Since 1830
Raymond has been an active small town located in the very center of Hinds
County. Thanks to the Raymond Gazette - established in 1844
by the owner and editor, George Harper, -- and church records --a great
deal of Raymond's earliest history has been recorded and preserved. To
read and study about the history of the town is like looking through the
lens of a kaleidoscope.
Tourists like to visit Raymond
because they associate it with Civil War history .In fact, many colorful
stories have been told about General Grant and his Yankee troops as they
marched thru Raymond during the final stages of the War. It is a well
known fact that Grant made Waverly, one of the oldest homes in
Raymond, his headquarters after the Battle of Raymond. It is said that
General Grant spared the town of Port Gibson from being burned because "it
was too beautiful to burn". From a more realistic viewpoint
perhaps Grant spared Port Gibson, as well as Raymond, because there were
so many wounded Yankee soldiers in the area. After the Battle of Raymond
there was a total of 331 wounded Union soldiers hospitalized in the new
Raymond Courthouse, the Episcopal Church, the Oak Tree Hotel and private
homes of Raymond.
Raymond's history, as a town, began
34 years before the out-break of the Civil War. Clinton, already a thriving
small town, had been serving as the temporary county seat for Hinds
County. In 1829, President Andrew Jackson appointed three commissioners, John B.
Peyton, John A. Fairchild, and Levi Bankston, to survey and select a site
near the center of Hinds County for the location of the permanent county
seat. After running an extensive survey these men found the exact center of
Hinds County to be approximately five miles from Clinton in an area that
is now known as Snake Creek. A stone was placed to mark, the exact spot.
However, the land found in this center location was not suitable for the
building of a town because it was too low and swampy. It was decided that
the town would be located on the first high ridge away from the creek
area... "following the narrow dirt road for about two miles
from this spot the commission found that the elevation of the land began
to rise gradually to a high point overlooking rich fertile fields, pine
forest, and bottom lands. This lovely spot was owned by Raymond Roberts of
Clinton, who agreed to give one square mile for the new town on the
condition that the town be named for him. The commission decided to use
the first name, Raymond." (History of Raymond, Beth
Ferguson).
The town of Raymond was officially
chartered by the legistrature on December 15,1830 and preparations were made for the construction of
a courthouse as well as a jail. The kaleidoscope of historical color had
just begun. What Raymond did not know -at this early stage of growth -was
that some thirty years later the Civil War would reach its
"smoldering point" right in their front door .