Camargo, Mississippi

Camargo, Mississippi
Ghost town
Camargo is located in Mississippi
Camargo
Camargo
Camargo is located in the United States
Camargo
Camargo
Coordinates: 34°04′15.39″N 88°38′55.18″W / 34.0709417°N 88.6486611°W / 34.0709417; -88.6486611
CountryUnited States
StateMississippi
CountyMonroe
Elevation
223 ft (68 m)
GNIS feature ID709319[1]

Camargo is a ghost town in Monroe County, Mississippi, United States.[1] Once a thriving river port, Camargo declined following the completion of a nearby railway.

History

Camargo was laid out in 1847, and was named by a veteran of the Mexican–American War, after a war camp near Camargo, Tamaulipas, Mexico.[2][3] Located on Old Town Creek, it was described as a "flourishing port", with schools, stores, a steamboat landing, a church, post office, cemetery, and Masonic Lodge.[2][4][5][6] The Confederate States Army won a skirmish at Camargo on July 14, 1864.[5]

The Mobile and Ohio Railroad opened about 4 mi (6.4 km) west of Camargo in the late 1840s. A plan to build a railway line from Camargo to the Mobile and Ohio mainline was prepared, and in 1854, the Camargo Branch Railroad Company was established, though the line was never constructed.[7][8] With the success of the nearby railway, Old Town Creek was neglected and became filled with trees and debris, making it impractical as a transport route.[9] "Under the new conditions of competition the little river ports suffered heavily and tended to dry up", and Camargo was abandoned by the 1870s.[4][8]

References

  1. ^ a b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Camargo (historical)
  2. ^ a b Lippincott's Pronouncing Gazetteer. J.B. Lippincott. 1855. p. 343.
  3. ^ The Northeast Mississippi Historical and Genealogical Society Quarterly. Northeast Mississippi Historical and Genealogical Society. 1996. p. 129.
  4. ^ a b Genealogical Society Quarterly. University of Wisconsin - Madison. 1998. p. 119.
  5. ^ a b "Camargo 1847". Historical Marker Database. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
  6. ^ List of the Post-offices in the United States. United States Post Office Department. 1859. p. 50.
  7. ^ Laws of the State of Mississippi. Barksdale & Jones, State Printers. 1854. p. 488.
  8. ^ a b Doster, James F.; Weaver, David D. (1981). Historical Settlement in the Upper Tombigbee Valley. Center for the Study of Southern History and Culture. p. 98. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.1031.5616.
  9. ^ Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers, United States Army, Part 2. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1882. p. 1326.
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