Chicot County

Chicot County, situated along the Mississippi River, was created in 1823. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Europeans like Frenchman René—Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle visited the region. With the French influence, the area came to be known as Chicot for the snags and stumps that populated the swampy bottomlands of the Mississippi River. Beginning in the 1830s, slave—based agriculture dominated the county's economy. By 1860, it was filled with prosperous cotton producers; many plantation...