Marion County, Missouri

County: Marion

State: Missouri

Lat/Long: 39.8464, -91.6372

The Missouri General Assembly organized Marion County in December 1826, naming it in honor of Francis Marion. In June 1827, commissioners designated to locate a county seat for the new county selected Palmyra. When the Civil War commenced, residents of Marion County were divided, some supporting the Union, some the Confederacy. Palmyra and other locales in the county were the scene of battles and skirmishes. Marion County was also the site of the so-called "Palmyra Massacre," when, on October 17, 1862, Union Colonel John McNeil ordered the execution of ten Confederate prisoners of war in reprisal for the abduction of Union supporter Andrew Allsman.

Walter Williams, ed., A History of Northeast Missouri (Chicago: Lewis, 1913), 1:450, 456-57, 459-60; "An Act Defining the Limits of Several Counties in this State," 16 February 1825, Laws of the State of Missouri; Revised and Digested by Authority of the General Assembly (1825), 1:242; David W. Eaton, "How Missouri Counties, Towns and Streams were Named," Missouri Historical Review 11 2 (January 1917), 193.