Randolph is an unincorporated rural community in Tipton County, Tennessee, United States, located on the banks of the Mississippi River. The lands of the Mississippi River Basin were inhabited by Paleo-Indians and later Native American tribes of the Mississippian culture for thousands of years. The Tipton phase people and the Chickasaw Indian tribe populated the Mississippi River valley near Randolph during the Mississippian period. In 1541, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto crossed the Mississippi River at or near Randolph. French explorer Cavelier de La Salle built the first French fortification at or near Randolph on his 1682 canoe expedition of the Mississippi River.

European settlers arrived in the area around 1800. The town of Randolph was founded in the 1820s as one of the earliest European settlements in Tipton County. The location of Randolph, on the second Chickasaw Bluff along the banks of the Mississippi River, just south of the lower mouth of the Hatchie River, provided for an ideal harbor for flatboats and steamboats and made the town an early center of river commerce in West Tennessee. Randolph shipped more cotton annually than Memphis until 1840. The commercial success of the community also depended on the use of slave labor in the cotton fields surrounding the settlement. In 1827, the Randolph Post office was established and in 1834, the first pastor was appointed to the Randolph Methodist congregation.

The fortunes of the community began to decline in the late 1840s due to failed railroad development, an unfavorable mail route and an unsuccessful attempt to move the county seat from Covington to Randolph. An unfinished project to cut a canal from the Hatchie River to the Tennessee River and other factors also contributed to the commercial demise of the town. The first Confederate States Army fort in Tennessee was built at Randolph early in the American Civil War in 1861; a second fortification at Randolph was constructed later that same year. During the Civil War, the town was burned down twice by Union Army forces, which further promoted the decline of the once flourishing community.

In 2008, Randolph Bluff Historic Park was dedicated. The park is intended to promote the Civil War history of the community and make the unique views of the Mississippi River available to a wider public. Once finished, the park will be part of the Mississippi River Corridor Tennessee, a project to "create a scenic byway that connects historic sites along the Mississippi River". As of 2008, Randolph has a population of ca. 200 and consists of about two dozen dwellings. The economy of the rural community is dominated by agriculture with no major industries and businesses present.

Indian cultures From about 10,000 BCE, Paleo-Indians and later Archaic-Indians lived as communities of hunter-gatherers in the area that covers the modern day southern United States. Approximately 800 CE to 1600 CE, the Mississippi River Delta was populated by tribes of the Mississippian culture, a mound-building Native American people that had developed in the late Woodland Indian period. The Tipton phase people were a local expression of the Mississippian culture. They inhabited the region of modern-day Tipton County during the time of first contact with Europeans, at the arrival of the de Soto Expedition. By the end of the Mississippian period the land was claimed and populated by the Chickasaw tribe. The exact origins of the Chickasaw are uncertain. Several prehistoric Indian settlements were located in the vicinity of what would later become Randolph.

European settlement Early exploration The history of the exploration of Randolph by Europeans is unclear. It is possible that Hernando de Soto crossed the Mississippi in 1541 at or near present day Randolph, although he more likely crossed near modern day Memphis.

In 1682, French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle led a canoe expedition to explore the Mississippi River basin. La Salle's expedition constructed a stockade fort, Fort Prudhomme, at a location that is now disputed, but could have been on Chickasaw Bluff near modern day Randolph. This was the first structure built by the French in Tennessee.

First European settlers

Around 1800, Europeans began settling the land east of the Mississippi River that was inhabited by the Chickasaw Indians for centuries prior to the arrival of Europeans. Chickasaw land in West Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky was ceded in the Jackson Purchase after negotiations in which the United States was represented by General Andrew Jackson and Governor Isaac Shelby, while the Chickasaw were represented by their chiefs and warriors. In 1818, both sides agreed to the transfer by signing the Treaty of Tuscaloosa. In the treaty, the United States agreed to pay the Chickasaw $300,000 in return for the right to the land east of the Mississippi River and north of the Mississippi state line.

Early European landowners were eager to secure their investment in land in southwest Tennessee. Years before Randolph would be founded, wealthy and influential investors tried to find ways to get a return on their share of land. In 1818, Judge John Overton wrote to General James Winchester that "We must not let the owners of the property on the Bluffs at the Mississippi above us be beforehand in laying off town—as it might damp the sale of ours". Overton and Winchester founded Memphis, Tennessee along with Andrew Jackson in 1819. Overton, Winchester and Jackson were trying to secure investments in property in the Memphis area that they owned and not give the advantage to investors "above", north of Memphis on the Mississippi River, in Randolph. Andrew Jackson (1767–1845) would become the 7th President of the United States in 1829.

Both Memphis and Randolph are located on one of the four Chickasaw Bluffs, Randolph on the second and Memphis on the fourth. In the early 19th century, the terrain of the Chickasaw Bluffs provided promising locations for a harbor on the Mississippi River for both emerging towns. In 1820, the area that would become Randolph had an estimated population of 54.

Establishment

Early in the 1820s, landowners and investors John T. Brown and Robert Bedford were the proprietors of the land on the second Chickasaw Bluff that would form Randolph a few years later. Only north of Memphis by water, they described the area as "a good landing for Mississippi River flatboats". The Hatchie River, joining the Mississippi River just north of the second Chickasaw Bluff, was accessible to steamboats for upriver to Bolivar, in Hardeman County. Brown and Bedford chose the site on the second Chickasaw Bluff to lay out the plan for Randolph, a promising river town.

The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture gives the date of Randolph's official establishment as 1823. Other reports date the foundation to 1827 or 1828. The founders of Randolph named the community for John Randolph (1773–1833), a leader in the United States Congress from Virginia and spokesman for the "Old Republican" faction of the Democratic-Republican Party. The Old Republican faction wanted to restrict the federal government's roles.

Cotton commerce

Success

Located on the banks of the Mississippi River on the second Chickasaw Bluff, the topology of Randolph provided for an ideal harbor for steamboats and flatboats at all stages of the river. Randolph became the center of steamboat commerce in Tennessee and an important cotton shipping point in the 1830s. The town was an early rival of Memphis over commercial superiority on the Mississippi River. In 1830, Randolph was the most important shipping point in Tennessee. In the mid-1830s, Randolph shipped 35,000 to 40,000 bales of cotton on the Mississippi River every year, in 1839 cotton shipments added up to 20,000 to 25,000 bales. More cotton was shipped from Randolph than from Memphis until 1840. At the peak of its commercial success, the community was called the "great steamboat depot of West Tennessee".

By 1829, Randolph had three commission warehouses, six dry goods stores, ten physicians and one tavern; 20 to 30 families were making their living in the area around Randolph. Early in the 1830s, the town developed quickly. Randolph had a population of approximately 1,000 people in 1834. By that time, the town had four hotels, almost fifty businesses, one of them a distillery, several private schools, and more than ten saloons. "Some time in the thirties" of the 19th century, the first bank was founded in Randolph.

In the 1830s, two newspapers were published in Randolph, the Randolph Recorder and the Randolph Whig. The Randolph Recorder was founded in 1834 by F. S. Latham as the first newspaper in Tipton County. The paper continued business until 1836. The first issue of the Randolph Recorder was published on June 21, 1834, and the last publication of the newspaper dates to September 23, 1836. The Randolph Whig was established either late in 1836 or early in 1837 and published its first issue on January 6, 1838. The Randolph Whig did not last long. Shortly after its establishment, the publication "was soon discontinued".

Travel routes

A stagecoach line, established in 1833 by James Brown, provided a connection between Randolph and Jackson in Madison County, located about east of Randolph. The stagecoach line offered a convenient alternative for travellers between the two towns and connected the villages along the way twice a week. Heading west from Jackson, the antebellum stage line roughly concurs with modern U.S. Route 70 up to Brownsville and State Route 54 from Brownsville to Covington. From Covington, the stage road coincides with modern State Route 59 (SR 59) to Randolph. SR 59 terminates at Richardsons Landing, west of Randolph at the Mississippi River.

Later in the 1830s, Randolph was connected by a direct route to Memphis in Shelby County, located about south of Randolph. The road was a segment of a weekly mail line between Jackson and Memphis on which mail was carried on horseback. The route provided a link between the two flourishing towns and connected the settlements on the banks of the Mississippi River in Tipton and Shelby Counties for trade and travel purposes. The exact routing of the mail line between Randolph and Memphis is unknown.

Slavery

A good part of the commercial success of Randolph can be attributed to the use of slaves working the cotton fields of the area for their owners. Slavery was common in the Southern States in the time before and during the Civil War. Landowners who ran plantations on their lands, bought slaves to work their fields, mostly for the cultivation of cotton. Corn, beans and peas were also cultivated. In the Randolph Recorder during the early 1830s, landowners announced public auctions of slaves they owned. For the capture and return of runaway slaves, plantation owners offered monetary incentives between $10 and $100. Rewards up to $300 were offered for the return of a stolen slave if the thief of the slave could be convicted of the theft. The Tipton County jail also published "jailer's notices" in the Randolph Recorder to inform owners of a slave of their incarceration.

The abolition of slavery was prepared in Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1862–63. Slavery in the United States was eventually abolished when the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on December 6, 1865. The amendment declared that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude (...) shall exist within the United States". Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) was the 16th President of the United States.

Decline