Webster County, Mississippi: History
Webster County was formed in 1874 as Sumner County, during the Reconstruction era, from parts of the neighboring Montgomery, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Oktibbeha counties. Its southern border is formed by the Big Black River, a tributary of the Mississippi River. Its name was changed to Webster County in 1882.
In a pattern typical of frontier areas, as population in the Mississippi Territory increased, the original, large Choctaw and Oktibbeha counties were gradually divided in order to establish smaller counties. This territory had been acquired in 1833 by the United States from the Choctaw in the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. At that time the large Choctaw County, Mississippi consisted of territory that later was divided to organize also Webster, the eastern part of Montgomery and a small portion of Grenada counties.
After Indian Removal, Choctaw County was inhabited primarily by European-American settlers from Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, and enslaved African Americans whom they brought with them or purchased as laborers.
Greensboro was designated as the first county seat. A temporary courthouse and log jail were built there. These were replaced in 1839 by a brick courthouse and jail. This courthouse was destroyed by fire in 1865, allegedly by an arsonist. Almost all of the early county records were destroyed in the fire.
In the early years Greensboro was thriving, with several types of stores and shops, as the county seat was a trading center for the agricultural district. It also had saloons, a livery stable, a brick yard, and a newspaper. A Methodist church was founded as early as 1839, and a Baptist church was begun in 1846. The Greensboro Lodge No. 49 of Free and Accepted Masons was chartered in 1842.
Part of the Mississippi frontier, Greensboro had the reputation of a rough and lawless town; many notorious criminals and murders were located there. John A. Murell, a famed outlaw of the Natchez Trace, was tried and convicted of horse stealing. While being transported to Columbus, Mississippi for incarceration, he killed his guard and escaped.
As the county seat, Greensboro sometimes received political candidates running for office. For instance, in 1851 the young Jefferson Davis came seeking voters to support him in his campaign for governor.
In 1861 the Edwards-Gray feud erupted, which developed from a fight over the settlement of the estate of Edward Dewitt Edwards, Jr. His family challenged his bequest to his widow, Mary "Molly" Gray Edwards. Three of her brothers: William, James, and Robert Gray, shot and killed judge Edward D. Edwards, Sr. and his son Luther Edwards in a confrontation over the estate. The Gray brothers were arrested and jailed; however, before a trial could be held, an outraged mob stormed the jail, fatally shooting two of the brothers and hanging the third.
At the outbreak of the American Civil War, seven young men of Greensboro and Choctaw County rushed to enlist. The first company organized was the Wigfall Rifles, company D 15th Mississippi Infantry Regiment. This unit was formed in Greensboro in April 1861, commanded by Captain William F. Brantley of Greensboro; he later was promoted during the last year of the war as one of the youngest Confederate generals.
As the war began to turn against the South, many soldiers from the vicinity began to desert from the Confederate Army after 1863 and return home without permission. …