Tallahatchie County

Tallahatchie County, Mississippi
Tallahatchie County courthouse in Sumner
Location in the U.S. state of Mississippi
Mississippi's location in the U.S.
Founded	December 31, 1833
Seat	Charleston and Sumner
Largest city	Charleston
Area
• Total	652 sq mi (1,689 km2)
• Land	645 sq mi (1,671 km2)
• Water	6.9 sq mi (18 km2), 1.1%
Population
• (2010)	15,378
• Density	24/sq mi (9/km²)
Congressional district	2nd
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5

Tallahatchie County is a county in the U.S. state of Mississippi. At the 2010 census, the population was 15,378. Its county seats are Charleston and Sumner.

Tallahatchie County is located in the Mississippi Delta region, divided by the Tallahatchie River which runs from north to south through the county before joining what becomes the Yazoo River in LeFlore County.

The county was founded on December 31, 1833 after most of the Choctaw Nation was forced out under Indian Removal. Tallahatchie is a Choctaw name meaning "rock of waters". The county is one of ten in Mississippi with two county seats: Charleston on the east side of the river and Sumner on the west side. Charleston was the first county seat. Sumner was organized later in 1872 in the district to the west and has always been smaller in population.

Charleston was founded by European Americans in 1837, but its history antedates that. Settlers who were there illegally had developed five communities along the forks of Tillatoba Creek.

In 1833 the federal government opened the land for settlement by European Americans after the Choctaw were relocated to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River, in what is now Oklahoma. Ancient Indian trails led through the county at the time. Most of the settlers entered the county over what was called Charley's Trace, an Indian trail that came across east from the Mississippi River and entered the hills about where Leverett is now located. Here the trail merged with a trail from the south and passed near the present site of Charleston.