Pulaski County, Illinois

County: Pulaski

State: Illinois

Lat/Long: 37.2167, -89.1500

Pulaski County, Illinois is a county located in the southern portion of Illinois. The Illinois General Assembly formed the county in March 1843, out of portions of Alexander and Johnson counties. The General Assembly named it for Casimir Pulaski, a Polish exile who fought on the side of the colonies in the American Revolution and died in the attack on Savannah, Georgia, in 1779. Commissioners appointed to select a seat of government for the county decided on the town of Caledonia. Caledonia remained the county seat until 1865, when the General Assembly enacted legislation to move it to Mound City. The population of the county grew from 1,500 in 1843 to 3,943 in 1860.

William Henry Perrin, ed., History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois (Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1883), 513, 515, 516;Origin and Evolution of Illinois Counties (Springfield: Illinois Secretary of State, 2023),10, 13, 58, 61; "An Act to Form the County of Pulaski," 3 March 1843, Laws of Illinois, 99-101; "An Act to Remove the County Seat of Pulaski County," 16 February 1865, Private Laws of Illinois (1865), 1:549-51.