion County
- Webster County
Communities
- Americus (County Seat)
- Andersonville
- Cobb
- De Soto
- Leslie
- Plains
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