Scotland County, Missouri

Scotland County, Missouri
Scotland County court house in Memphis
Location in the U.S. state of Missouri
Missouri's location in the U.S.
Founded	January 29, 1841
Named for	Scotland
Seat	Memphis
Largest city	Memphis
Area
• Total	439 sq mi (1,137 km2)
• Land	437 sq mi (1,132 km2)
• Water	2.6 sq mi (7 km2), 0.6%
Population (est.)
• (2015)	4,854
• Density	11/sq mi (4/km²)
Congressional district	6th
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5
Website	www.scotlandcounty.net

Scotland County is located in the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the population was 4,843, making it the fifth-least populous county in Missouri. Its county seat is Memphis. The county was organized January 29, 1841, and named for Scotland.

Scotland County was organized by an act of the Missouri General Assembly on January 29, 1841. At first its boundaries contained all the land now known as Knox County as well, but another act by the General Assembly in 1843 divided it off. Stephen W. B. Carnegy suggested that the county be named after his native country of Scotland. He also gave several settlements in the area Scottish names.

The first white settlement in Scotland County was in 1833 by brothers Levi and George Rhodes and their families near a location known as "Sand Hill". Sand Hill was in the southern part of the county, about twelve miles from present-day Memphis. A general store was opened there around 1835 by James l. Jones, who also served as Scotland County's first sheriff.

Slavery, while never as prevalent in Scotland County as in others further south in the state's Little Dixie region, did exist from the county's earliest days. Robert T. Smith brought the first slaves, a group of three, to the county in 1834. In 1850 Scotland County had 157 slaves or other "non-free people of color". However, by the 1860 census that number was reduced to 131.

Farming was the primary economic lifeblood of Scotland County from its earliest times. Once the stands of timber were cleared and the tough prairie grass was plowed aside, settlers found rich soil. Between 1850 and 1880 the number of farms in the county grew from 334 to 1,994. The value of the farmland, in 1880 dollars, was over $3.72 million. Corn was the major cash crop, followed by oats, wheat, and potatoes.

Scotland County was the scene of three notable engagements during the American Civil War. The first happened at Etna on July 21, 1861. The 1st Northeast Missouri Home Guards under Colonel David Moore with assistance of additional units from Iowa and Illinois attacked pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard (MSG) forces using Etna as a training and resupply point. The action was part of General Nathaniel Lyon's efforts to clear "rebels" from rural Missouri. After a brief battle the MSG forces, mostly lightly-armed cavalry, were driven from the town and surrounding areas of Scotland County and Moore's unit returned to its main base at Athens, Missouri.