Prior to 1830, the lands in the present boundaries of Attala County belonged to the Choctaw Indian Nation.  With the signing in 1830 of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, the Choctaws relinquished their lands in central and east Mississippi.   The treaty transferred sovereignty of the last Choctaw land in Mississippi to the government of the U.S.  The survey of the Choctaw Cession was begun July, 1832 and completed in July, 1833.  The Mississippi Legislature provided for the organization of several counties from the Choctaw Lands on December 25, 1833.  Attala County was named for the heroine of Chateaubriand's romantic novel about two Indian lovers from different tribes.  Kosciusko, originally known as Red Bud Springs, is an old settlement on the Natchez Trace, a 450 mile trail stretching from Nashville, Tennessee to Natchez, Mississippi.  Kosciusko was named by the area's state representative, William Dodd. 

In 1846, the United States declared war on Mexico.  Jefferson Davis, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and a Congressman from Mississippi, was called back into active service.  He became a colonel of the First Mississippi Infantry and began organizing and training troops.  Men from Madison, Holmes and Attala Counties made up Company 8, the Union Grays.