Neptune's Needle

City (2000 pop. 650,100), (cap.) Shelby co., extreme SW Tenn., on the Fourth, or Lower, Chickasaw Bluff above the Mississippi R., at the mouth of the Wolf R., 235 miles S of St. Louis (Mo.); 35º08'N 90º04'W. A river port with excellent anchorages on the Wolf, Memphis is the largest city in the state and a port of entry. De Soto possibly crossed the Mississippi near the site of Memphis, and La Salle’s Fort Prudhomme may have been built here. The area was strategically important during the time of the Br., Fr., and Span. rivalries in the 18th cent. A U.S. fort was erected in 1797. The city was est. 1819 by Andrew Jackson, Marcus Winchester, and John Overton. In the Civil War it fell, on June 6, 1862, to a Union force led by the elder Charles Henry Davis.

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Compiler

Peter Richards