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Please add profiles of those who were born, lived or died in Yazoo County, Mississippi.
Official Website
The area which is now Yazoo County was acquired by the State of Mississippi from the Choctaw Indians in 1820. Yazoo County was established on January 21, 1823. It is named for the Yazoo River, which forms its western border. Its name is said to come from a Choctaw language word meaning "River of Death."
Yazoo County was a battlefield in 1863 and 1864 during the American Civil War.
In 1900 there was a railroad disaster that killed engineer Casey Jones. Jones was a locomotive engineer for the Illinois Central Railroad, based in Memphis, Tennessee, and Jackson, Mississippi. He was noted for his exceptionally punctual schedules, which sometimes required a degree of risk, though this was not a factor on his fatal last journey. However, there is some disagreement about the sequence of events on that night, April 29–30, 1900.
He was due to run the southbound passenger service from Memphis to Canton, Mississippi, departing 11:35pm. Owing to engineer absence, he had to take over another service through the day, which may have deprived him of sleep. He eventually departed 75 minutes late, but was confident of making up the time, with the powerful ten-wheeler Engine No. 382, known as "Cannonball".
Approaching Vaughan at high speed, he was unaware that three trains were occupying the station, one of them broken down and directly on his line. Some claim that he ignored a flagman signalling to him, though this person may have been out of sight on a tight bend, or obscured by fog. All are agreed, however, that Jones managed to avert a potentially disastrous crash through his exceptional skill at slowing the engine and saving the lives of the passengers at the cost of his own. For this, he was immortalized in a traditional song, "The Ballad of Casey Jones".
Adjacent Counties
- Humphreys County
- Holmes County
- Sharkey County
- Issaquena County
- Warren County
- Hinds County
- Madison County
Cities, Towns, Villages & Communities
- Anding
- Benton
- Bentonia
- Carter
- Claibornesville
- Eden
- Hilton
- Holly Bluff
- Hopewell Landing
- Little Yazoo
- Liverpool
- Midway
- Oil City
- Pearce
- Plumville
- Satartia
- Scotland
- Tinsley
- Vaughan
- Yazoo City (County Seat)
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