Isaac Shelby |
Andrew Jackson |
In 1817 the Kentucky
legislature asked President James Monroe to
purchase western Kentucky and western Tennessee
from the Chickasaws. Monroe appointed Isaac
Shelby of Kentucky and Andrew Jackson of
Tennessee to negotiate with the Chickasaws.
Now too weak to refuse, in 1818 the Chickasaws
sold all of western Kentucky and western
Tennessee for 6 cents an acre. That portion of
the land which was in Kentucky was named the
Jackson Purchase.
In 1821 the Kentucky legislature organized this
land as Hickman County with Columbus as the
county seat. The county was named in honor of a
Captain Paschal Hickman who had been killed at
the War of 1812 Battle of Raisin River. As the
land filled, other counties would be carved out
of the original Hickman County. The county seat
would be moved to Clinton in 1829.
For at least a century the people of Columbus
have believed that their city was founded in
1822 to become the capital of the United States.
And why not? The British had proved how easily
Washington D.C. could be captured and burned
during the War of 1812. Because of the 1804
Louisiana Purchase, Columbus was safe in the
center of our new nation.
It is surrounded by
counties
Carlisle,
Graves and
Fulton
in Kentucky,
Obion County, TN.,
the Mississippi River on the West, and has the Bayou de Chien and the
Obion River running through it. Hickman is also the parent county for the
following:
Ballard,
Calloway,
Fulton,
Graves,
and
McCracken
counties. |
