Winchester, Mississippi

Winchester was one of the first significant communities in eastern Mississippi. It was located about east of the Chickasawhay River, and south of "Three-Chopped Way", a pioneer road completed in 1807 connecting Georgia and the Carolinas, via St. Stephens, Alabama, with Natchez in eastern Mississippi. The town "was situated on a beautiful level site, covered with large oak and other shade trees", and Meadows Mill Creek flowed through Winchester, "a beautiful and never-failing creek of the purest water". A military post—Patton's Fort—was erected at Winchester in 1813 during the Creek War. Winchester became "a place of considerable importance in the territorial period and in the days of early statehood", Winchester was described as "a center of political influence, second only to Natchez". It had between 20 and 30 businesses, and became a successful commercial center, "having no competing trading points near". ==Decline==

In the early 1840s, a writer noted that Winchester "is literally tumbling to pieces, and one finds only a skeleton of the flourishing Winchester which existed twenty years ago". When the Mobile and Ohio Railroad was completed in the 1850s, the track passed a distance north of the town, and a station was erected there. This necessitated a distinction between "Old Winchester" and the new settlement near the railroad. In 1867, the county seat moved to Waynesboro. Old Winchester today is covered by forest, while New Winchester has some residential homes located along its rural routes. A historic marker is located along U.S. Route 45 at Winchester Cross Road which reads: "About one mile to the West. Site of Patton’s Fort, 1813. Chartered 1818. Near old road from Natchez to Georgia. Became a thriving trade center, serving as county seat until 1867." ==Notable people==

• Powhatan Ellis, U.S. Senator from Mississippi and U.S. federal judge; moved to Winchester in 1816 to practice law. • John J. McRae, member of Mississippi House of Representatives, U.S. Senator from Mississippi, and 21st Governor of Mississippi. Located to Winchester as an infant. • James O'Gwynn, country music singer. • James Patton, Lieutenant-Governor of Mississippi from 1820 to 1822. ==References==