Editing Tipton County, Tennessee (section)

==History==

===Indian cultures===
[[File:Tipton Phase sites HRoe 2010.jpg|thumb|The [[Tipton phase]] and some of its associated sites]]
From about 10,000 [[Common Era|BCE]], [[Paleo-Indians]] and later [[Archaic period in the Americas|Archaic-Indians]] lived as communities of [[hunter-gatherer]]s in the area that covers the modern day [[southern United States]].<ref>
{{cite web
| url        = http://www.nps.gov/history/seac/SoutheastChronicles/NISI/NISI%20Cultural%20Overview.htm| title = Pushmataha, Choctaw Indian Chief
| access-date = February 11, 2008
| author     = Guy Prentice
| year       = 2003
| publisher  = Southeast Chronicles
}}
</ref><ref name=NuttPREHISTORY>{{cite book|editor=Charles H. McNutt|author= Smith, Gerald P.|title=Prehistory of the Central Mississippi Valley|article=The Mississippi River Drainage of Western Tennessee|year=1996|publisher=[[University of Alabama Press]]|isbn = 0-8173-0807-5|pages=97–118}}</ref> From approximately 800 [[Common Era|CE]] to 1600 CE, the [[Mississippi Delta]] was populated by tribes of the [[Mississippian culture]], a [[Mound builder (people)|mound-building]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] people who had developed in the late [[Woodland period|Woodland Indian]] period.<ref name=NuttPREHISTORY/><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-707 |title=History & Archaeology: Mississippian Period: Overview |access-date=December 10, 2008 |encyclopedia=The New Georgia Encyclopedia |date=October 3, 2002 |archive-date=March 1, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301201548/http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-707 |url-status=dead }}</ref> While there were chiefdoms and centers along the Mississippi and its tributaries, their major center was at [[Cahokia]], in present-day Illinois east of [[St. Louis, Missouri]].

The [[Tipton phase]] people were a local expression of the Mississippian culture. They still inhabited the region of modern-day Tipton County during the time of first contact with Europeans, at the arrival of the Spanish [[Hernando de Soto|Hernando de Soto Expedition]]. By the end of the Mississippian period, the land was claimed and populated by the [[Chickasaw|Chickasaw tribe]].<ref>{{cite book|editor1=David H. Dye |editor2=Sheryl Ann Cox|author= Smith, Gerald P.|title=Towns and Temples Along the Mississippi|article=The Walls Phase and its Neighbors|year=1990|publisher=[[University of Alabama Press]]|isbn = 0-8173-0455-X|pages=135–169}}</ref> The exact origins of the Chickasaw are uncertain.<ref>
{{cite book
| last       = Cushman
| first      = Horatio
| title      = History of the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natchez Indians
| year       = 1899
| publisher  = University of Oklahoma Press
| location   = [[Norman, Oklahoma|Norman]], [[Oklahoma]]
| pages      = 18–19
| chapter    = Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Natchez
| isbn       = 0-8061-3127-6
}}</ref>

In about 1800, [[European ethnic groups|Europeans]] began settling the Chickasaw-inhabited lands east of the Mississippi River. Chickasaw land in what became known as [[West Tennessee]] and southwestern [[Kentucky]] was ceded in the [[Jackson Purchase (U.S. historical region)|Jackson Purchase]]. Both states grew considerably as a result of this purchase.<ref name=KYency>{{cite web |url=http://www.utm.edu/departments/acadpro/library/departments/special_collections/wc_hist/jackpur.htm |title=Jackson Purchase |access-date=October 24, 2008 |publisher=excerpt from The Kentucky Encyclopedia edited by John E. Kleber |year=1992 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006195419/http://www.utm.edu/departments/acadpro/library/departments/special_collections/wc_hist/jackpur.htm <!--Added by H3llBot--> |archive-date=October 6, 2008 }}</ref> In 1818, both sides agreed to the transfer by signing the [[Treaty of Tuscaloosa]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1401 |title=Treaties |access-date=February 9, 2013 |encyclopedia=Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture }}</ref> The Chickasaw were to be paid annuities for 15 years, but the United States was often late with payment, or forced the people to take the value in goods. These were often delayed or were of poor quality.

===1811 and 1812 earthquakes===
Due to [[topography|topographic]] changes caused by the [[1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes]], part of what is now Tipton County was cut off from the state of Tennessee by a change in the course of the [[Mississippi River]]. The earthquake changed the course of the river near the settlement of [[Reverie, Tennessee]]. The old riverbed is west of Reverie. The river now runs east of Reverie, putting Reverie on the [[Arkansas]] side, while most of the area of Tipton County is located east of the river, on the Tennessee side.<ref name=TNHistKid>{{cite web |url=http://www.tnhistoryforkids.org/local/tipton |title=Tipton - Tennessee History for Kids |access-date=April 20, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706152404/http://www.tnhistoryforkids.org/local/tipton |archive-date=July 6, 2010 }} www.tnhistoryforkids.org</ref>

===Establishment===
Tipton County attracted American settlers who established cotton plantations on its fertile soils and either brought or purchased enslaved [[African Americans]] as field laborers and house servants. There are also many records of indentured Irish [Caucasian] servants. This area was part of the cotton culture associated with the Mississippi Delta, which extended down to the [[Yazoo River]] in Mississippi. With the increase in population, the county was established on October 29, 1823, from parts of [[Shelby County, Tennessee|Shelby County]], which borders Tipton County in the south. The land was former [[Chickasaw|Chickasaw Indian]] territory. The county was named for [[Jacob Tipton]] (1765&ndash;1791). Jacob's father, who was from Armistead Blevins, supervised the organization of Shelby County. Jacob Tipton was killed by [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] in 1791 during the conflict over the [[Northwest Territory]].<ref name=tehc>Angela Wallace Finley, "[http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1387 Tipton County]," ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2009. Retrieved: February 9, 2013.</ref>  Jacob Tipton was the son of [[John Tipton (Tennessee frontiersman)|John Tipton]], a rival of [[John Sevier]] during Tennessee's [[State of Franklin]] period.<ref>Als [http://www.coloneljohntipton.com/sons/ Colonel John Tipton: Sons]. Retrieved: April 18, 2013.</ref>

===19th century===
Early Mississippi River [[Steamboats of the Mississippi River|steamboat]] commerce flourished in Tipton County. In 1830, the community of [[Randolph, Tennessee|Randolph]], one of the earliest settlements in Tipton County, was the most important shipping point in Tennessee and an early rival of [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]] for commercial supremacy. But its fortunes declined in later years.<ref name=TNMarkers>{{Cite book
  | title = Tennessee Historical Markers
  | publisher = Tennessee Historical Commission
  | year = 1996
  | edition = 8th
  | isbn = 0-87402-021-2}}
</ref> 
Riverboat traffic gradually yielded to freight being shipped by railroad. The first rail service in Tipton County was established in December 1855, when the Memphis and Ohio Railroad completed the route from [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]] to [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]], running through what is now [[Mason, Tennessee|Mason]].

[[File:Randolph TN Union fleet passing Ft Randolph.jpg|thumb|upright=1.65|[[Union Army|Union]] [[Naval fleet|fleet]] passing [[Fort Randolph (Tennessee)|Fort Randolph]] (1865)]]
Two [[American Civil War|Civil War]] forts, [[Fort Randolph (Tennessee)|Fort Randolph]] and [[Fort Wright (Tennessee)|Fort Wright]], were built near the settlement because of its strategic location on the second [[Chickasaw Bluff]] of the Mississippi River.<ref name=TNencyFtWright>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=499 |title=TN Encyclopedia: Fort Wright |access-date=February 9, 2013 |encyclopedia=The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture }}</ref><ref name=NYTFtRandolph>{{cite news |first=A. H. |last= Foote |title= The Evacuation of Columbus. The Town Reduced to a Heap of Ruins by the Rebels. Their Retreat to Fort Randolph (...) - (Dispatch from Flag-Officer Foote)|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1862/03/05/78680220.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1862/03/05/78680220.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 5, 1862 |access-date=January 10, 2009 }}</ref> Following the Civil War, investment in infrastructure was renewed, and the Memphis and Paducah Railroad completed the tracks to Covington in July 1873. A [[telegraph]] line between Memphis and Covington was opened in 1882. In 1894, Covington was connected to electricity. Forced [[water mains]] have provided residents of Covington with water since 1898. In 1922, street paving began in the county seat. Since 1929, residents of Covington have had access to [[natural gas]].<ref name=TipCtyGuide/> In the South Main Historic District in Covington, about 50 residences from the late 19th century and the early 20th century are still intact.<ref name=TipCtyGuide>
{{Cite book
  | title = Covington-Tipton County Community Guide
  | place = Covington, Tennessee
  | publisher = Tipton County Chamber of Commerce
  | year = 2005}}
</ref> The district is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].