The community now known as Yazoo City was founded in 1824 with the name Hannan's Bluff. It was later renamed Manchester, then changed to Yazoo City in 1841. Yazoo City became the county seat in 1849. A
yellow fever epidemic struck Yazoo City in 1853. During the
American Civil War, the Confederate ironclad
CSS Arkansas was completed at a makeshift
shipyard in Yazoo City after the
Confederate loss of
New Orleans and
Memphis. During her short career, the
Arkansas challenged the
Union navy's control of the
Mississippi River and helped avert the early fall of
Vicksburg. On May 21, 1863, as a Union fleet steamed up the Yazoo River, the Confederate forces burned down the shipyard to keep their foes from capturing the vessels being built there. The Federal forces then burned down the sawmill and lumberyard before withdrawing. After their
capture of Vicksburg in July 1863, another Union raid briefly occupied Yazoo City, but this time the Union ironclad
USS Baron DeKalb was sunk by a mine. Federal troops occupied the town in September and again in October 1863. Another occupation resulted in the
Battle of Yazoo City on March 5, 1864 between the Union troops and Confederates led by
Robert V. Richardson and
Lawrence Sullivan Ross. The Union troops held their ground but departed the following day. The Federal forces returned again on May 19, 1864, doing more damage to the town. Yazoo City was rebuilt, but yellow fever struck and took more victims in 1878. On May 25, 1904, a fire destroyed much of central Yazoo City. According to a local legend, the fire was caused by a witch avenging her death. In reality, a boy playing with matches accidentally set a house ablaze. The fire quickly spread, and three-fourths of the town was destroyed, including most of the homes. It was stopped by a canal, which saved the new courthouse (built in 1872 to replace the one burned by the Union forces) and 10
antebellum homes nearby. The town took almost two years to recover. In 1915, the
Orr Modern Motor Car Company was founded in Yazoo City by G.A. Wilson and C.D. Orr, with capital of $2,000,000 (). Despite its name, the company was focused just on making Orr's innovative worm drive and assembled only one
automobile as a prototype. Not long after, Orr shut its doors. The
Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 did much damage to the entire Delta, but Yazoo City was restored and is now protected by an effective flood-prevention system.
Tornado history A strong
tornado, rated EF4 on the
Enhanced Fujita scale and with a path width of , hit Yazoo County on April 24, 2010. Four people were killed in the Yazoo City area, and a number were seriously injured; four of the victims were airlifted to the
University of Mississippi Medical Center in the capital city of Jackson, away. The Governor of Mississippi,
Haley Barbour, toured the area in a
National Guard helicopter and held a news conference on the disaster at 3:30 pm. The tornado and the aftermath were shown in an episode of the
Discovery Channel series
Storm Chasers, and several YouTube videos show considerable detail and descriptions. On November 29, 2010 around 8:05 pm local time, Yazoo City was struck by two EF2 tornadoes: the first one tracked southwest of town. The second went right through downtown causing significant damage to several buildings. A high-end EF1 tornado passed through the southeast side of the city on May 2, 2021. Multiple mobile homes were destroyed and trees, power lines, and homes were damaged. ==Geography==